Bringing a new life into the world can either strengthen or weaken a relationship.
For some couples, it tests their boundaries, making them realise that having a child might not be all daisies and sunshine.
But it’s the work that you put in before your bundle of joy’s imminent arrival that puts you to the test.
For one dad-to-be, his wife’s constant demands forced him to confront her about her “laziness”.
Taking to Reddit’s AITA forum, he shared his predicament, asking “AITA for telling my pregnant wife to stop acting like a child?”
Explaining his situation, Annual-Eye-9459 wrote that he and his wife were expecting their first child in December.
“I live in chronic pain due to a slew of health issues. I also work a job where I'm on my feet constantly. I can't get a new job right now due to personal reasons, but I plan to as soon as possible,” he said.
His wife quit her job after finding out they were having a baby.
“The problem is, she's gotten really lazy. I understand pregnancy is hard, but it's gotten to the point she won't even make food or clean the house sometimes,” he explained.
He went on to say that since taking the pregnancy test, she’s “been whining and complaining constantly. She sounds like a child. (I hungry I sore, my head hurts, I'm sick, I can't shit etc).”
As much as it annoyed him, he chose not to say anything.
But one incident got him really riled up.
“I had just gotten home from a 10-hour shift and was having a flair-up. I just wanted to have a bath and relax because I was in so much pain,” he wrote.
He asked her to order their dinner online, to which she responded that she could only eat home-cooked meals.
“I yelled at her and told her I've had the worst day and she needs to stop complaining and be an adult for once; she started crying. I immediately apologised over and over again but she left anyway.
“A couple hours later my MIL called me and called me a misogynistic c*** and a slew of other names. I hung up because I don't need that.”
Annual-Eye-9459’s post gained more than 2.5K comments, with a 92% upvote.
Basically, the consensus was a mixed bag.
“Wife tips the scales for me by blabbing her marriage issues to her family and letting her mother harass her husband. That s***'s not okay, commented one user.
Another said: “I lived with chronic pain and I've been pregnant. So I can compare. And it sounds like neither one of you want to actually be supportive, it's more of a competition of who has it worse.”