Pregnant pause: The worst partners, ever
PREGNANCY should be the most beautiful time of a woman’s life, and that gift of a baby that she gives her partner, a gift that results in her making huge mental and physical sacrifices, should be one that’s saluted.
But for many women it’s a time of criticism and shame — worse when the harsh feedback from the mouths of their men.
What’s the worst they’ve heard?
Kemitcha, 36:
His job gave him four days off for paternity leave. It wasn’t much, but I appreciated the gesture. After day two he said he was going back to work because he couldn’t stand the noise and could hear the baby screaming in his sleep, and he was going crazy. He also said he was uncomfortable washing my clothes from the hospital (I was in bed after a C-section and could barely move around) because man mustn’t wash woman underwear.
Tanisha, 27:
Initially, he said he never signed up for any babies with me, and moved out. Months later he came back, but was uninvolved. I told him I was having contractions and he ignored me, and laid beside me in the bed watching sound clash on YouTube. I had to call my brother to drive me to the hospital. Nowadays he jiggles my stomach and calls me fat, and asks why it’s taking me so long to bounce back, because he’s ready for baby number two.
Crystal, 33:
I was leaking and didn’t notice and he said “eew”, like he scorned me. It also took a while for me to lose the weight after my C-section. He said I looked like I could audition for My 600-lb Life.
Sage, 23:
He said his other baby’s mom carried her pregnancy much better, her belly was “neater”, and she didn’t have stretch marks. He said I had bad genes and he hoped our daughter didn’t get my bad skin or hair.
Shan, 29:
The anaesthesiologist suggested that I drink Pepsi to help with the spinal headaches that would come after my C-section. When I told him he said she didn’t know what she was saying, and had no sense, and refused to buy it. He also insisted that I squeeze my breasts to get my milk to come in faster. By the way, on our way home from the hospital I had to get my pain meds prescription filled. He said he wasn’t going to go into the pharmacy with me because the sun was too hot outside. So I had to hobble into the pharmacy myself, two days after my C-section, bent over, to fill my prescription, while he waited in the car outside. He didn’t even get up to open the door for me.
