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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Pregnant Sister AIBU?

102 replies

yellowox · 19/10/2015 06:54

So SIL is pregnant with twins (IVF pregnancy), & I'm feeling pretty fed up with her (please tell me I'm being unreasonable so I can shake it off) basically since she announced she has been very O.T.T, saying she can't clean, can't do anything strenuous, shes going to be huge, her sickness is terrible, basically she has said she should have bed rest because her pregnancy is precious, she rang my mum saying she had a cold, mum told her to take a paracetamol (shes a nurse) but she ignored her anyway went to the doctors who basically told her the same thing, she also keeps going on about how her babies should be very intelligent because shes been taking extra folic acid & supplements for a year.

I've tried to offer her advice about things to aid sickness, based on my experience and she shot me down saying it's much worse with twins, anything I say she shoots me down, I'm trying to bond with her over the pregnancy but she's acting like the only person who has ever been pregnant . She also said she won't be going to term (which is common with twins anyway) because her babies are more precious, she said this in front of our cousin who had a very late loss (7 months). I know IVF is very a hard emotional thing to go through but I can't seem to stop wanting to bang my head against a wall when I see her. AIBU?

OP posts:
treaclesoda · 19/10/2015 14:18

By which I mean that obviously I got my facts wrong.

Sleepybeanbump · 19/10/2015 14:24

I think she sounds very tedious. No one I know has behaved like that with their first pregnancy, or an ivf/multiple pregnancy.

wigglesrock · 19/10/2015 14:30

No I wasn't correcting you, I thought it was maybe just a Health Board difference - I wasn't being a pain in the arse honestly.

Anyway back to the OP. I hope all goes well and there's lovely squidgy twins to double cuddle and that you manage to just smile and nod. But if she's as staggeringly unfeeling in front of your cousin I wouldn't be shy about telling her to wise up.

treaclesoda · 19/10/2015 14:32

No, wiggles I didn't think you were being a pain in the arse. You're right, probably a different health board. Smile

Notimefortossers · 19/10/2015 14:34

She sounds horrendous. My best friend had an IVF first pregnancy after trying for 4 years. Ok, it wasn't twins, but she didn't behave anything like this. And I know several people who've had twins and they've not behaved anything like that either.

Saying that in front of your cousin was unforgivable . . .

I'd be hard pushed not to say something

beepbeep · 19/10/2015 14:40

If it's anything like my sil - IVF twins, it won't stop once they are born, her children are far more precious, interesting, intelligent, time consuming etc etc than anyone else children - apparently!

StrawberryTeaLeaf · 19/10/2015 14:47

Everyone acts like the first person ever to be pregnant with their first,

No, they don't. Many, many women crack on as normal.

GuybrushThreepwoodMP · 19/10/2015 14:53

Can't say anything about the previous thing but I am 37 weeks with twins and this is a million times harder than my singleton pregnancy.
I can't really do anything and because of the risk of preterm labour, I tried to do as little as possible for the last few weeks (despite having a job and a toddler).
So she might be lucky and carry them to term. That's easy easier than having premature babies, but it is by no means easy.

Nikkitta · 19/10/2015 15:14

I'd just let her have her moment. Why shouldn't she leave the cleaning and get more rest than usual, she had a difficult journey to get where she is after all. I'm sure I've pissed my sister off millions of times but she's always there for me, like I am her. That's what sisters are for after all. You sound jealous.

Italiangreyhound · 19/10/2015 15:24

Yellowox you are being unreasonable.

I don’t know how many rounds of IVF your SIL has had, I had lots, it is very stressful, it is very expensive (unless you are on the NHS) and it is both physically and emotionally draining for most people.

You are advised not to do anything strenuous, not to swim in a pool etc.... and maybe because it has been so difficult to get pregnant you do feel more protective of your baby and pregnancy.

It can feel you have beaten the odds to get pregnant so you feel your pregnancy is more precious! Of course it is precious to you, as each pregnancy is to the woman who is expecting a baby/babies.

Maybe her sickness is terrible, who knows what feels worse for one person or for another.

