Parenting Tips

When most people hear the word 'midwife', a specific image usually springs to mind. You might picture a calm professional supporting a laboring woman through contractions or catching a newborn baby as it enters the world. While childbirth certainly stands as a pivotal moment in the midwifery model of care, focusing solely on delivery misses the vast majority of what these healthcare providers actually do. Midwives offer a holistic, continuous partnership that begins long before a positive pregna…

The 777 Rule is everywhere right now. It promises couples a simple formula to stay close:

• A date every 7 days
  
  
• A night away every 7 weeks
  
  
• A trip together every 7 months
  

On the surface, it sounds wonderful — especially if you’re parenting, exhausted, and barely getting through the day. But as a licensed marriage and family therapist who works with couples every week, I want to say this clearly:

You can follow the 777 Rule perfectly and still feel lonely in your relationship.

Before we go…

Becoming a parent doesn’t break relationships — being overwhelmed does.

Most of the parents I work with don’t come to therapy because they’ve stopped loving each other. They come because they’re tired, irritable, and emotionally far away inside a relationship they still care deeply about.

By the end of the day, their brains have made hundreds of decisions. So when someone asks something as simple as, “What’s for dinner?” it can feel like too much — not because of food, but because it’s one mor…

If you and your partner feel more like roommates than a couple, you’re not alone.

I hear this in my therapy office all the time:
“We love each other… we just don’t feel close anymore.”
“We’re always irritated.”
“I miss how we used to be.”

What most couples don’t realize is that this feeling isn’t a relationship failure — it’s a developmental transition.

When you become a parent, your nervous system, identity, and emotional needs all change at once. But almost no one teaches couples how to make t…

There’s something I wish more couples knew:

Most relationships don’t fall apart because the love runs out.
They fall apart because conflict becomes painful instead of productive.

Two people can care deeply about one another and still get stuck in cycles of resentment, shutdown, defensiveness, or the same unresolved argument on repeat.

And here’s the part that often surprises people in my therapy room:

Fighting isn’t the problem.
It’s how we fight.
It’s the tone we slip into when we’re tired.
It’…

When you become a new parent, you receive what feels like millions of bits of advice. It’s on everything from how to act to what to buy for your little one. You might be compiling all these tips and trying to attempt them all. But some of the most powerful things you can do as parents are also some of the most natural and intuitive. Kangaroo care, also known as skin-to-skin contact with your baby is one of these things. We’re here to offer a complete, no-judgement, helpful guide for new parents …

Pregnancy is full of advice.

Some of it is helpful.

Some of it is overwhelming.

And some of it—like “sleep now while you can”—is well-intentioned but completely unrealistic.

As a therapist who works with couples and new parents, and as someone who has lived this transition myself, I’ve seen the same thing again and again:

Most expecting parents spend a lot of time preparing for the baby…

and very little time preparing for the emotional and relational shift that comes with becoming parents.…

There’s a certain kind of tired that only parents understand.
Not “I didn’t sleep great” tired.
Not “long work day” tired.

I mean the deep-in-your-bones exhaustion that makes even simple conversations feel heavy.

The kind where you look at your partner and think:

“Why are we suddenly arguing about something so small?”
“Why does everything feel misunderstood?”
“We love each other — so why does talking feel so hard?”

And if you’ve been there — you are so normal.

Research from the Gottman Institut…

The holidays are meant to bring joy and connection—but for many couples, they quietly turn into a season of stress, resentment, and emotional burnout.

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking:

“Why am I the only one who’s planning gifts, organizing dinners, and booking the photographer?”

You’re not alone. And you’re not unreasonable.

As a couples therapist working with married parents in Sacramento, I see this every year: one partner takes on the mental and emotional weight of the holidays wh…

The holidays can bring a mix of joy, pressure, and exhaustion—especially for parents.

You want to create meaningful memories, show up for extended family, and make it magical for your kids.

But what happens when your child melts down at the family dinner table… again? Or when you and your partner end up in a quiet argument in the car on the way home from another “festive” event?

If any of that feels familiar, take a deep breath. You're not alone—and you're not doing it wrong.

Why Your Child …