fighting couples

Yesterday I went to visit an old friend from high school. We have maintained our friendship over the years and throughout many dramas. I was there for her wedding, and I went to the hospital to see her when she gave birth to her baby Isabelle. But yesterday when I was at her house I noticed something that I didn't like. Her and her husband were fighting and the vibe in the house was not nice. It wasn't just the normal bickering that couples do, with tones of teasing. The tone of her husband was horrible.

When I visited my friend in the hospital I noticed that he was quite bossy and condescending. He has had a child before and he was telling her what she should be doing, and not letting her decide for herself or figure things out for herself. It wasn't that he was helping her, it was that he was telling her what she should be doing using the most condescending tone I have ever heard. Considering she had just gone through quite a difficult labor I was very surprised by his tone to her in general.
And yesterday it was worse. He had a go at her about the blinds, which were broken, and when she asked him to get some different forks out it was as though she had asked him to cut his own leg off! Now I have been at friends houses before and they bicker with their partners, but there is always a light-hearted tone to the bickering. It never sounds serious and cranky. The husband kept calling my friend "Dear", and let me tell you, there was nothing endearing about the tone he was using!! He may as well have been calling her "Whore".