There are few times in your life when you get to really pull off a surprise that should make everyone happy for the good news, and your gender reveal is one of them. So imagine how absolutely steaming one woman was that not only did her mother-in-law tell people the gender of their baby before their big party but she also lied and told everyone the mom-to-be was having a boy.
The woman is 20 weeks pregnant and recently found out it was a baby girl.
To be clear, the Original Poster (OP) is thrilled.
"I was so excited I couldn't stop smiling because I've always secretly wanted an adorable baby girl that I can shop/dress/cook with and not just sit around and watch a hockey game with her dad, so lame," she wrote on Reddit's JUSTNOMIL forum.
In fact, she and her husband even bet on the gender — and she won.
"He's equally happy [about the gender news] he's just upset he had to handle laundry for the next few weeks," she explained.
The parents decided to keep the gender a secret.
They kept things hidden until they could have a gender reveal party. But that's exactly when the OP's MIL started snooping around.She called the OP and asked about the baby's gender.
"I told her she was gonna find out at the party but she insisted saying she wants to help with organizing the party," the mom-to-be explained.
Eventually, the OP caved and told her.
But she made her MIL swear to secrecy.
"It sounded she was upset because she kept asking 'are you sure it's not a boy?" the OP recalled. "I should point out that she always wanted a grandson and would say that her first grandbaby will be a boy. Sorry mother-in-law."
After sharing her news, the OP went to her mother's house so they could plan and shop for the party.
When she got home she was stumped to find that the couple already received cards and gifts from family members filled with "a boy baby blanket, then a pair of boy socks and gown," she recalled.
"The cards congratulated us on the 'baby boy,' 'little man,'" she wrote.
"I thought there's gotta be a mistake I mean, it's not a boy it's a girl," she continued. "I asked my husband who else is expecting other than us and they thought it was a baby boy because we didn't tell anyone anything."
Obviously, someone had some loose lips.
And the culprit was exactly who you think it is — her MIL. Her husband's uncle confirmed it.
"My husband looked at me as my face was literally turning red," she continued. "I just wanted to drop dead at that very moment. Oh my god she let the secret out and God knows how many people she told."
Then the text messages started pouring in.
All congratulating the couple on their upcoming baby boy.
"I was shocked," she admitted. "I sat there and all I was thinking about was the party I've been waiting and working so hard for."
She even skimped on other expenses to save up for the big-time bash.
"I called my mother-in-law but she denied telling and lying to pretty much everyone in the family," the OP explained. "I blew up and told her she ruined this whole d–n thing for me and betrayed my trust and confidence in her, but she denied, denied, denied."
It turns out that there was some cold, hard, evidence that it was her MIL who spilled the beans.
She posted the news on Facebook of all places that "her son & DIL just gave her the big news and it's a baby boy."
But because the OP isn't on Facebook she had no idea that her MIL was going off like that.
"WTF, this explains everything," she wrote. "I took a screenshot of the post and sent it to her. She was SPEECHLESS after I sent her the screenshot. She's vanished, stopped returning my calls and texts."
The OP then send her a text "basically telling her how she ruined this for me and that now I'll never be able to have what I've planned for so long for and it's because not only she didn't keep her mouth shut but she also lied and fooled everyone."
Although the issue is handled, the OP called her own mom and "cried like I just lost a loved one."
"I told her there will not be a party and the reason for this is this [expletive] who decided it was okay to lie just to feel better even if it was for a very short period of time," she recalled.
"I just need to know how to deal with this moving forward, obviously she's crazy and will only do what she wants, it's either her way or the highway."
Some people wrote in and told her that there were still ways she could salvage her party.
"You could still do your gender reveal with close family and friends only (NOT MIL), then upload the surprise for everyone else to see," one commenter suggested. "Or just invite everyone you were going to invite before (NOT MIL) and say it’s just gonna be like a little party/get together/celebration, and then surprise them with the real gender. People will still get a wonderful surprise when they find out that the gender is actually something else!"
"Host a 'gender pre-revealed' party. Do not invite her," someone else suggested.
"Do a gender reveal and post something like 'despite the rumors, it's a girl!'" a third person added.
This mom-to-be shouldn't let her MIL rain on her parade. The gender reveal is special because it's her baby — and friends and family will want to celebrate no matter what.
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