A husband has been slammed online for mocking his wife’s recent and traumatic birth to their daughter at a party.
Writing on Reddit’s Am I the Asshole (AITA) forum, a 25 year old woman penned a post, titled: “AITA for blowing up on my husband in front of his family during N.Y.E celebration after he joked about my birth experience?”
In the post, the woman explained that labour was one of the most difficult moments of her life and described being “in pain for hours”.
During her labour, just weeks prior to the incident in question, she said: “I did something so embarrassing in the delivery room, I pooped myself which was unexpected and just...I don’t know but it was embarrassing.”
She went on to reveal that her husband had begun making jokes about getting her nappies.
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The woman explained: “I found it embarrassing and I already told him to stop bringing it up, especially when he started joking about getting me diapers for my ‘oopsies!’ It got really tiring and chipped away from my self-esteem and confidence.”
Next, she revealed that she ended up shouting at him in front of his family at a New Year’s Eve celebration because he brought it up again in front of everyone.
The new mother explained: “I excused myself to the bathroom. While I was getting up he made a quick remark and said ‘oh yeah, you should go quickly because we don’t want any accidents just like the one we had at the hospital, you know what I mean?’”
To her embarrassment, his family laughed and her brother in law even said, “good one”, prompting her to react and shout at her husband.
She continued the post: “I was astonished and so angry and ashamed, I literally just lost it on him and yelled at the top of my lungs calling him a cruel insensitive jerk to be using the difficult experience of birthing his child as a joking matter and humiliating me in front of everybody.”
The room went silent and the woman said she went off to the toilet and stayed in there until they left to go home.
When in the car, the man criticised her for shouting at him. She explained: “He snapped saying I messed up by talking to him like in front of his family during dinner.”
She continued: “He said he was just joking and I went overboard with my reaction and also, I should’ve sucked it up and waited til we got home so we could address this privately.”
The argument didn’t end there, as she explained: “We argued about it after we got home and he kept saying I humiliated him in front of his family during the celebratory evening by being petty and trying to one up him...
“He even said I should’ve laughed along and not fly off the handle like that.”
The woman ended the post asking people if she overreacted, but the vast majority were firmly on her side of the argument.
One person wrote: “NTA (not the asshole). What a cruel and immature joke to make, ask him to push a watermelon out his dick and see if he can do it without any ‘embarrassing accidents’.”
Another agreed, commenting: “NTA what the hell? So he can humiliate you by ‘joking’ in front of his entire family about a deeply private, personal and traumatic experience that you have ALREADY ASKED HIM to stop making remarks about, but if you call him out on it in front of those same people, somehow you’re at fault.”
Some also pointed to the fact that it’s common for women to have similar accidents during childbirth and it is completely normal.
One person replied: “Nope, NTA. Your husband is an immature, insensitive jerk. Pooping yourself during birth is quite normal, but to make fun of you about it is not cool.”
Someone else agreed, writing: “NTA. Pooping during labour is natural and expected by the doctors/midwives, that’s why they don’t bat an eyelid when it happens.
“Your husband is definitely TA (the asshole) and needs to grow the hell up and understand that you and your body have been through a traumatic experience.
“He should be supporting you, not bringing you down. You need to tell him that he’s acting like an immature child who is fascinated by poop!”