Preparing for your baby’s arrival can be a daunting but also an exciting experience.
From shopping for baby items to building the perfect nursery, planning for the big moment is something people share with their significant other.
But one expectant mom who wanted to savor all the special moments claims her mother-in-law tried to interfere with their plans and left her with nothing much to do.
Sharing her story on Reddit, the mother explained that she and her husband had decided to purchase gender-neutral items for their child even though they knew that they were having a girl.
She also shared how she was planning to buy secondhand items as she’s trying to reduce their carbon footprint.
They told their families about their wishes but her MIL had different ideas in mind.
“I stay away from plastic and non-sustainable materials as much as possible,” she said.
“I’m also not the most feminine person, and the idea of gendered children’s clothes always really bothered me. Even since I was a teenager I wanted to avoid that when it came time to have my own baby,” the unnamed parent added.
But her MIL decided to buy bags and boxes of pink and sparkly baby clothes and items for her unborn granddaughter.
“(MIL) shows up with, I kid you not, 15 gift bags all labelled by month and each and every one is stuffed to the brim with baby girl clothes.
“Every single item just screams ‘grandma’ or ‘I’m a girl’.”
She added: “I was really looking forward to the experience of shopping for my first and only daughter.
“I was so excited to find items I liked, ones that were more gender-neutral and less in your face girly. Just to pick out some stuff and then dress her in things I chose, have it be special.
“It’s probably mostly hormones, but I just feel so bummed out. I feel like I’m having her grandchild rather than mine if that makes any sense.
“Of course, I love my baby no matter what her clothes look like, but I just had this idea in my head of how things would be and now it’s not that and it just sucks.”
Other parents encouraged the mother to still do her own shopping.
One person wrote: “I’ve got a MIL just like you do. I just politely say thank you and then we don’t use whatever she bought. We wind up either passing them on to someone in our families or someone we hear is in need. If she’s unwilling to listen and spend her money, that’s on her.”
Another said: “I would go through and sort out what you want and donate the rest. It’s not your fault she spent that money when you expressed not to. Donate it all and move on like it never happened. You can tell her you donated it too. You expressly told her not to do that, and she did it anyway. I get being excited, but she crossed the line. No one is forcing you to keep them.”
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Replaced!