I only had one baby and through IUI not IVF and I almost lost her at 15 weeks, and ended up almost going into premature labour. Well, the hospital thought I had. The whole thing was very stressful. And you know if the pregnancy fails you will almost certainly not pregnant again easily, so you know if it does not work out you are facing more rounds of IVF on top of the terrible sadness of the loss of a baby, which all who lose babies feel. I think fertility treatment leads one to feel both emotionally involved but also not, by that I mean some will have many rounds of IVF, being expecting to be expectant many times and might lose many pregnancies before they really start. All this makes a very stressful brew which it seems to me (talking to friends who just 'got pregnant naturally') is not necessarily present in a pregnancy generally.

... also keeps going on about how her babies should be very intelligent because she’s been taking extra folic acid & supplements for a year. Maybe they will be, maybe they won't - does it matter?

Re I'm trying to bond with her over the pregnancy but she's acting like the only person who has ever been pregnant. Well, this is the first time she has been pregnant, presumably, so cut her some slack. She obviously doesn't feel she needs your advice at the moment - she may one day! So why not bond over something else, a shared love of ice cream, a gentle walk in the park or shopping trip.

Re She also said she won't be going to term (which is common with twins anyway) because her babies are more precious, she said this in front of our cousin who had a very late loss (7 months). It's difficult to know whether this statement was made on purpose to be cruel to your cousin, which I find hard to believe, or was just a bit thoughtless. If someone has lost a baby it is very hard to say anything about babies which might not be considered a bit hurtful or inconsiderate but likewise if someone is pregnant (especially for the first time, especially after IVF) then it is hard to not talk about babies. If she says anything else thoughtless it may be worth reminding her in private that your cousin lost a baby. If it was a long time ago she may have forgotten. Don't shout at me for saying I may forget something like that, people do forget stuff all the time. It's sometimes hard to remember who has experienced what. If it was quite recent then maybe that is less of an excuse!

Re I know IVF is very a hard emotional thing to go through but I can't seem to stop wanting to bang my head against a wall when I see her. I think you need to chill, let her enjoy her pregnancy, she may have felt during IVF that she would never see this day, maybe she wants to bang her head against a wall that other people do not get how bloody amazing this is for her!

To save everyone's heads and everyone's walls just allow her to be a bit precious, be ready to enjoy your new nieces/nephews when they are arrive and don't take it personally, I don't think it is personal to you, it is personal to her.

Good luck.

Italiangreyhound · 19/10/2015 15:25

Phew, sorry, long!!!!

WaggleBee · 19/10/2015 15:38

Everything that Italian said. If you haven't experienced the hell that is ivf then you've no idea of the fear and paranoia she's feeling. Leave her be.

StrawberryTeaLeaf · 19/10/2015 15:51

I was fence sitting, but that's a bit much Waggle. I've known people endure stresses and traumas even worse than IVF (bereavement, domestic violence, stranger violence, critical illness, divorce etc) and still show sensitivity, interest and consideration to those around them rather than self-centred egocentricity.

She can BE excited, worried, anxious and still be pleasant, considerate, measured outwardly.

maybebabybee · 19/10/2015 15:54

*I was fence sitting, but that's a bit much Waggle. I've known people endure stresses and traumas even worse than IVF (bereavement, domestic violence, stranger violence, critical illness, divorce etc) and still show sensitivity, interest and consideration to those around them rather than self-centred egocentricity.

She can BE excited, worried, anxious and still be pleasant, considerate, measured outwardly.*

Quite. And many, many people on this thread have either been through IVF or through pregnancy after multiple losses (myself included), so it's not like none of us 'get it'.

Italiangreyhound · 19/10/2015 16:05

I really cannot see the OP's sister in law is behaving in any badly, she is choosing to manage her pregnancy her way. How is this in any way not considerate. She made a comment in front of a person who had lost her baby during pregnancy and of course that can be very insensitive but we do not know know the full context of that.

Just because she doesn't want to do housework or take other people's advice on medication that does not make her self-centred and egocentric!

Italiangreyhound · 19/10/2015 16:05

in any way badly.

