28-year-old new mom bars mother-in-law from delivery room for saying the baby isn't officially her grandson until he takes a paternity test: "I don't want her energy near me or my baby"

Author image for Ely Bulnes
Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Jul 20, 2025 5:00 PM EDT

Giving birth is one of the most intense human experiences a woman could ever have. Our entire biology is engineered to grow, carry, and birth a child. The monthly cycle of hormones we must endure are a testament to this. I personally feel punished by my own body every month when I choose not to get pregnant – a massive failure, as far as my uterus is concerned. Despite this, the act of birth is a massive strain and can leave a woman's body physically and hormonally totally wrecked for some time. The only silver lining immediately after the chaos of labor is getting to hold the life you created in your arms for the first time. 

In our story today, an entitled mother in law plans to disrupt the precious first moment between a new mother and her baby. Honestly, the intrustion upon the delivery room wouldn't be so bad if she hadn't spent the last 9 months saying that the baby might not actually be her biological grandson, implying that her DIL is a cheater and liar. 

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  • 01

    AITA for not letting my mother-in-law in the delivery room after she said my baby isn't "really family" until a DNA test?

    Cheezburger Image 10530814208
    via SelectStock from Getty Images Signature

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02
    I (28F) am currently in labor and writing this between contractions because I'm that p ed off. My husband (30M) is supportive but caught in the middle.
    via u/Competitive-Roll3940
  • 03
    My MIL has been making "jokes" for months about how this baby might not be her son's. I've never cheated, never even given a
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  • 04
    reason to doubt me, but she keeps dropping comments like, "Well, we'll see who he looks like!" or "There's always a chance!" She
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  • 05
    even once laughed and said, "You know, women lie about paternity all the time."
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  • 06
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    via freemixer from Getty Images Signature

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 07
    I told my husband I was uncomfortable, and he did talk to her, but she brushed it off as "just teasing." I started distancing myself,
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  • 08
    but now that I'm in labor, she showed up at the hospital demanding to be let in the room "because she was there when all her other grandkids were born."
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  • 09
    I told the nurses no. She's not coming in. I don't want that energy near me or my baby. She started crying and called me petty. She
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  • 10
    told my husband I'm punishing her for a joke and that I'm "keeping her grandson from her."
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  • 11
    Now my husband is trying to play peacemaker, saying maybe we can let her in for just a minute, and I'm holding my ground.
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  • 12
    Paternity Testing (Father's Sample) (Child's Sample) Paternity Testing
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 13
    zeromig NTA -- according to her it's not her grandchild. Oblige her.
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  • 14
    Competitive-Roll3940 OP She spent months implying this baby
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  • 15
    might not be her grandchild. I'm just respecting that she doesn't get to be in the delivery room after all that.
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  • Throw her own logic back into her face! That's not her grandson, and she's not allowed to hold him, until the paternity test comes back! Wait the results got lost in the mail? What a shame..

  • 16
    Due-Frosting-6197 agree with you. She questioned the baby's paternity, she doesn't get to flip the switch. now and act like grandma of the year.
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  • 17
    mdsnbelle Nope. If the kid isn't family until a DNA test, then the kid isn't family.
    via u/mdsnbelle
  • 18
    Also, birth is not a spectator sport. You're the one putting your life at risk, not your husband or that banshee in the waiting room. If he can't be 100 with you on that, then he can go sit with her.
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  • 19
    georgiegraymouse Exactly this. Setting aside DNA, supposed "jokes", family dynamics, and literally
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  • 20
    anything else - the person birthing the baby decides what guest(s) get to be in the birthing room, and no one else. Period.
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  • She really doesn't need a reason to request alone time with her new baby in the delivery room.

  • 21
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    via NataliaDeriabina from Getty Images

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 22
    It doesn't matter what your sisters-in-law chose (or relented to), or how close you are, or if MIL's best friend got to attend her
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  • 23
    grandchild's birth, or if her mail carrier attended her second cousin-once- removed's hairdresser's boyfriend's niece's
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  • 24
    birth, or if she'll visit "just for a minute" (it won't be a minute). The birthing person decides, and everyone else steps aside
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  • 25
    and quietly waits for text updates at the leisure of your attending support person (husband, partner, whoever).
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  • 26
    Your L&D nurses are more than happy to run interference and tell MIL to scram (to her house, she doesn't need to hang
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  • 27
    around because you deserve to bond and rest for several hours or even your whole stay in peace). You should also ask to be
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  • 28
    notified if anyone requests a DNA test on Baby (your husband to "keep the peace" or MIL because she's an AH).
    via u/georgiegraymouse
  • 29
    NTA gastropodia42 She wasn't joking. Ask her for proof that your husbands dad is really his father.
    via u/gastropodia42

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Babies family drama marriage pregnancy fatherhood paternity married life relationships parenting mother in law love family pregnant red flag newborn parents
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