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A woman who recently gave birth says her mother-in-law offered financial support throughout her pregnancy — but now she’s giving her an ultimatum
In a post shared to Reddit, the woman says her mother-in-law is offering to pay for the child’s daycare — but only if the woman gets back to work
She’s now taking to the internet to seek advice
A woman whose wealthy in-laws supported her financially throughout her pregnancy says they are now urging her to get back to work.
In a post shared to Reddit, the woman writes that her pregnancy was not planned, but that when she announced it, her in-laws offered to support her and her husband financially.
“I had to quit my job as it wasn’t a safe environment for pregnancy (I did home visits as a support worker and most of my clients were heavy smokers, smoking indoors),” she explains. “I looked for another job but I couldn’t find any and also started struggling with severe perinatal anxiety and panic disorder. It was the most difficult time of my life.”
Although she temporarily quit her job, she notes that her “partner continued working full time.”
“Hence, during my whole pregnancy, they supported us financially, which we were very grateful for,” she continues. “We said I will return to work as soon as possible.”
Now that she is three months postpartum, her mother-in-law is pushing her to put the baby in daycare so she can get back to work.
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“Now she gave us an ultimatum – she believes both partners should contribute equally financially so I have until September (when baby will be 7 months old) to return to work full time,” she writes. “However, as I earn minimum income, I told her that my whole salary will be spent on nursery fees, which doesn’t make sense.”
In response, her mother-in-law says that if the woman returns to work, she will cover the nursery fees. However, she won’t pay for the woman to stay at home.
“I was shocked to hear this. I feel that she completely disrespects the contribution I bring by raising her grandson,” the woman writes. “And she would rather have him put in nursery just to see me going to work. As if raising a baby is not hard, full-time work.”
However, most Reddit users are urging the woman to accept her mother-in-law’s offer, with one person noting that her “MIL does not owe it to you to support you staying home.”
“It’s your prerogative to stay home just as it’s your mother-in-law’s prerogative to not support you,” another user replied.
“Your in laws had no obligation to help at all but they did,” a third agreed. “And the smarter choice is to accept that they will pay for nursery and go back to work.”
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