Céline, 30, had her second baby just eight weeks ago. She's exhausted, recovering, and doing what any new mum does, surviving on adrenaline and not much else. So when her mother-in-law, Diane, showed up shortly after the birth and looked her up and down and said, 'You've got spots, you look shattered, when I was your age I was at my best,' Céline let it slide. Three hours of labour will do that to your face. She moved on.
But when the wider family came round a month later to meet the baby for the first time, Diane asked about babysitting. Céline explained, politely, reasonably, that they weren't doing overnights yet. They hadn't even done overnights with her three-year-old until he was two. It was nothing personal.
Diane didn't take it that way. Her response? 'You should hand him over and go to the gym, love. A month on and you still look like a whale.'
Céline asked everyone to leave. Her husband, Marc, didn't back her up. He was furious, not at his mother, but at Céline, for 'upsetting' her.
It escalated fast. Marc's entire family descended on the house for what Céline describes as the most uncomfortable conversation of her life. His parents, his siblings, all of them suggesting that Céline was 'emotionally unstable' for reacting the way she did, and floating the idea of taking both children, the newborn and the three-year-old, so she could 'rest and recover.'
Céline refused. Marc packed a bag and moved back to his parents'.
That was a month ago. He has not called. He has not visited. He has not seen his children.
Céline is now navigating a legal situation she can't fully discuss, raising two boys alone, and wondering whether she was wrong to stand her ground.
Was she? Or is this one of those cases where asking someone to leave was the only sane response available? Tell us what you think in the comments.