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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

WIBU? Lashed out at DH’s family a bit

376 replies

sterrryerryoh · 06/09/2010 13:29

Oh Bugger - long post, sorry
I lashed out at my Dh?s cousin?s girlfriend

So WIBU?

DH and I have adopted a baby, and we couldn?t be more thrilled. The adoption journey began three years ago after several years of IVF and TTC. Not once during all of this time has anyone in DH?s family asked us how we are or how things are going, despite knowing all about the IVF/Adoption etc through DH?s mum.
Not a problem to us - some people just don?t want to interfere or know what to say. It has never bothered us, their apparent indifference, as we know there may well have been reasons etc.

We adopted our DS in January this year. To date, only one of DH?s cousins have met him (and this is a close family - we used to see each other about once a month) - we asked DH?s brother why they were staying away, and he said it was so ?we could bond? as a family. OK, fine - we have sent them all messages to say they are welcome to come round, but no real responses until the Friday just gone by.

It was DH?s cousin?s 30th - we all went out for a meal. DH?s OTHER cousin and his girlfriend are expecting. A little way into the meal she said to me ?Sorry about being pregnant. It must be gutting for you?
I said ?Erm? what?? and she said ?With you having to adopt and not have your own. Just saying, sorry?
So I said, ?It?s fine - I have my lovely DS, and am fully aware that other people get pregnant - I?m thrilled for you? - so then she said, ?Oh good - we were wondering - is it you that?s barren or is it DH that?s firing blanks? - cue much laughing and chortling at the table. So DH replied ?You know, that?s a bit personal and insensitive? and she said ?Well, sterrry said she?s alright with it, so come on - give us the goss? We?ve been dying to ask?

So, I calmly replied ?If you genuinely wanted to know what our difficulties were, the time for you to talk to us and offer support might have been during the invasive fertility testing a few years ago. Or it might have been during our failed IVF cycles, or it might have been at some point over the last three years of our Insanely painful and highly emotional adoption journey. To be honest, saying this poisonous crap to us right now smacks of insensitivity and voyeurism? to which she replied ?so it?s you then, and he's alright.?
DH and I looked at one another, stood up and I said ?Hope your fucking food chokes you, you bitch? and walked out.

Bit dramatic I know, but she?s a cow, right?

Or did I just bring myself down to her level?

DH think I did just fine, and he?s completely behind me, but I feel a bit of an arse, as they?re his family and I might have made things a bit horrible now?.

OP posts:
pearlsandtwinset · 06/09/2010 14:06

WHF? I admire you're calm aplomb! I would have socked her.

Also admire you for adopting.

Also hope stupid cow is reading this and feeling effing sheepish.

Hold your head up high, you deserve so much more (excellence rather than abuse!!)

EMS23 · 06/09/2010 14:06

I can imagine you do get a whole heap of ignorant comments but generally people are a bit silly and probably just don't know how to deal with the situation so come out with something stupid. A bit like when someone dies and people just don't know what to say to the bereaved.

But that girl - she wasn't just stupid, she was mean, nasty, bitchy, ignorant and a whole host of other words my little brain can't come up with.

Like Anyfucker - i want to be your mate!!

1234ThumbWar · 06/09/2010 14:06

Well done you - absolutely brilliant.

Btw dh's brothers text sounds like he may have been approving of what you did rather than anti.

pearlsandtwinset · 06/09/2010 14:06

whoops, WHF meant to be WTF...Smile

Wanderingsheep · 06/09/2010 14:07

I'm surprised you didn't smack her one! Cheeky bitch Angry Angry

Congratulations on your lovely baby boy! Smile

AnyFucker · 06/09/2010 14:07

EMS, she is my mate Hmm

sterrryerryoh · 06/09/2010 14:09

Booyhoo - I?ve often thought she didn?t like me, but not sure why. We?ve always been civil but never matey. She can naff off - they all can!

OP posts:
BreastmilkDoesAFabLatte · 06/09/2010 14:09

My goodness. No, YWNNNNNNBU.

I'm so sorry they've been so awful to you...

nickelbabe · 06/09/2010 14:10

so, basically, she apologised for being pregnant just so that she could ask you about your personal, heartbreaking treatment as a joke?

