Abby Connolly
If you’re a parent, did you ever feel pressured by your family to name your child something specific even though you didn’t want to?
One pregnant woman is secretly hoping she doesn’t give birth to a girl, as she feels pressured by her mother-in-law to name her after her late daughter.
She’s 28 and expecting her first child with her husband. She and her husband dated for eight years before getting married. She, her husband, and his family were all very happy.
Unfortunately, her husband’s family experienced a tragedy right before her wedding. Her sister-in-law passed away, and it made a big impact. Her wedding was postponed for a year to let everyone grieve.
Then, after she and her husband finally got married, his family had a very specific request.
“After the wedding, all the relatives from my husband’s side wanted us to get pregnant immediately and wished it would be a daughter,” she recalled.
“There was a lot of pressure. Gradually, after a year of being married, we were pregnant. We were very happy.”
As her pregnancy progressed, she later learned that her mother-in-law desperately wanted her to have a baby girl so she could name it after her departed sister-in-law. Sadly, her mother-in-law implied that a baby girl would somewhat take the place of her late daughter.
In her mother-in-law’s eyes, having a baby girl would be like her daughter being “reborn,” which disturbs her. Her husband has sided with her, and they’ve tried asking her mother-in-law to back down on the baby name request several times, but she keeps ignoring them.
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