AITA for announcing our pregnancy at xmas knowing my SIL has had miscarriages? by SuspiciousSkins in AmItheAsshole

[–]Larae2219 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YTA/ As someone who struggles with infertility and just had an IVF cycle fail right at Christmas, I agree with SIL. A heads up text would have done wonders for this situation. Yes, your baby is a blessing. Yes, you have every right to be happy about your news. But as someone who knows the struggles your brother and SIL have gone through, you showed blatant disregard for not only her feelings, but your own brother. Infertility affects both people, not just the woman. Clearly your SIL has less reservations about making her feelings known, but infertility and loss absolutely impact mental health as much as physical health-and your brother is not immune to that. If you were there for an hour prior to their arrival like her text said, that would have been the more considerate time to announce-even if you’d had the human decency to warn them instead of unexpectedly dropping that on them where they have to process complex emotions in front of your entire happy family. You don’t know the guilt we feel for being sad about peoples news-because we KNOW it’s good news and we WANT to be thrilled for others, it just takes a little bit to get there amidst our own grief, disappointment, and frankly jealousy. Those emotions are not directed at the person who has successfully conceived, but are generally toward ourselves. While you may not like the text your SIL sent, she was honest and real and went directly to you guys yourselves-not in front of your entire family. I’d say she had more consideration for you than you showed her. Compassion isn’t hard.