Baby blues

CAN becoming a new parent have a major impact on a relationship, one that could lead to its demise?

Denton:

Yes it can. A male friend of mine recently celebrated the birth of his and his girlfriend’s first child. When the baby was born he was on cloud nine, I hardly saw him. Then after a while he was partying it up like a single man. I asked him what was up and he said he couldn’t handle being at home with a crying baby. A few months later his girlfriend left him.

Valire:

Being a parent isn’t easy and coping with a newborn can put a strain on a relationship. But if the relationship was rocky before the baby came, then the new addition to the family can bring it to a breaking point. I’m speaking from experience.

Arlando:

When my girlfriend had my son it was the best day of my life, but as time went by I realised how withdrawn she had become. I would care for the baby and allowed her to do what made her feel happy. It got real bad at first. I thought she was suffering from postpartum depression and so we spoke to her doctor about it, but that wasn’t the case. The reality was, she just didn’t want the baby and no longer wanted to be in a relationship with me. So I took my son and I have been raising him alone since he was two months old.

Sherika:

It can have a major effect on a relationship. It did have a major effect on mine. My ex was excited about the thought of being a father again but wasn’t realistic about the work that it was going to take. We already had two together and I just think he thought that having a third would have been easy, but it wasn’t. He became overwhelmed with the everyday life of work, bills and children to send to school, plus having to care for a sick newborn, and he left. I’m not mad at him, just disappointed.

Calvin:

I love my wife and our child. I’m not going to say it was easy because it wasn’t, being newlyweds living together for the first time and having a new baby. But we made it.