by A woman has questioned whether she is wrong to consider leaving her husband after he refused to pay half of the hospital bill for the birth of her child.
In the post, which has since gone viral on Twitter, the new mother, 32, shared her dilemma on the Reddit subreddit AITA [Am I the a**hole] under the username u/WateryKoala422, where he revealed that he was asking for help because he “honestly” thought the problem “could be the end of [her] Marriage”.
According to the woman, she and her husband of seven years welcomed their first child three months ago after deciding it was time to expand their family. However, the woman said the couple ran into trouble when it came to the hospital bill, as her husband insisted on paying the entire $8,000 cost for himself because he decided at the last minute to have an epidural.
“Everything was going well and we were in our little newborn bubble of bliss until the hospital bills came,” she wrote. “Both my husband and I have jobs and everything financially is split 50/50, but we’ve always kept our money separate with the exception of a joint account for bills.”
The woman then explained that, throughout her pregnancy, she planned to have a “natural, unmedicated birth with as little intervention as possible.” However, she decided to have an epidural 24 hours after her delivery.
“My husband had no problem with it, he even encouraged it,” she recalls.
However, according to the Reddit user, when the bill came, her husband brought it to her so she could “pay all $8,000 (after insurance) of [her] personal savings”.
After asking why he would cover all the costs of the birth, the woman said her husband said: “You’re the one who couldn’t last a few more hours and paid the bill with all your medicine and an extra night’s stay” and that “you shouldn’t to pay for everything [her] additional requests”.
According to the 32-year-old, her husband also told her: “If I wanted luxury, I should wait to pay for it.”
In the post, the woman said she was “stunned and outraged” by her husband’s behavior but that she “refused to back down” and called her a “princess” because she “expects to pay for all the ‘extras.’ he asked at the hospital.
“This is by far the biggest issue in our 14 year relationship so far and I’m so lost on where we go from here,” she wrote. “I gave and paid the bill, but since then we haven’t spoken much and I honestly feel like I’m being disrespected.
“Do I have a right to feel this way or is it just hormones? REQUEST [Am I the a**hole] What do I expect to contribute to the cost of my delivery? [Would I be wrong] are you thinking of leaving him?’
On Twitter, where a screenshot of the post has gone viral, thousands have called to encourage the woman to leave her husband.
“He needs to be served with the papers immediately,” one person tweeted, while another said: “He needs to go. I wouldn’t even ask for advice on that.”
“WHAT. Reading this makes me so angry. Where do you start???” someone else asked.
In addition to outrage at the husband’s behavior, many questioned the use of the word “luxury” to describe things his wife relied on to help her during labor, such as the epidural.
“I can’t even begin with the word ‘luxury,'” one person tweeted.
In a subsequent Reddit post, the woman clarified that her issue was not with the money but rather with her husband’s “disrespect,” noting that she and her husband work in “high positions in our companies and can live a comfortable lifestyle.”
“I have to add that my husband is a little upset that he was 100 percent planning to pay the bill from our joint account until an epidural appeared ‘unexpectedly’. It’s NOT about money, it’s about disrespect,” he said.
In a follow-up, the woman revealed that she didn’t plan to share any additional updates about her marital status, but said that she had “opened up [her] eyes’ after seeing the reaction to her post.
“There probably won’t be any updates because I don’t believe in sharing all of my marital issues with strangers online, but I will let you know that every single person in our circle has taken my side and I’ve been in contact with a lawyer,” she wrote. “Thanks again for all the love and advice!”
According to the American Journal of Managed Care, which cited data from a Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) report, the average “maternity admission cost for a person with employer-sponsored insurance was $13,811” from 2016 to 2017 , with out-of-pocket costs ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 per state.
However, the price is much higher for women who undergo C-sections, with the average cost reaching $17,004, according to researchers.
The independent u/WateryKoala422 has been contacted for comment.
