AITAH for telling my wife I would be leaving if she kept acting baby crazy?

Imagine being in a relationship where you’ve already agreed on the size of your family, but then your partner suddenly changes their mind and becomes “baby crazy.” This guy’s wife, after deciding they were done having kids, now wants another one, but he’s firmly against it.

After months of arguments and pressure from family members, he finally snapped and threatened divorce. So, what do you think—was he out of line for standing his ground, or is his wife pushing too hard to change their plans?

‘AITAH for telling my wife I would be leaving if she kept acting baby crazy?’

My wife and I have two kids (9,6). After the second one she said she was done having kids even though we had discussed having three prior to marriage. We talked about it for a long time but I love her and I agreed to change our plans. She had an IUD but we still used condoms. She really didn’t want to get pregnant. About four years ago we agreed that I would get a vasectomy. It made sense since it was a minor surgery unlike her getting tubal ligation.

It went well and after I healed up I went for testing and it worked. If you ever get a vasectomy please do the follow up testing. My friend from college thought he was good to go and now he has a kid. So she got her IUD removed and we stopped using condoms and life was good. Until her sister each had another kid. Then one of her friends had a baby. And my wife went nuts.

She wants another baby. She made a mistake and wants me to go get my vasectomy reversed. Or to get my sperm harvested and get IVF. The f*ck I am getting a needle in my balls or another operation. And we are actually doing great financially right now. Her taking two years off from work would be a big hit. I said we could look at adoption or fostering but that I was not interested in her having another kid. She tried bringing up our agreement from before we got married but I shut that down immediately.

So for the last four months our marriage has been a simmering battle about another kid. She has had her parents over, my parents over, her sisters and their families. All trying to convince me that I should give in. F*ck that noise. I am almost 44. In 12 years my youngest will be starting their career or their post secondary education. I can see the finish line now.

I did offer all the family members that chimed in a fun option. I agreed to get TESA (sperm harvesting) if all the men who agreed with my wife did it as well. Even if they had working ball tubes. At their own expense. And that they pool their money and pay for all bills related to IVF and the raising of the third kid.

They all say I’m being ridiculous and petty. I reminded them that as a unit they all agreed with my wife when she said she was fine with two kids. They wanted to have input then and it was free. I said this decision would require skin in the game. It all came to a head last weekend. My folks had the boys so we could have a nice couple of days to ourselves. Instead my wife and I got into a screaming match. She said I obviously didn’t love her if I wasn’t willing to do this. That we are well off enough to afford all the expenses of another kid. Blah blah blah.

I told her no in no uncertain terms. We had money in the bank for retirement and fun. And that’s what it was for. Not for her to get her hormones calmed down. She accused me of caring more about money than her happiness. I reminded her that she was the one who insisted that having a third kid would demolish her career. She started crying and saying I was an asshole for denying her another kid. That it was not that much of a sacrifice. I finally unloaded and said that a divorce would be cheaper for me than another kid.

That shocked her into silence. We have barely spoken since. I think I broke her. Our retirement funds are separate, our house is in both our names and she earns slightly more than I do. If we get divorced I will get 50/50 custody. I would want it. She would get no alimony and I might get a few dollars in child support. I feel shitty threatening her with divorce. I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her but I am sick and tired of having her make our reproductive decisions like my opinion does not matter.

EDIT: A bunch of you keep asking how I would tell my sons that I am divorcing their mom because she wants another baby. I just typed this as a reply but I actually like it enough to paste it here so you can stop asking.

“Mommy and daddy agreed before getting married that we would have three babies. But then mommy got an important job and did not want to and I quote “waste her time having another kid and wrecking her body again”. Daddy was sad so he held on for four years hoping she would change her mind. but then they talked and she said it was a permanent decision. Since daddy loved mommy he did not want her to be hurt even a tiny bit. So daddy went to the doctor. At the doctor they gave daddy medicine so he would not feel pain.

