Redditor justwantoneboy upset his wife—who is expectant with twins—after inadvertently blurting out his true opinion about the gender of their babies during an ultrasound.
He visited the “Am I the A**hole” (AITA) subReddit and asked:
“AITA for asking the doctor how to increase chances of having a boy next time?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“Found out today at the ultrasound that my wife is pregnant with twin girls.”
“I wasn’t mad, but I was let down because we already have two daughters and I said, ‘C’mon!’ It was an accident.”
“I only meant to say it in my head but I guess I was so frustrated it came out my mouth and I said it out loud. But it was fine because everybody laughed.”
“I asked the doctor how I could increase the chances of having a boy next time, and he recommended something called the Shettles Method but he said it wasn’t guaranteed and I thanked him.”
“Everybody was happy and laughing. Everything was fine. Soon as we get into the car my wife turns into a whole different person and stops smiling and being happy. I can’t remember her exact words but I knew she was upset about the question I asked.”
“I told her that I love our daughters but I just wanted a boy and that there was nothing wrong with that. She hasn’t spoken to me in a few hours. I don’t really see what the problem is.”
At the end of his post, the OP repeatedly asked Redditors to to limit the amount of comments.
“I don’t want too many replies, please. Just like 10.”
“If you read this and you see that there’s 10 comments already, please don’t add another one. Thank you.”
Redditors weren’t going to play that game however.
“Okay, we passed 10, you can stop now. Thank you.”
“You guys aren’t listening. There’s already more than 10.”
“I asked the mods to lock the comments. You can’t comment anymore. I’m sorry.”
Strangers on the internet were asked to declare one of the following:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- NAH – No A**holes Here
Redditors did not look upon the OP favorably.
“YTA – And I hope you realize you‘ll get a sh*tload of replies precisely because you told us to stop at 10.” – FeedThePug
“YTA. I wasn’t going to reply because it’s so obvious that YTA but then I got to the end of your post demanding a comment cap and just had to break your ‘rules.'”
“Showing outward displeasure at the sex of your new babies is proof positive that you do not actually value your daughters.” – MissJew
“I feel so sorry for his girls. There are so many studies correlating female life satisfaction levels and career success with their father’s overall attitude towards them in 2 parent CIS-gendered households.”
“It matters even more than mom’s POV. Ugh.” – Dorkypotato
“YTA. You wife is pregnant with twins, and what you chose to do rather than be supportive was whine about what kind of genitals the human beings she’s growing have and then ask the doctor not about her health or the health of your children or the risks associated with carrying twins, but how to make sure she grows the right kind of baby to please you once these pesky daughters get out and you get her pregnant again.”
“Wanting a boy is one thing. Being a selfish, unsupportive partner who humiliates your pregnant wife and cares more about having a male child later than supporting her through her current pregnancy is not. In fact, its pretty repulsive.”
“P.S. – You don’t get to dictate who replies. If you want to air your dirty laundry on the internet, you get what you get.” – SnakesCantWearPants
“Seriously. This is a high-risk pregnancy and your wife is likely scared about all that that means.”
“Your only consideration right now should be making sure that your wife and all your daughters are well cared for. YTA” – tripalooza
“And oh my gosh, while his wife is 20+ weeks with twins (so she’s feeling as awful as a full term woman, but with so much longer to go) he’s asking about the next baby!”
“I would be so incredibly angry. Like, we are not even talking about more kids until I’m recovered from the last one!”
“And then for him to ask questions that basically imply, ‘well, this round’s a bust, let’s talk about next time.'”
“Holy smokes. The anatomy scan is NOT the time to do anything but celebrate healthy babies, or process the information that something isn’t looking quite right.”
“OP YTA” – Justanothergamerwife
“Not to mention that he didn’t inquire as to the health of his impending daughters or his wife who is carrying two fetuses. The one and only think he cared about, the only thing he sees value in, is having a son.”
“I’d be devastated and furious to learn not that my partner wanted a boy, but that it was so important to him that the health and safety of myself of the girl children I was suffering to bring into the world was completely meaningless beside it.”
“Let him have only daughters. It must be meant to be. The world doesn’t need a boy raised by a man like OP.” – SnakesCantWearPants
“YTA. Not only do you want to control the sex of your baby, but you also want to control the number of replies on an open & free platform. Do you have a preference as to what time you want the sun to rise tomorrow?”
“Nothing wrong with wanting a boy. But how frustrated you get when something you can’t control goes the other way is not cool.” – HIOP-Sartre
Some people commented just to increase traffic.
“just commenting to raise the number of comments.” – zwergenbrot
“Did you know the songwriter of ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ wasn’t a native English speaker and mistakenly believed that ‘hit me’ was in fact American slang for ‘call me on the phone’, as in ‘hit me up?'”
“Just thought I’d spice up the comments while raising the total number.”
“Ooh, and if OP is reading, YTA.” – Invisible-Pancreas
And after the controversial post generated the exact opposite outcome of what the OP had hoped, the subReddit moderator locked the thread.
“Okay, everyone had fun. OP got 752x as many comments as he asked for.”
“As you can imagine, the dog pile effect invites a lot of rule breaking and at this point it feels like we’ve left a bear trap out for you guys. Locked.”
Redditors were unamused with the OP’s demands. Probably because they unanimously felt he was the a**hole.