This is Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby, and you're listening to the Love, Happiness, and Success

podcast.

My father told me yesterday, sent some more advice my way each day.

And this came just in the nick of time right before I tore my mind into.

That was a father's wisdom by the artist John Lowell Anderson, which I thought was a perfect

transition for our topic today because today we are going to talk about preparing for

parenthood, what to expect after the postpartum period, which can be kind of surprising for

people and what we can do to prepare for that mentally and emotionally.

We're going to be talking about the female experience of this.

But more importantly, in some ways, if you're in a heterosexual relationship,

we also need to talk about preparing for fatherhood and some of the mental and emotional changes that new dads can expect

as they make this transition,

because I think that doesn't get talked about enough, and that has a huge impact on the

quality of relationships after baby. Many couples struggle in the first couple of years as they

transition from being two to being three and eventually more.

And so on today's podcast, we are talking about all of it for your benefit.

And I hope we leave this time together today with your having some good takeaways for

not just what to expect, but what you can think about and do in order to prepare for this

transition personally and also as a couple and a family. So with me today are two of my colleagues.

I have invited Jessica Small to join us today. Jessica is a marriage and family therapist here at Growing Self.

Jessica and I have been colleagues for many years. And Jessica, you are so knowledgeable about this.

You work with many couples through this transition. You are also a mom with two young kids yourself, so you're living it. And just recently,

...