My MIL Wants to Take My Yet Unborn Baby From Me, Because I Don’t Want to Play by Her Rules

A woman, 22, has recently taken to Reddit to tell her story, which may be considered scandalous and even appalling. The OP is pregnant, and her MIL has arranged a real hunt for her baby. And it’s not that she loves kids so much, but her real motives are far more down-to-earth. She wants her DIL to obey and to fulfill her one condition.

The woman’s pregnancy became a subject for discussion in her family.

The woman started her post, saying, «So I have been with my partner for about a year and a half. We’ve been on and off, mostly because he lives in another state, also because I’ve had trouble gauging his feelings for me. We weren’t exclusive, but he wasn’t seeing anybody else, and I wasn’t either.»

Then, a miracle happened, and the woman discovered good news. She wrote, «I found out that I was pregnant a couple of months ago! I did want babies one day but never expressed a serious desire for children, and neither had L. Normally, I’d be against having a child at 22 in a non-serious relationship, but I couldn’t shake the lingering feelings of excitement and happiness. I had no plans to keep the baby, but when I informed L, the look of genuine pleasure and enthusiasm in his face made me reconsider.»

The couple reevaluated their relationship after finding out awesome news.

The woman said that they both decided they were ready for having a child. She wrote, «I have a steady job as an on-call healthcare professional and am able to support myself and a baby, while he shares a home with his parents, a house inherited by the family that they pay bills on.»

The couple’s relationship became more stable. The woman wrote, «He asked me if I wanted to keep the baby and offered to really step up. His career is more hobby at the moment but if we kept the baby, he promised to secure stable employment.»

The woman claimed that everything in her life has only become better with the news about pregnancy. She said, «I decided to keep the baby, and we are moving forward and really excited. It made me realize that I was in love with him and had been holding back. He confessed that he loved me as well, and we are now exclusive and plan to move in together.»

A huge problem appeared in the face of the woman’s MIL.

The woman goes on with her story, saying, «The problem: My support system is in my state, and we’ve agreed to move back there. We sat his parents down to inform them of our plans and his mother, who had always been neutral and pleasant fixture immediately took issue with it.
She freaked and forbade him from moving away. She claimed that I could give birth in his state, and they—being his parents—would set us up. I refused, trying to inform her that I’d feel more comfortable having and raising the baby near my family, but she barely let me get a word in. L cut her off and we left.»

But the OP’s MIL turned into a really sinister person. The woman explained, «Since then, she has been haranguing L, trying to get him to reconsider. Even going as far as threatening to cut off his share in the inheritance (I will not go into detail on their financial situation). This didn’t phase me as I am self-sufficient, but L is very stressed.»

The last straw was when MIL hinted she’d take the baby away.

The woman goes on with her post, revealing, «He tentatively suggested a 50/50 situation. I pointed out how hard that’d be on a newborn, as well as stressful for me. We haven’t quite come to an agreement, but he is backing whatever decision I make. I feel a bit bad though, because he is very close to his parents.»

But things didn’t get any better. The OP said, «We had another sit down and seeing that I wasn’t budging, she let slip that she may claim grandparent rights—as they are in possession of substantial assets, I saw red. The thought that she’d try to take my (yet unborn) child from me made me want to go scorched earth. I started screaming, and L told her she was out of line. We left.»

Now the family is in a very hard situation. The woman says, «We have since gotten a hotel and haven’t been back to his home since. I have no plans to have my baby in this state, but I’m afraid there’s any validity to her claim? I would like to know if I am being unreasonable in how I’m handling this.»

People of Reddit were quick to react with support and advice.

People have taken woman’s side in the comments and tried to comfort her as much as they could.

One user wrote, «L’s mom is uninformed and just shot herself in the foot, badly… this is NOT how supposed „grandparents rights“ work at all. You are at zero risk, OP.
A quick google search will show that those supposed rights are barely enforceable, take very specific circumstances such as a divorce, violence, and most importantly A PRIOR RELATIONSHIP, usually partially custodial/caregiver type etc. with the child. And no sane judge would EVER take a child away from healthy parents because of a psycho grandma.
She can still use her money to harass you, which will be useless but annoying so you may have to find a good lawyer just in case, but unless she meets that kind of criteria, which she WON’T as long as she’s never in a caregiver role, she’ll just be wasting money so you’re all good.»

Another user added, «I was coming here to second this. Parents will always be the primary parents unless the parents are unfit and the grandparents acted like de facto parents. She has no ground and will get laughed out of court. Signed a law school graduate about to take bar exam.»

And here’s yet another story about a very possessive MIL, who even wanted to sleep together with her son in his bedroom.