New Mom Refuses To Let Her Parents Meet Their Grandchild After They Didn't End Their Vacation Early To Be At Her Birth

Vacations are a very important part of life for many of us, and for those of us who do get the chance to vacation, we all know how expensive and complicated it can be.

One couple recently ran into a family conflict while on vacation – return home to support their daughter giving birth, or stay for the rest of their trip.

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The couple was enjoying a trip to Mexico when their daughter when into labor.

The 52-year-old explains that he and his wife were on a two-week vacation in Cancun when the drama unfolded.

“We’re from the US and planned all year for this trip, and saved up money to be able to go on this trip.”

He adds in an edit that he and his wife had booked and paid for the trip before his daughter got pregnant.

They had believed the trip would work out since his daughter’s child was not expected until the end of the month, and their trip was all the way at the beginning, but apparently, it was not to be.

On the sixth day in Cancún, the couple received a phone call, announcing that the daughter had begun to give birth, and she was asking for the couple to take the next flight home so they could be with her.

The couple said this was going to be impossible, and asked for updates.

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A few hours later, they got another call, asking when they were going to be back, updating them that the birth was taking longer than expected and that their daughter was scared.

“She’s a first-time mom so it was expected for her to be scared. My wife and I assured her everything would be fine, but we were unable to just pack up and go. She got upset and hung up on me.”

In the middle of the night, they missed another call, where his daughter’s boyfriend was letting them know that there had been complications, and she had needed an emergency C-section.

They called as soon as they were able, where the daughter expressed frustration with her dad and his wife, accusing them of valuing their trip over the birth of their grandchild. She hung up and refused to take further calls.

The baby was born healthy, and his daughter was okay, but after returning home, the couple has barely spoken to the daughter, and have not been allowed to see their grandchild in person.

“We had planned to be there for our grandchild’s birth, but we couldn’t leave 6 days into a trip we spent a large amount of money on. Even if we did, we wouldn't make it back on time. Even if we did make it back we couldn’t do anything the doctors couldn’t in the situation.”

The writer of the post feels that his daughter is being too harsh with him, even though he and his wife have apologized many times.

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The comments on the thread are definitely split in both directions.

One commenter writes: “[Not The A--hole]- you can't just rush home from another country, and if you had, same-day tickets would have been astronomical. I take it your daughter is mad, but it was a no-win situation.”

They also point out that Covid restrictions are still in place for many hospitals, and the recently traveling couple could have possibly been denied entry.

Another user points out that even if they had gotten a flight home, they would have likely missed the birth, and still been blamed.

“It was a stressful event. They weren't ready. I know how it is to feel alone. But I also know you couldn't have done anything for them.”

Another agreed that returning home would have been challenging, if not impossible but disagreed with the way the original poster handled the situation.

They argue that first-time births are known to be unpredictable, and if the daughter wanted her family there, the whole family should have made a plan for what to do if she went into labor while they were gone before the trip happened.

“Also OP slept through their daughter’s first birth KNOWING there were complications,” the commenter continues. “At the very least, what they could have done was stay up, face timed, or answered the phone. That to me, sort of shows me OPs priorities and why their daughter is upset with them.”

Another comment furthers this argument, saying that the original poster is the one at fault, and calls out a double standard of medical concern.

They asked if the couple would have had the same reaction if their daughter had been in a deadly car accident, or needed a different kind of medical intervention.

“I sometimes wonder here if people forget childbirth is a major medical event and women can die,” they wrote. “They don’t realize that one of those calls could have been the last time they spoke to their child.”

One point that many commenters seem to agree on is that the family was aware that these events were coinciding, and should have either tried to postpone the trip or at least planned for what to do if the situation arose. 

And sleeping through a phone call detailing a potentially life-threatening surgery certainly did not help.

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Hawthorn Martin is a news and entertainment writer living in Texas. They focus on social justice, pop culture, and human interest stories.