A 52-year-old Grandpa was perplexed at getting grief for not flying home from his long-anticipated vacation when his daughter went into labor.
The man explained to Reddit’s Am I The A**hole (AITA) that he was on a 2-week vacation with his wife in Mexico after saving up to go on their dream trip. He said the holiday was booked and paid for before he knew that his daughter was pregnant and was not due to give birth until the end of the month they traveled.
All was going well when he got a call from his daughter’s boyfriend on day 6 of his holiday to say that his daughter had gone into labor and he should get the next plane home.
The Grandpa Said He Could Not Get Home From His Trip Early
The original poster (OP) told the boyfriend that he couldn’t fly home early and would like to be kept updated on what was happening with the birth.
His daughter called him a few hours later to ask when they would be back as the birth was taking longer than expected, so she wanted him there to allay her fears.
He said that his daughter was becoming a mom for the first time, so he understood that she would be nervous, but he and his wife could not just pack up and leave. The daughter was upset at this and hung up.
There Were Complications With The Birth
The OP received a call in the middle of the night but missed it as they were sleeping. The call was from his daughter’s boyfriend, who explained that there were complications with a c-section. When the OP tried to call his daughter the next day, she explained that she was scared and things could have gone wrong but then hung up without explaining what had happened.
It turned out that both the baby and his daughter were ok, but they only found this out via Facebook, which is how they saw pictures of the grandchild. The daughter has refused to let her dad and his wife see the baby, and they have barely spoken.
He Has Not Been Able to See His Grandchild.
The OP finishes by saying that he has prepared to be there for the birth of their grandchild, but they would have lost a lot of money leaving their vacation only 6 days into the trip. He said that even if they did leave straightaway, they would not have returned to support their daughter during the birth. He feels like his daughter is being very harsh, especially as she is not accepting their apology.
He did get some support on AITA, with one person responding, “NTA- you can’t just rush home from another country, and if you had, same-day tickets would have been astronomical.”
Some people were confused that the daughter wanted her dad there, with one saying, “I’m confused. Do people normally expect grandparents to be witnesses to their grandchildren’s birth? I personally never heard/experienced” Another poster agreed when they said, “I sometimes think it’s a North American thing. None of my friends from where I grew up had their parents present for the birth. Often they would come and stay at some point in the six weeks postpartum, but I just don’t understand this concept of birth as a spectator sport.”
The OP had some advice from people who told him to hang on in there, and they were sure he would see his grandchild soon. One person commented, “Clearly, your daughter is acting irrationally. Give it a couple of weeks. I imagine she will find forgiveness when the sleep-dep hits, fights with the husband start, and she needs your help.”
We hope they work it all out and he sees his grandchild soon.
Source: Reddit