An anonymous man on Reddit says he was looking forward to sharing the news that he and his wife are having a baby when an unexpected thing happened: The man’s sister, who knew he was close to sharing the news on social media, announced her own pregnancy on Facebook first — and the drama that ensued is like a car accident you just can’t look away from.
Under normal circumstances, this probably wouldn't seem like a big deal.
After all, who wouldn’t be thrilled that their sibling was having a baby so close in age to theirs? And wouldn’t two back-to-back pregnancy announcements just add to everyone’s excitement? But according to the man’s post, things are a bit more complicated than they seem on the surface.
“My (26M) wife (24F) and I are expecting our first baby,” he began. “As of right now, my wife is 19 weeks along and we put off announcing it to our extended family and friends on social media until we hit the halfway point at 20 weeks. We did, however, tell our parents and our siblings on both sides.”
In other words, his sister was well aware of the news and the fact that they were waiting a bit longer to announce.
According to the poster, his sister Anna has been wanting kids for a while.
Anna, 34, is married, and had been trying to conceive for years with no luck. Recently, another curveball was thrown at her when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and placed on various medications that have only further impacted her fertility.
That’s why the poster was so shocked when suddenly, out of the blue, he saw Anna’s Facebook post: She was pregnant — and already 12 weeks along!
He immediately picked up the phone to congratulate her.
But just a few minutes into their conversation, the man started to sense that something was … well, off.
“Her answers to my questions didn’t all make sense, and she mentioned having passed her glucose tolerance test which doesn’t happen until around 24 weeks of pregnancy,” the dad-to-be shared. “I know because my wife had scheduled hers already.”
But when he gently mentioned that to his sister, she got defensive.
“She called me dumb and said I didn’t know what I was talking about … [asked] why was I interrogating her; can’t I just be happy for her … then she hung up,” he recalled.
The tense exchange left the man speechless.
In fact, nothing made sense until he got a call from his brother-in-law, Anna’s husband, who tried to clear things up.
“My BIL called later last night and told me that Anna isn’t really pregnant and that she was just completely devastated that I was having a baby and she wasn’t,” the poster explained.
Apparently, Anna wasn’t dealing well with “processing” her brother and SIL’s baby news, and made up her own pregnancy as a means of coping.
Anna's husband insisted he would tell her to take the post down.
But unfortunately, things didn’t go smoothly.
“Today, Anna called me and told me she won’t take the pregnancy announcement down because of the attention she received from it and how it made her feel good,” the Reddit poster shared. “She told me to make our announcement and then she would announce that she lost her baby a week later.”
“I asked why go through with all the lies rather than just take it down and move on from it?” the brother recalled. “She said, ‘Because I’m bipolar, I might not have a baby and it’s not fair to me. Stop being so narcissistic and just let me have some of the spotlight that I deserve but probably will never have.'”
“I got upset and told her she needs to take it down and talk about this with her therapist to better process everything,” he went on, “and she continued to yell at me, call me names, and she cursed my unborn baby, saying she hopes my wife loses it.”
After hearing that, the man promptly hung up.
But now, he’s feeling even more frustrated by how his extended family is reacting to the whole thing.
“My parents are texting me saying that I should’ve just let her continue this façade her way because she’s bipolar, but I can’t just allow her to be this way,” he continued. “I feel like she’s using her diagnosis as an excuse to pull off a big lie such as this … But should I have let her?”
There's a lot to unpack here, and Reddit was quick to dive in.
By and large, the majority of commenters assured the poster that he was NOT in the wrong on this one. After all, he wasn’t asking his sister to remove her post because it “stole his thunder.” He was asking her to remove it because it was a lie — one that could have much deeper repercussions.
“I’m a bit afraid what stunt she pulls when your baby is born if she now fakes a pregnancy and loss,” wrote one user. “As a woman, she should know better. And being mentally ill is no excuse for being TA … Maybe keep your baby away from her. Don’t let them be alone ever.”
In fact, a lot of people gave him similar advice.
“I’d take it a step further and avoid any interaction during the pregnancy too, just in case she decides to make her curse for OP’s baby come true herself,” one person advised.
“This is creepy,” added someone else. “Stay away from your sis till she is healed.”
In fact, a lot of people were seriously concerned for her mental state.
“[Your] sister is having some sort of mental breakdown and it sounds like some sort of hold may be in order,” one person told him.
“I would also alert the sister’s therapist about what she’s done and all the comments she has made,” another person suggested. “The therapist cannot give out details, but you can certainly make her aware.”
Others said the sister sounded cunning and manipulative, but added that mental illness is never an excuse for this kind of behavior.
“I’m bipolar, but pretending to be pregnant for attention is really something else,” wrote one user. “You’re not a narcissist, she is.”
“I am also bipolar, and I always tell people that a diagnosis isn’t a ‘get out of jail’ card for bad behavior,” added someone else.
An update to the post only made things weirder.
According to the dad-to-be, his wife actually called him in tears one day after making a stunning realization: the ultrasound photo that Anna had used in her fake baby announcement was actually the 12-week ultrasound of their baby. (Apparently, he’d shared the image with friends and family weeks earlier.)
In another update, made several weeks later, he came back to share another new development: Anna had been hospitalized.
“She admitted to skipping several doses of her lithium over the last few weeks and though I’m no medical professional, maybe this in addition to everything else contributed to her actions?” he theorized. “But for the last few days, my BIL reports that she’s been attending group and individual therapy, has resumed her medication, and seems to be doing better.”
The good news is, his sister seems to be getting the help she needs, and the man’s BIL is doing his best to connect with her therapist regularly and find out ways that he and the rest of the family can support her through her recovery and treatment.
As for the whole baby announcement thing? It’s unclear if Anna took hers down, but the Reddit poster says he and his wife have decided not to post on social at all. Instead, some sweet mailers will go out in the coming weeks, so close friends and extended family can learn the news without any drama.
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