Pregnant woman becomes a first responder to a medical emergency on the street, then gets accosted by the neighbors because she refuses to deadlift an elderly man: ‘I’m 9 months pregnant!'

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jul 20, 2025 9:00 PM EDT

This pregnant woman was simply enjoying her daily stroll around the neighborhood when she saw an elderly man take a fall on the sidewalk. She rushed to his aid and tried to help in any way she could, but her neighbors got hung up on the fact that she was unwilling to help pick him up. Sorry, y'all, but a woman who's 9 months pregnant has no business deadlifting a full-grown man. 

Otherwise, you may be looking at two medical emergencies instead of just one. 

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement
  • Cheezburger Image 10531487744
    via Povoznuik

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

  • Why won't this pregnant lady lift me up? S I'm 9 months pregnant and two weeks away from my due date. I take a daily walk for exercise and on today's walk, I saw two men on the footpath across from me. One,
    via shamochan
  • who was elderly, had fallen and his son, also not that young, was trying to help him up. They had one of those stroller things that's not quite a wheelchair, but has a little seat thing.
    via shamochan
  • I called out if they needed help and crossed the street. I tried to help the son hoist his father up, but the father was deadweight and couldn't assist in anyway. I also have no experience in lifting people and the son probably didn't either, so we were not getting anywhere.
    via shamochan
  • The son kept suggesting new ways to try, but after a few tries, I said that being 9 months pregnant, I wasn't sure how effective I would be. The son and father got snarky and said something like, "this will be over soon if you just help us".
    via shamochan
  • I offered to knock on doors for help and the son shut down the idea and continued to give me directions. His directions kinda ped me off because it was like, "just do this, blah blah". I said that if they don't
    via shamochan
  • want to ask neighbours, they could possibly call the ambulance (free/ not expensive if you have a membership in my country). The dad made a tsk sound at me, looked at his son and asked, "why isn't she helping us?".
    via shamochan
  • Eventually, a random car drove past and I flagged it down like a mad woman. Turns out it was someone from a nearby house so he came back with his sons and got it sorted. It was just a very awkward encounter.
    via shamochan
  • KombuchaBot After they got unpleasant I would have stepped back and called an ambulance. You went above and beyond.
    via KombuchaBot
  • soiknowwh. Embarrassment can make some people act snarky as they feel under pressure, but that's absolutely no excuse to treat someone badly when they are trying to help you. Particularly a pregnant woman who is doing her best under the circumstances!
    via soiknowwh
  • If I were the son I would be so grateful that someone came to help, but would definitely have asked you to knock on a nearby door rather than asking you to help me lift the dad. Getting someone who is heavily pregnant to lift heavy weights is so obviously not a good idea.
    via soiknowwh
  • SwimmingP... • That man and his son are both selfish _. For anyone reading this who doesn't know, heavy lifting in late stage pregnancy can result in even if it SEEMS unlikely... her baby's life is more important than your dad having to sit on his a for a few minutes
    via SwimmingP
  • Hedgiest_hog You were lovely in trying to help and offering to get help. I know the son was desperate, but the first rule of emergency response is to make sure that you as the responder are safe.
    via Hedgiest_hog
  • However, for you and anyone else in this situation (and lives in a place where medical aid isn't prohibitively expensive): if someone has fallen and can't get up by themselves, it is really not advisable that you try to manhandle them upright. If
    via Hedgiest_hog
  • possible, they should be checked out by a medical professional. This is for two reasons: firstly, not all breaks, fractures, or soft tissue injuries are apparent until a person weight bears and you will make things much worse if they collapse
    via Hedgiest_hog
  • again; secondly, people are heavy and you are very likely to injure your back/shoulder, especially if the person loses their footing and/or struggles. I have, in my professional life, seen a person try to stand after
    via Hedgiest_hog
  • a fall and immediately collapse into a care worker due to a neck of femur fracture. And I've seen someone do real damage to their shoulder trying to pick up a parent after staff said to wait for the RN to check them over.
    via Hedgiest_hog
  • Cool_Relative7359. Fear makes people lash out and sadly men are more likely to do so. This was a scared adult man (and probably embarrassed) and his scared son and they were being mean out of fear. Not an excuse, mind you. Both are old enough to know better.
    via Cool_Relative7359
  • Economy-Cod310. What a couple of rude people! No pregnant woman should be expected to de d lift a grown man. Nope, nope, nope. I can understand the old man might not have realized she was pregnant, but the son!? face he was. What a
    via Economy-Cod310

  • When you're reaching the end of your pregnancy, many women are ready to get the dang thing out already. Their feet are swollen, their tummies have gravitational pull, and they're really looking forward to sleeping on their backs again. However, pregnant women also have a funny way of being incredibly self-preserving, so when this woman was face-to-face with an emergency in her neighborhood, she was happy to help strangers, but ultimately was looking out for herself. 

    Truthfully, it wasn't even selfish, because she wasn't just trying to keep herself from going into early labor, but she was looking out for her future baby—something every mom aspires to do. 

Tags

family drama females neighbors emergency woman empowered empowerment neighborhood Female Empowerment relatable interesting womens memes womens pregnant female Bad Neighbor ladies women lady
Scroll Down For The Next Article