20-year-old husband misses the birth of his daughter, his 19-year-old wife feels abandoned despite him being on active Navy duty: “Everyone’s acting like I don’t care”

Briana Viser • Writer and Editor

May 21, 2025 2:00 PM EDT

Being married is like running a marathon that you'll never win. It's endless, everlasting, but there's no finish line, and there's no one you're even competing with. There's no winner, just constant struggling to keep up with your surroundings. For both men and women these days, being an equal presence in the relationship is so much more significant than it was in the past. Dating 40 years ago meant that the man could be checked out, and that the woman didn't even have to necessarily work. These days, there's a lot more pressure on both parties. The woman has pressure not only to work, but to be the main caregiver and provider to the children, to be the main parent. The man has to also put in the elbow grease as a parent, but has to make tons of money as well. It's surprising that people are still choosing to have children.

In the story below, it centers around a nascent family. The husband is deployed, as he's on active duty for the Navy. His young wife is pregnant and giving birth, but he's not afforded the time off to see her for his daughter's birth because of his high stakes job. Now, how did everyone in the story feel about it? Read everything below for the whole details.

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AITA for missing my daughter’s birth even though my girlfriend wasn’t due,

via Alena Ozerova / Canva

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