There is a certain subject matter that should be off-limits when it comes to pranking your spouse.
This is an example of one of them.
Redditor Kevin_Dulin37 is a 30-year-old male who with his 26-year-old wife decided they wanted to start a family.
After having a negative reaction to his wife’s special announcement during dinner with his parents, he visited the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITA) subReddit and asked:
“AITA For How I reacted To My Wife’s Pregnancy Announcement?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“My wife F26 and I M30 decided to start having kids. We’ve been trying for over 9 months and nothing happened.”
“We were told to be patient but I couldn’t help but keep stressing out about a problem that’s preventing us from conceiving.”
“The issue is that my wife kept joking about this matter and pranked me twice by lying to me saying she was pregnant. The first was when I was at work and she sent a text telling me she was pregnant.”
“I was so happy I came home and brought stuff with me to celebrate only to find her laughing in my face saying it was a prank.”
“Second time was when she told me she was pregnant and was recording my reaction during and after the prank. Again laughing telling me it was a prank but this time she shared the video with her family.”
“I told her I didn’t appreciate how she laughs about a serious matter then having me believe it was true only to ruin my happiness. She stopped for 2 months.”
“Last night we were at my parents’ house sitting having dinner when she said she had a gift for me.she had my sister go bring a small teddy bear with a note on it and gave it to me.”
“I was nervous and worried about her pulling some of her pranks on me infront of my family. I read the note that the teddy bear had and it said that I was going to be a daddy.”
“I looked at my wife and she smiled at me and congratulated me saying she was pregnant. I saw red completely. I said that’s it! I got up from my seat and tossed the piece of paper on the table and just snapped telling her to stop making fun of something so serious and sensitive.”
“I told her I was done with her lack of respect and sympathy for the most important thing that I’ve been struggling with and to include my parents in her prank too was low.”
“My wife excused herself to the bathroom. My mom and dad we’re unaware of what was happening. They literally paused and asked what the hell is wrong with me.”
“My sister said my wife was actually pregnant and just confirmed by tests that she’s seen with her own eyes. I felt both happy and devastated because I thought she was pulling the same prank again and I got fed up with it.”
“My wife was mad and argued with me in the car saying I ruined her joy and made her look awful infront of my family as well as lashing out at her as my reaction to the happy news.”
“She said she told me infront of my parents to show me she was serious this time. She had her mom call to berate me and said her poor daughter will suffer with my boorish behavior and lack of respect for her. My wife has been giving the cold shoulder ever since. AITAH?”
“She told me I ruined the moment she’s been waiting for so long for and that she’ll remember my reaction for the rest of her life.”
Strangers on the internet were asked to declare one of the following:
- NTA – Not the A**hole
- YTA – You’re the A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everybody Sucks Here
Redditors thought the OP was not the a**hole in the situation.
“NTA. This is a classic case of the little boy who cried wolf, but instead it’s the grown a** adult who faked pregnancy announcements.”
“I don’t blame you for thinking it was fake, being that she has done this twice before and shared with family. I do think you could’ve reacted better, but I understand the frustration.”
“Your wife sounds incredibly immature to be having a child, especially siccing her mom onto you.”
“Couples therapy before the little one gets here is a good idea, not just for this but to help iron out parenting differences that will pop up.”
“Congrats on the happy news!” – 907artist
“Couples therapy so she can be a decent mother who doesn’t emotionally traumatize her child. My dad used to call my mom every April Fools claiming to be Dr. Lion or Dr. Giraffe with a question about a mutual patient (she’s a doctor), and that’s a prank.”
“What this wife is doing is abuse.” – MyFaceSaysItsSugar
“Couples therapy for sure. She has completely broken your trust at this point and I don’t blame you at all for your reaction.”
“How can you trust she won’t do something similar once the baby is born?”
“‘Oh hey honey we are at the hospital, little X broke their whole body, LOL just kidding!'” – NoIdeaRex
“Yup – I get that the wife was hurt emotionally be the response to her announcement, but what she did previously was cruel and it was understanding the OP didn’t believe her. NTA”
“I worry what bringing a child into a relationship with so little trust will do.”
“Both parties need to see if they can work it out before the baby arrives and no matter what they need to agree to some rules about honestly regarding the child form here on out.” – Fraerie
“Seriously. ‘Confuse, don’t abuse’ is the way with pranks. What she did was terribly emotionally damaging to OP.”
“That rollercoaster of emotions RE pregnancy announcements that turn out to be fake is just.. so uncool to subject someone to. Especially someone who you supposedly love and want to have children with??”
“I can understand if it was some sort of coping mechanism to her to use humor to disguise her own disappointment. But if that’s the case, she should not have extended it to OP.” – Sabai_interim
“The ‘she told me I ruined the moment she’s been waiting for’ line really stuck with me.”
“Lady, you already ruined it with your ‘prank’, and then you doubled down and scorched the earth with a second ‘prank’. A reasonable person would only react in 2 ways here: brushing it off and ignoring the announcement, or exactly like OP did.”
“NTA. Sh*t like this is not funny.”
“Reminds me of another post from a while back where someone got a call that their parent, I think, was dying in the hospital ‘so rush over right now’ from an aunt or sibling or something. Turns out it was ‘just a joke.’” – TheSardonicCrayon
A majority of Redditors agreed the wife ruined her announcement with the pranks from the past.
Hopefully, the couple will sort things out through couples counseling – as many here have suggested – before the little one arrives.