Then they cut his ball sack open a tiny bit and burned the connection between his balls and the rest of his body. Daddy could not feel it but he fucking still remembers that smell. Then mommy did not need to do anything to not have a baby anymore and she was happy. For almost two years. Then Auntie Joy and Auntie Carmen and mommies friend Maddie all had baby girls. And it made mommy sad and jealous that the girls were getting all the attention. So mommy talked to daddy and said go to the doctor and have him fuck with your balls some more. This made Daddy upset because the fuck I will. Mommy got lots of people to try and tell him to change his mind.

But daddy is happy with his life and told them all to ingest a gigantic satchel of Richards. Mommy spent four months day and night bugging daddy non stop. Then remember when you stayed with Oma and Opa? Mommy and daddy were going to have a fun weekend just doing mommy and daddy stuff. Until she just would not fucking drop it. So daddy told her that if him and his sons were not enough for her then he would say that they should go their separate ways. But daddy loves you boys very much and you are more than enough for him and he will always be there for you.”

EDIT 2 Electric Boogaloo: JFC. I would never actually say that to my sons. once again it was just a response to all the not so bright people asking how I would explain it to them. Odds are I would take them to a family counselor so that I could tell them and then deal with some of the aftermath. I wrote that in anger but I kind of liked it.

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

Funny-Wafer1450 – NTA. Friends and family need to shut up. It’s none of their business. The next time she tells you that you don’t love her, throw that right back at her because she certainly doesn’t love you with the way she’s treating you.

Reddit User – Maybe encourage her to go to therapy. I experienced the same thing after having my tubes removed during my C-section. I made the choice myself, and was done having kids. A year later, I wanted more. My husband agreed to do IVF with the condition of me going to therapy first. IVF takes a lot out of you physically and mentally, he wanted me to be clear minded. The more I talked to my therapist, the more I realized that I wanted more babies because my sense of self was only being a mother and wife. I had lost myself and didn’t know who I was anymore. Self discovery and working on myself was what I needed, not another baby.

No_Lavishness_3206 – NTA. She talked you into not having bad third child and getting a vasectomy. Her career was important to her six years ago it should be important now. I’m not sure you guys will stay married without a lot of counseling. I am not one of the psychos that automatically recommends divorce. Good luck.

GrouchySteam – NTA- you had talks about how many kids you were both willing to have. You made an agreement to stop after 2. And you had a procedure to prevent any other pregnancy from you. Her changing her mind about having a third child doesn’t make you obligated to follow again. Btw if she refused discussing fostering or adoption, and even talked about IVF, she doesn’t want an other kid. She wants to be pregnant.

DELILAHBELLE2605 – NTA. She probably doesn’t even want another child. She wants a baby. In a few years she’ll be over it when she’s dealing with teenagers. And you are so close to more freedom. It’s huge when you can leave the kids and go on date nights etc whenever you want. Counselling is a good idea. And why on earth are your families involved?! That’s insane. If they ever try to discuss it again I’d demand to talk about their private parts too since yours are up for discussion.

I get it. I do. I wanted a third baby for years. But we had agreed on 2. I had a girl and a boy and my husband was done. So I let it go. Well now I am glad I did. Travel is easier with two kids. Negotiating sports and activities is easier. And now that I have a kid in university I would like to really share the fact that they do not get cheaper as they get older. Ohhhhhh no. So I am happy with our choices and am totally over baby fever now. Also, you always hear people say they want another baby. Have you ever heard anyone say they want another teenager? 😀 you also never said how old you are…. You want to be dealing with paying for post-secondary and trying to retire?

dstluke – I had some friends who had 5 husky dogs. They do dog sledding and live on an acreage. They had myself and another friend as weekend guests. I love dogs but I was more than happy to leave. The other guest (I’ll call her Karen) started insisting they give her one of the dogs since she suddenly wanted a husky. They tried to tell her it wasn’t practical as she lived in an apartment and they couldn’t just break up the team like that. Then, suddenly, hubby agreed. He said they’d do a trial run of one week to see how it went.

She lasted 24 hours and had to buy a new sofa. Your wife has all these dreams of a baby. Do yourself a favor and find some friends willing to let you babysit their newborn overnight or something. Guaranteed your wife will think 2 is plenty.