Woman Calls Mother-In-Law ‘Selfish’ for Going on a Cruise 2 Weeks Before She’s Due to Give Birth

A controversially timed cruise vacation has caused an unusual rift for one family.

A woman took to Reddit’s “Am I The A——” forum to ask if she and her mother were in the wrong for wanting to take the cruise trip they had planned months before knowing it would be close to the due date of her brother and his wife’s second child. 

The original poster (OP) explained that her mother agreed to care for her brother’s current child during the birth of his second and would be returning from the pre-planned vacation two weeks before the due date to accommodate that ask. 

However, when the brother’s wife heard of their trip plans, she allegedly proceeded to yell, cry, and call her mother-in-law “irresponsible and selfish,” believing that two weeks was too close to the due date to be out at sea.

While the OP and her mother sympathized with the immense stress the couple was dealing with—on top of a “high-risk pregnancy” they were coping with “job loss” and “one child with a severe disability,” she said — the grandmother believed two weeks would be more than enough time to return for the big day. 

The brother and his wife demanded for the trip to be canceled or it would cause “irreparable damage” amongst the three of them. 

With her mother being the only living grandparent, the OP writes, “I understand their stress, but I feel like canceling a trip we booked a long time ago and have been looking forward to just in case of an early delivery is unfair.” 

The comment section of the family feud is overall divided into two opinions. 

On the one hand, many commenters believe that the grandmother’s life doesn’t have to revolve around expecting a grandchild and deemed her “Not The A——” (NTA). 

“NTA Unless they had a prior arrangement with mom and she planned this without talking to them,” one commenter wrote. “Otherwise it’s their problem for not planning ahead and communicating and just assuming mom would be around. But you are blameless.” 

Another added, “NTA. I get that your brother and [sister-in-law] might be feeling a lot of stress right now, but that still does not justify their reaction to your mom. This is their responsibility, and they have time to set up a Plan B in case the baby arrives early. Sorry they have seen fit to threaten your mother over this.” 

However, other commenters were more concerned with the potential health hazards of being around a newborn so soon after being on a germ-infested cruise ship.

“NTA but I also wouldn’t want someone who just came off of a packed cruise during flu season watching my kid with a high risk pregnancy that could go critical at any time,” a person commented. “That doesn’t make it your fault or your mother’s. It’s just a bad scary situation.”

Another Redditor added, “Two weeks before the due date is not ‘early.’ And, as someone said, a cruise is one of the worst places for germs and getting sick, so I wouldn’t want someone around my newborn for like 2 weeks coming back.”

Though a majority of the comments seem to agree with the NTA verdict, everyone supports the idea that the grandmother didn’t deserve to be disrespected by her daughter-in-law, no matter how stressed she may have been.