MIL got a tattoo of my newborn on her chest without asking me

"She's so attention seeking, I could feel the tears building up inside of me," the new mum wrote. 

We've all heard countless stories of mother-in-laws being, well, mother-in-laws. 

And typically, we side with the daughter/son. 

BUT — a recent viral forum post may just throw a spanner in the works of what we think we know about the familiar dynamic, and who's usually in the wrong...

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Image: IStock

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The tattoo included her daughter's name, birthstone and birthflower

Taking to the Am I the A**hole forum, a new mum shared that she and her husband in their early 30s just had a baby in June.

And when her MIL came to visit, she had a 'special' surprise to share with the couple.

She wrote: "My MIL is very attention-seeking and just over the top, to say the least. She told us she had a gift for our daughter and handed us an envelope. My husband proceeded to open the card and read it out loud.

"To sum it up, it said that she loved our daughter so much that she decided to get something for her and herself. What does that even mean?! We both looked up and there she was pulling down her collar to show us a huge tattoo on her chest of a heart-shaped pearl necklace (my daughter's birthstone), a couple of roses (birthflower) and our daughter's name."

The OP didn't take it well, to say the least.

"I WAS STUNNED," she admitted, before sharing that the tears started to build up inside of her. 

"I turned to my husband and basically excused myself with my daughter to 'feed her'," the mum said.

"I bawled my eyes out in my bedroom. I could hear my husband trying to explain to her what she did wrong. I wanted to get a tattoo of my daughter/other children (we plan on having more) but I can't right now because I'm breastfeeding. I was so upset because not only did my MIL take her name but she also took her birthstone and flower!"

RELATED: My MIL forced my husband to change our baby's name

"I never want to see my MIL's tattoo"

The MIL then started to feel really guilty. 

"I pulled myself together and came out of the room to find my MIL sobbing," the OP said.

"She made a huge scene saying, ‘Oh please don't kick me out! Please let me stay! Please oh please!’ She told me that she was sorry, she didn't think it was a big deal and that she thought she was doing something nice for my daughter. She even said that she discussed her plans with my FIL and their friends and everyone gave her the green light.

"I told her that my daughter was just months old and had no idea what a tattoo is and that she did this for attention just like everything else she does. I was upset with the fact that she didn't even think to discuss it with us, her parents, about how we would feel about it. Mind you, she doesn't even have her own children's names tattooed on her!"

So how did that go down?

Terribly.

"I told her that she was overstepping us as her parents," she said. "Her response: 'But I just want to be your mum! I just want to be close to you!' What does that have anything to do with this?! I told her that she was NOT my mum nor would she ever be."

Now the MIL is trying to move on and sweep the incident under the rug but the mum doesn't want to move on. "I never want to see my MIL's tattoo," she concluded.

Nearly everyone sided with the MIL on this one

For once, nearly everyone agreed in the comments.

"YTA - I fail to see why her getting a tattoo on her body is a problem and means you can’t get one. Like seriously who cares? Every single tattoo is unique so what’s it matter if you get one too?" the top comment read.

Another person wrote, "MIL is not demonstrating narcissism here — she’s just excited and loving. I would have given anything to have a MIL who cared like this."

"I know postpartum can be hard on people and maybe it's bringing out less than great aspects of OP's personality. But it also sounds like OP generally doesn't like her MIL," someone else wrote. 

"Why do you need permission from someone else to get a word written on your own skin?" pointed out a different user.

"Did you know that EVERYONE who was born in the same month as your daughter has the same birthstone and flower? Your MIL didn't take it. Unless you wanted this EXACT tattoo there's really no reason at all to be mad at your MIL," another user concluded.

Originally published as MIL got a tattoo of my newborn on her chest without asking me