From the start of my pregnancy, my mother-in-law tried to scare and belittle me, constantly comparing her labor to what mine wouldn’t be. After I gave birth, she came into the hospital room and coldly said, “Stop pretending that you gave birth.” I was stunned. She had driven me to the hospital herself and watched me in labor.
She later spread rumors to the family that I didn’t go through “real” labor, claiming I had a C-section and “didn’t feel anything.” When my husband found out, he confronted her. Her excuse? “It’s just my version.” That’s when I realized she didn’t want to believe I was strong—because that threatened her.
But karma came around.
When my sister-in-law Larissa finally got pregnant, MIL tried the same scare tactics. Larissa shut her down and demanded she apologize to me. The apology never came, but the comments stopped. She even began treating me with more respect, quietly admitting to others that I “handled labor well.”
Ironically, Larissa ended up having an emergency C-section—and MIL said nothing. She finally saw that birth is birth, and every mother’s journey is valid.
The lesson? You don’t need anyone’s approval to own your strength. Let people see the truth when they’re ready—because you already lived it.
