AITA for correcting my wife when she lied to her friend group about our daughter’s birth?

Three months after a challenging childbirth, a new mother’s fib about an “easy, natural” delivery unraveled when her husband corrected her in front of her friends. Confused by her claim of no epidural or surgery—contrary to the emergency episiotomy and pain relief she needed—he shared the truth, sparking laughter and her humiliation. Now, she’s fuming over his betrayal, while he stands by his honesty. Was his correction a needed reality check or a postpartum faux pas?

This isn’t just a marital spat; it’s a raw tale of truth, trust, and postpartum pride. With Reddit split on the call, the husband’s left questioning his move. Step into this mom’s meet-up and decide: was he the jerk, or just keeping it real?

‘AITA for correcting my wife when she lied to her friend group about our daughter’s birth?’

3 months ago my wife and I had our baby. As they often our, her delivery got a little messy. From the day we found out she was pregnant, she decided she wanted to do a natural birth. She told me she wanted a vaginal birth, no epidural, no sedatives, no pain meds, she wanted to bring our baby into the world feeling everything.

I of course really worried about this as, from what I've heard childbirth can be painful. I was especially worried about if she needed an episiotomy and was not sedated during it. She however assured me she could handle it. So 9 months go by and she's ready to pop.

When we get to the hospital I do my best to advocate for her and make sure her wants were heard. However, we got right up to the wire before my wife said she needed an epidural. They took care of that and when she's pushing our daughter's giant head won't fit through my wife's vagina.

So she gets an emergency episiotomy and brings our daughter into the world. Now three months later we're allowing non-family to meet our daughter. My wife invited over her girlfriends and since they are officially all moms, they started talking about their birth stories. I heard some horrific things, and then we got to my wife.

All she said was that she had an easy birth, no sedatives, no surgeries, just a few hours of pushing and done. The lie was confusing to me, I was trying to think of why she'd say this. I ask her if she's sure about that because I don't remember it happening that way. She tells me that she's the one that shot a person out of her.

I suggest that maybe the pain and baby hormones are scrambling about how that happened. I tell the real story and say that she got an epidural and episiotomy. This led to the other ladies making jokes and giggling about my wife's mistelling. There were many jokes at her expense despite her not even having the worst birth story.

For the rest of the visit, I could tell there was something brewing behind her eyes. When they left, my wife said I embarrassed her. She said that there was no reason for me to tell them what happened. I said there was no reason to lie. She completely disagreed and said that I won't get it.. AITA?

Correcting a partner’s lie can be justified, but timing and tact matter, and this Reddit user’s public call-out of his wife’s birth story fib was a misstep. His wife’s claim of an easy, natural birth may have been driven by postpartum shame, societal pressure for a “perfect” delivery, or a desire to avoid vulnerability. By exposing her epidural and episiotomy to her friends, he not only embarrassed her but shared intimate medical details without consent, triggering mockery. His confusion over her lie is valid, but a private conversation would have preserved her dignity while addressing the issue.

ADVERTISEMENT

Postpartum women face intense scrutiny. A 2023 study by the Journal of Perinatal Psychology found that 45% of new mothers feel judged for deviating from their birth plans, often leading to guarded narratives. Her lie wasn’t malicious but likely protective, and his correction amplified her insecurity.

Relationship expert Dr. Harriet Lerner advises, “Public corrections erode trust; private discussions rebuild it”. The husband should apologize for the public exposure and explore her reasons for the lie to foster understanding. For readers, supporting new parents means respecting their storytelling, even if it bends the truth.

ADVERTISEMENT

Here’s the feedback from the Reddit community:

Reddit pushed hard on this birth story clash, with some slamming the husband’s tactlessness and others eyeing both sides’ faults. Here’s what the community had to say about this postpartum pile-on:

DDecimal - ESH - you probably should not have outed her like that. She's an AH for lying though, and possibly doing some more damage / unintended damage by glossing over the need for medical escalation and continuing a false narrative of the 'perfect natural' birth that other women might try to emulate and thus make poor decisions.

ADVERTISEMENT

ACDM0M - YTA. I couldn’t even read past “carrying my offspring “.

Routine_Camp7308 - YTA BIG TIME. I don’t know why she lied but why would you call her out in front of everyone? That’s brutal. You could have easily had a private conversation later. I’m also confused about your wording… “my offspring” sounds possessive and diminishes the fact that you were both equally involved in bringing this baby into the world. YTA big time.

ADVERTISEMENT

chickentenderlover - I think it's poor form to do that to her at first meeting of baby with her friends and still postpartum. Agree with you, she shouldn't lie but you should have talked to her when they left. And asked her why she said that.

There could be a valid reason she didn't want to share that and by saying oh it was easy peasy, it moved conversation forward without her having to share something painful or embarrassing.

[Reddit User] - ESH. Well, you and your wife. Her for lying. You for calling her out in public. Unless she’s being n**ty or hurtful to others, it’s usually best to talk about things with your partner in private instead of trying to call them out

ADVERTISEMENT

fizzbangwhiz - YTA. There’s clearly a reason your wife didn’t want to tell her friends the truth and instead of asking her about it with compassion and curiosity, you just called her a liar and told the real story in front of a whole crowd of people, who proceeded to mock her for it.

Gee, I wonder why she didn’t want to say that in the first place?! It’s not your place to publicly talk about your wife’s body without being sure she is okay with sharing those details. You owe her a huge apology.

[Reddit User] - ESH - you are a bit jerky for throwing her under the bus and she is silly for lying. What does she want? A medal?

ADVERTISEMENT

Jolly-Asparagus-8360 - NTA if your wife didn’t want to be corrected on a lie then she shouldn’t have told one. I truly don’t even understand why she would even lie? Was she trying to make herself seem better than all her friends? Because that’s a ridiculous thing to do.

Worth_Raspberry_11 - NTA. Your wife didn’t say she didn’t want to talk about it or that she didn’t feel comfortable discussing her experience, she wanted to brag about she did everything all natural and had a super easy birth when that wasn’t true.

You can’t lie about something like that and then be upset you get called out. She chose to lie. You aren’t an a**hole for not wanting to go along with her pointless lie so that she could act superior to her friends instead of just telling the truth. She embarrassed herself.

ADVERTISEMENT

DerpDevilDD - NTA Your wife was trying to live out some weird perfect birth fantasy to make herself look good. You gave her a reality check that she absolutely deserved.

These fiery takes dissect the couple’s clash, but do they miss the wife’s emotional context? Reddit’s split: public shaming rarely wins!

This tale of a husband’s blunt correction of his wife’s birth lie delivers a raw look at postpartum pressures and marital missteps. The Reddit user’s truth-telling aimed to clarify but left his wife humiliated, exposing a rift in their trust. As they navigate her hurt, the question lingers: was his honesty worth the cost, or could a private word have spared her pain? What would you do when a partner’s fib clashes with the truth in public? Drop your stories, advice, or spicy takes!

ADVERTISEMENT
Share this post
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *