Mother-in-law gets baby’s name changed while mum recovers from c-section

Shocking!

Content Editor / February 08 2019

A new mum was distraught when she found out that her mother-in-law had secretly changed her baby’s name while she was recovering from an emergency c-section.

Writing in to an advice column online, the woman explained how she’d found out that her baby’s name had a different spelling two months after he was born.

“My son is 2 months old, and I just discovered my husband spelled my son’s middle name as “Finlay” instead of “Finley” on all of his legal documentation,” she writes.

“Apparently his mother guilt-tripped him into doing this while I was asleep after my emergency c-section.”

It turns out that the MIL had also tried to change the baby’s first name too!

“She tried to convince him to give our son a first name that I very much hated, saying that I would ‘get mad, but get over it,’” the woman continued.

“My husband thought changing his first name was too much but apparently gave in to spelling his middle name the way his mom wanted.

“She thinks that ‘Finlay’ is more masculine then ‘Finley.’”

getty images

getty images

The woman then explains that this behavior is not exactly surprising, saying her MIL is a manipulator and “I have always known she doesn’t like me.”

She also acknowledged that her husband had not done the right thing by her and they are working through it, but wondered how they should approach the issue with her MIL.

Readers were amazed that the woman’s MIL and hubby would try to do something like this, with some even calling her husband a “worthless sack.”

“Change your kid’s name to what you want and then just don’t plan trips to see your MIL ever again,” wrote one.

“It will be a delicious thrill to send her a Christmas card each year with your son’s name spelled out completely, knowing that you won’t be spending the holidays with her.”

“This is 100% a husband problem, not a MIL problem. Make him fix it,” added another.

The advice columnist himself, Carvell Wallace, had strong opinions too!

“I would not approach the offending in-law because I’d be afraid an actual fist fight would break out,” he wrote.

“Secondly, what in the entire f*ck is up with your husband? He’s got to decide if you are his co-parent or his mother is.

“He owes you a very significant and full-throated apology," he wrote, "and if he doesn’t see why then it’s hard for me to imagine that you are in a relationship with a trustworthy partner.

“You and your kid deserve so much better. "I would drop the subject and let this woman spend the rest of her days anticipating a retaliation that may or may not be soon coming.”

Nicola Conville has worked as a journalist and editor for more than 20 years across a wide range of print and online publications. Her areas of expertise are parenting, health and travel. She has two children; Lucy, age eight, and Nathan, age five.

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