Woman Backed After ‘Snapping’ At Stepmom Over Comments About Difficult Pregnancy
February 10, 2025
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A pregnant woman has been defended online for snapping at her “jealous” stepmother when she was gleeful about her difficult pregnancy, “Because it was something we were alike in.”
The 28-year-old woman and original poster (OP), Reddit user SydPregOhy, shared that her parents got divorced when she was three.
About four years later, the OP’s dad married her stepmom, who she has “never” had a great relationship with.
‘Jealous’ of Late Mom
According to the OP’s post and comments, her birth mom died when she was 12, and her stepmom saw her death, “As a way to bring us closer together and make me more like her.”
But the more her stepmom has made her “jealousy” of her late mom clear, the less interest she has had in interacting with her, she stressed. That brings things to the latest chapter in the OP’s stepmom conflict.
Stock image: Pregnant woman in the early stages touching her belly with her hands. Stock image: Pregnant woman in the early stages touching her belly with her hands. Stock photo/Getty Images
As the OP explained, she is expecting her first child with her husband, and her pregnancy has not “liked” her so far.
She wrote that she’s been diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), the medical term for severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, per the Cleveland Clinic.
Plus, she’s dealing with some, “Pretty awful back pain,” which the National Health Service says is very common during pregnancy, especially early on, which the OP is.
Simply put, the OP is “miserable.”
As for her stepmother? Well, her takeaway from the OP’s tough situation left this user fuming.
“She said, ‘Oh, you poor thing, but finally we have something in common,’ and that it was all she ever wanted,” the OP wrote, recalling what happened when she saw her family.
“I was furious. I told her to get the f*** away from me and I called her a pathetic insecure woman who I wanted nothing more to do with.
“I told her she can claim she loves me and just wants us to be close all she likes, but she was celebrating my pregnancy issues like it was anything other than awful.
“My husband and I left right away and I could hear her crying.”
Apology ‘owed’
The OP’s post has racked up 2,000 upvotes and 170 comments since hitting the platform on Feb. 6.
She added that her dad told her she, “Didn’t need to get so angry.”
Plus, her half-brother also texted her a few hours after the incident that she “owed” an apology to his mom, who he said, “Only ever wanted my acceptance and love and to not be reminded she came after my mom,” she noted.
The OP asked the internet if she was in the wrong for her reaction.
Many of the Redditors who voiced their perspectives in what’s become a largely understanding thread didn’t think so.
One user, for instance, commented: “She made your suffering about herself and acted like it was a win for her, no wonder you snapped.”
A second also backed the OP in a reassuring reply: “‘I’ve been praying you have a miserable and dangerous pregnancy so we can bond,’ just isn’t the boost she thinks it is.”
A supportive user similarly wrote: “It’s totally understandable why you’d snap given the context and her history of making everything about her insecurities.
“Keep standing your ground and take care of yourself and your baby first!”
‘Zero wishes’
Holding firm with her stepmom doesn’t seem like it will be a problem for the OP, who wrote in the comments section that she has “zero wishes” to have a close and loving relationship with her.
Especially, it seems, after what just went down.
“She has refused to accept boundaries and went so far as to be happy that I was suffering,” the OP wrote.
“That’s a sh**** thing and says her insecurity and neediness have reached an even worse point if she can be glad we share pain. And her pregnancies were nowhere near this bad.
“But even if hers were worse this would never be a bonding moment.”
Newsweek has contacted SydPregOhy for comment via Reddit.
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