Tricky Family & In Law Dynamics: A Chat With Kate

About this episode

Marley chats with Kate about the complexities of motherhood, mental health, and family dynamics, particularly in the context of limited support.

This episode is a real one. I’m Marley, and in this episode of Becoming Both I chat with Kate — a mum to a 13-month-old — about the messy, very real side of motherhood… especially when you’re doing it without much family support. We get into a lot in this conversation. Kate shares her experience with long-term anxiety and depression, and how that showed up through pregnancy (after a previous loss) and into postpartum. We talk about what actually helped — a supportive partner, consistent midwife care, therapy, and eventually medication — and how stigma within her family made reaching out for that support feel even harder. But the bigger thread running through this episode is estrangement and boundaries. Not the dramatic version people expect — the quieter, more confusing version where things just don’t feel right. We talk about: navigating a complicated relationship with your own mum how becoming a parent can bring up a lot of self-worth stuff you didn’t expect the grief of not having the kind of family support you thought you would when daycare becomes more than childcare — it becomes a lifeline the pressure and entitlement that can come with “grandparent access” how family…

People in this episode

Host: Marley

Guest: Kate

Topics covered

• motherhood
• mental health
• family dynamics
• estrangement
• boundaries
• support systems

Keywords

• motherhood
• anxiety
• depression
• family support
• estrangement
• boundaries
• mental health
• self-worth
• daycare
• grandparent access

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