I would have done more than hope her food choked her.
i'd probably have thrown water over her and slapped her.
I am sooo angry on your behalf.

congratulations on your DS - that's brilliant news, at least you know that your child will be brought up by someone who actually wants him around, as opposed to the vile bitch that's bringing a child into a callous, cruel and ill-mannered family.

prozacfairy · 06/09/2010 14:10

What a revolting person she is. Shock at how anyone can be so nasty and insensitive. Shame on the rest of them for not telling the dumb bitch to shut the fuck up- this is your life not a soap. Angry

God knows why your worried about upsetting any of them coz WNBU.

Blu · 06/09/2010 14:12

Good grief, that is startlingly ignorant, insensitive and nasty. My heckles were bristling by the time she said "and not have your own" - since you do have your own darling DS'.

You wouldn have retained more moral high ground had you simply left without the 'choke / bitch' comment, but really, in the great scheme of things, who cares. That family, chortlers and all, need to think long and hard about what 'family' means. V pleased DH was of a mind with you.

Has the brother expressed any 'side'? was he apalled or was he one of the ones dying for the 'goss', do you think?

Janos · 06/09/2010 14:14

Good god nbo, nothing unreasonable about it.

What a nasty, nasty woman. Not that I would ever condone violence but she's lucky she didn't get a smack in the gob!

blackcurrants · 06/09/2010 14:15

sterry not only were you NBU, you are my new personal hero! Congrats to you and your DH on you son!

sterrryerryoh · 06/09/2010 14:16

I actually got the feeling that she was baiting me a bit before the ?outburst? , but I didn?t mention it in my OP, because it might well have been innocent. Saying things like - ?We only tried to conceive for a month and did it straight away? and ?I?m so glad we?re having our baby young, and not in our 30?s? (I?m 37) - I genuinely don?t know if they were aimed at me or not, and it may just be that she was just being herself, but I?ve even taken those remarks personally now. I don?t know if DH?s brother was being supportive or not - he was one of the ones who was laughing at the table. DH has just said that if they want to make amends, they know where to find us, otherwise we?ll all just have to lead separate lives from now on.

Well, after all the fantastic support you?ve all given me, and how you?ve all made me feel sane, I?m just going to draw a line under it, and not waste any more tears on them. This is the second time MN has saved me!
Thank you all so much

OP posts:
MmeLindt · 06/09/2010 14:16

YAsooooNBU

Well done for answering her in such style. It is the kind of answer that occurs to me in the middle of the night, days after the event.

EMS23 · 06/09/2010 14:17

Share and share alike AnyFucker - I need someone with a quick tongue like that on my side!!

AnyFucker · 06/09/2010 14:19

ok, EMS, she can be your friend too < generous >

sterrryerryoh · 06/09/2010 14:21

I?m not that quick you know - Dh and I have talked about his family?s indifference for a while, and been very level-headed about it all - understanding there may have been reasons for their difficulties in engaging with DS - but I have thought those things before. Didn?t really think there?d ever be cause for me to say them. I said in my OP that ?it has never bothered us? - it seems it may have bothered me on some level, for those words to spew forth quite so readily!!

Grin
OP posts:
Mishy1234 · 06/09/2010 14:22

Good grief what an absolute cow! Well done to you for handling it so well and giving her what for.

Janos · 06/09/2010 14:24

I'm absolutely horrified that anyone could make a joke about this.

sterryph - you dealt with it it amazingly. Loads of people here rooting for you.

And congrats on your DS too :)

Lulumaam · 06/09/2010 14:24

jeeeeeeeesuuuuus

it is one thing to think such poisonous and stupid things, quite another to actually say them out loud. in company. in public

you handled it beautifully

did she really say 'barren' ? Shock

if htey cannot see what they did wrong, tehn good riddance to the lot of them

Lulumaam · 06/09/2010 14:24

and congratulations on your lovely DS!

Bathsheba · 06/09/2010 14:25

Oh now come on....she was being completely reasonable and it was lovely of her to enquire about...

Nope, can't do it....she is mad. You are only unreasonable in that you didn't pour something all over her...

And actually, can I say a huge well done to your DH - I suspected if I did this I'd have been told not to make a scene etc and the quick glance wouldn't have happened....well done for wordlessly puttiing on such a united front....

sandsad · 06/09/2010 14:27

Mumsnet salutes you, Sterrryerryoh!

EMS23 · 06/09/2010 14:27

good girl Anyfucker!!

Sterryerryoh - glad you're feeling better about it all and once again, well done!
Sounds like she was baiting you to be honest, which just gives you carte blanche to cut her from your life completely now.
Lucky her that conceiving was so easy and good luck to her when she loses all her friends through her insensitivity and maliciousness.

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