'Why are you keeping her from us?' MIL demands to be at birth in wild text exchange

There's the truth.... and then there's the screenshots. 

With so many horror mother-in-law tales making headlines each week, we know by now that the mark of a good one is not how much they love their families, but how they respect boundaries in support of them.

Sadly, this is not a story about a MIL doing that... at all.

Instead, what we have is an extreme MIL who is determined to be heavily, intimately, and disrespectfully involved in birth of her grandchild.  

And her text message demands to her son's partner about it all are wild.

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"When are you going to have the baby?"

A screenshot of the intense text message thread was posted to @teachingmotherhood on Instagram, from an account called @yourvirtualvillage. 

The thread begins with the MIL asking: "When are you going to have the baby?"

The DIL replies: "Not sure, why?"

The exchange continues:

"We would like to be there for the birth and help. We want to be the first to hold her."

"Oh no, we want to do this by ourselves. Just mum and dad and baby."

"That's very disappointing.  Why are you keeping her from us? Cousin X let her parents come and new grandma even got to cut the cord."

"It's not a spectator sport for everyone to watch! I'll be spread east and west and probably pooping. I'm not comfortable with anyone being there."

"Then we will wait to visit until she's born and then come. We want to see her right away. Please don't make us wait."

After receiving no response to the emotional blackmail, the MIL added, "Just let us know when you head to the hospital so I can head to the house and start tidying up for you. No rush, we know where the guest room is."

Image: iStock/Instagram

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"Call the police"

Viewers of the post could recognise that although the MIL seemed to be trying to be helpful, she was actually not taking no for an answer.

The caption of the post reads: "WHY ARE PEOPLE LIKE THIS! I see so many stories where grandma nudges her way into the delivery room... and sometimes grandpa too."

"I personally (after three kids) don’t even want visitors after the birth! It’s all personal preference- but truly I do not understand the absolute need to be in the delivery room and claw the new baby away from mum and dad!"

Many agreed the MIL's attitude was outrageous.

One wrote, "This boils my blood. Change the locks, call the police."

Another said, "If my daughter says 'we would like everyone to wait a couple of weeks before they come' guess what, you wait. It's not about you."

And a third added this sentiment that seems to be repeated a lot about MILs: "The lack of appropriate boundaries and respect for others with that entire generation is SO disturbing."

Some shared their own negative MIL birth experiences, with this mum recalling, "I specifically told my in laws to wait until we invited them to the hospital but they barged in right after the birth saying 'The nurse said it was ok'."

Was your MIL overbearing when you gave birth? Tell us in the comments on Facebook.

This article was updated in August 2024 and was initially published in February 2024.

Originally published as 'Why are you keeping her from us?' MIL demands to be at birth in wild text exchange