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6th June 2022
10:18pm BST
The option to have or not to have an epidural or any type of pain relief during childbirth is a very personal decision that should be left up to the woman giving birth.
Having gone through child birth twice I can tell you it's stressful enough without anyone trying to derail your birth plan or over rule your choices.
Reading this mum's story on Reddit truly horrified me, I just couldn't believe any mother-in-law would be that brazen.
According to the post the woman's mother-in-law wrote to her husband telling him that his wife should not have an epidural and that it was her duty as a mother to take the pain!
What?
If that wasn't bad enough this mother-in-law went on to say that she felt the woman's other child had behavioural issues because an epidural was taken during his birth.
The poster went on to say that her son did not suffer from behavioural issues and was just a normal toddler;
"Our Dear Son One is hyper, healthy, and not beaten and regimented. He’s a little wild, and stubborn; won’t hug or interact with people he doesn’t know well and independent. He’s also 2 years old!"The real kicker in all of this was when the new mum then revealed that her bossy mother-in-law had epidurals on all of her own children. Unfortunately her husband didn't even tell her about this and she instead came across the interaction while cleaning out her husbands emails. She's now unsure if she should confront him. Personally I think she should. Maybe he didn't tell her because he didn't want to upset her but she also has a right to know that someone close to her and her children is that manipulative. Words definitely need to be had with the mother-in-law especially if she plans on being involved with her grandchildren as she needs to be told where the line is and not to cross it again.
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