Italiangreyhound · 19/10/2015 16:06

The comment about babies in front of the cousin could be addressed separately from not wanting to do housework, surely.

maybebabybee · 19/10/2015 16:08

No, but her saying her babies will be more intelligent because she takes loads of folic acid makes her massively self-centred and egocentric (not to mention ill-informed). Saying hugely insensitive things in front of someone who has had a late loss makes her massively self-centred and egocentric, regardless of whether or not she "forgot". Saying her babies are more precious than anyone else's makes her massively self-centred and egocentric.

StrawberryTeaLeaf · 19/10/2015 16:20

Yes, all of those things seem self-centred verging on unkind.

Amummyatlast · 19/10/2015 17:43

Perhaps the supplement thing was a joke? I've often said I've taken so many supplements I rattle, and can see how I could make a joke about any babies being super intelligent due to the amount of tablets I have ingested.

Going back to the twin thing, I've remembered how strongly it was stressed that only one embryo should be put back, because the outcome with twins was so much more risky, with higher incidents of miscarriage, diabilities, etc. So it's likely that she's had it drummed into her that twin pregnancies are a bad thing.

Italiangreyhound · 19/10/2015 18:19

My aim is to help the OP understand why her SIL may be a bit sensitive about her own pregnancy; which may make her in turn slightly less sensitive to other people but I don't think IMHO that makes her totally ego-centric.

I can't really comment on the thing with the cousin because it is not very clear what she said or meant. Did she mean that twins were more at risk so often do not go full term, maybe?

Anyway, yellowox it sounded like you wanted to be talked out of feeling 'unreasonable' with her. So to me she does not sound any of the nasty things attributed to her and yellowox if you want to bond with her I think finding something other than pregnancy to do it over would be a good way to go. Good luck.

Italiangreyhound · 19/10/2015 18:25

My aim is to help the OP understand why her SIL may be a bit sensitive about her own pregnancy - partly because I have been that worried nervous person who thought their pregnancy would fail.

MyFavouriteClintonisGeorge · 19/10/2015 18:28

Well, just stand back a bit, only give advice when asked, and perhaps ask one of your parents to have a word about the cousin remark.

Whether you say anything depends on your relationship with her. When my sister went a bit nuts over her wedding I could tease her about it which helped her to relax and me to calm down. Unless you can be confident of things going the same way I would say absolutely nothing.

Coralinebuttoneye · 19/10/2015 18:49

Toobreathless, I'm hardly over emotional, as I said your opinion on tiredness in twin pregnancy doesn't concern me. I did read your comment properly but you assume people pregnant with twins don't have other children or toddlers to look after.

Op unless your asked for advice then don't give it, some people like to do things their own way.

thegoldenlemon · 19/10/2015 19:55

I've just read this whole thread currently 31 weeks pregnant and five weeks into a hospital stay after my second round of IVF with placenta Previa and vasa previa. Just wanted to add some thoughts.

I'm not sure the op has said if this is 'typical' behaviour for her SIL. Like us she prone to insensitivity etc or is this out of character and therefore attributable to hormones/feeling like death/anxiety etc.

Ivf DOES increase your risk of placenta previa due to the positioning of the embryo, essentially from the bottom rather than the top. It increases your chances of the quite terrifying vasa previa from one in 3000 to one in 300. I was asked at my booking in if this has been an assisted conception and was on a range of drugs at the time so can't imagine not mentioning it.

The phrase 'precious' baby will always be ignitable. But it is used often amongst midwives and cons. Do I think my baby or pregnancy is more 'precious' well no. But after 5 years and a hell of a journey I think it's highly unlikely I'd get pregnant again. And that makes my experience feel very like walking along a tightrope.

I read a list above of things 'worse' than Ivf. Well Ivf in itself is no walk in the park but it's only part of a journey of grief at not being able to conceive naturally. It's not the Ivf in itself that's the worst part but the overall shiteness of wanting to have a baby and failing and failing. I have experienced other things on the above list and have, personally, found my infertility to be the most gruelling and painful thing I have ever gone through.