In-Laws from Hell·
BIRTH PLAN BLOWUP
A cramped two bedroom home becomes the battleground when a daughter in law plans a water birth, pitting a worried poster against a due date countdown and a stubborn family.
Make room for the birth, or hold the line?
Be one of the first to vote.
The daughter-in-law's birth plan blew up the moment the poster learned it would mean a water birth in a small two-bedroom house.
A week earlier, a fire hydrant had broken near the family's homes and flooded the daughter-in-law's place. "Their house is being fixed due to a flooding issue that happened about a week ago," the poster wrote. Contractors had to replace floors, and the home was not safe to stay in while the work was underway. So the son and daughter-in-law moved in with the poster, who lives in a compact 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom house and says they downsized years ago.
The timing could not have been tighter. The daughter-in-law is due to give birth to her first child at the beginning of next month, and the repairs on her house will not be finished in time. The couple has already set up a nursery in the guest bedroom. For the poster, that seemed like the end of the disruption.
Then came the detail that changed everything.
"I learned this weekend that she was planning on having a water home birth and a midwife during it," the poster wrote. "I thought she was going to the hospital, but that apparently wasn't the plan."
According to the poster, the delivery setup would involve "a basically a blown up pool that goes in the house." That pool, they said, would only fit in the living room or in the master bedroom if the bed were moved.
The poster was not on board.
"I am not comfortable with that happening in my home," they wrote. "I don't want her giving birth in my living room."
They told the daughter-in-law directly, and the reaction was immediate. The daughter-in-law got upset, the two argued, and the poster says she was furious that they had interrupted her plans.
"She is mad that I ruined her birth plan," the poster wrote.
Now the dispute has spread to the son, who wants a different outcome. "My son wants me to apologize and have it here," the poster said.
But the poster is still refusing, leaving the family stuck in the same cramped house with a nursery in the guest room, a baby due soon, and a birth plan no one seems able to agree on.