Woman reveals her husband sold baby shower gifts to help his friend pay to fix van

‘Find yourself a good divorce lawyer’

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A woman has revealed her anger after her husband sold their baby shower gifts to help a friend pay to fix his van for an upcoming road trip.

The wife shared the incident on the popular Reddit forum “Am I the A**hole”, and now users are urging her to find a “good divorce lawyer”.

“I’ve (27) been with my husband (32) for three years, we’re expecting our first baby together,” she began the now-viral Reddit post. “Long story short, my family and friends decided to throw me a baby shower and brought me a variety of gifts which consisted mainly of baby care essentials. I stored everything in the storage area but woke up the next day and they were all gone.”

“I freaked out and called my husband, he didn’t pick up so I waited ‘til he got back,” she wrote. “He got back with money in his hands, I told him my baby shower gifts were gone, and he said he took them and sold them. All of them…the baskets, books, pyjamas, diaper pack, pacifiers, stuff worth 50 to hundreds of dollars.”

When the woman asked her husband why he sold all the gifts from their baby shower, he said it was to help his friend pay to fix his van so that they could go on a trip together, with the Reddit user recalling her anger over her husband’s response.

“I asked him why and he said because he wanted to help his friend get his van fixed so they could go on a trip next week,” she explained. “I started yelling at him, saying that I needed those things for our baby but he said we already have a nursery full of essentials, then said he had no choice because his friends threatened to exclude him from the trip if he didn’t help fix the van.”

According to the wife, in response, she decided to tell everyone who gave them a gift what her husband had done. “He started getting calls and texts from them, basically calling him names and shaming him. He yelled at me saying I f*ked up and acted immaturely by exposing him to everyone and sending them after him,” she said, adding that her husband also pointed out that this is “his baby too” and “he is entitled to half those gifts”.

“He believes I told them a sob story and ruined his reputation. He left and has been staying with a friend refusing to return my calls ‘til I fix my mistake,” she said.

The woman’s story gained more than 2,000 comments from Reddit users offering their advice, with some sharing their own similar experiences, while others gave their unfavourable opinions on her husband’s behaviour.

“Find yourself a good divorce lawyer,” wrote user BitterPillPusher, while another Reddit user Dammi_il_5 said: “Yep, a hubby who steals from his soon-to-be-a-mom wife will only get worse.”

“The trash took itself out,” said user Crystallz2000. “Can you afford to stay where you are alone? Or do you have family to stay with? I’d get a divorce lawyer and be glad he showed his true colours before the baby came.”

Another user said: “My girls’ bio dad would sell their things. A few times he would take the babysitter’s money and spend it. I would have to hide it in the diaper bag and call her to tell her where it was. I eventually left him. He was using the money for drugs.”

“Half the gifts are his? Um, no. All of the gifts are the baby’s,” commented user Sparrowhawk75. “And he took all of them, not just the half he stupidly claimed were his. Your husband does not seem to want to provide for his child. He does not prioritise your family over his friends. He needs to reimburse you for all the gifts and find a new place to sleep at night. He will be lucky if you choose to stay.”

In a similar instance, a mother recently sparked outrage online when she charged her friends money to attend her baby shower at £15 per head. “I thought she meant that’s all she’d have to pay, but no, that’s what she’s charging the guests to attend to cover the costs,” wrote a friend of the mom-to-be in a post on Mumsnet.

Despite a couple of comments defending the mother’s actions, the majority of people agreed that her demands were “unnecessary”.

“You’re paying to attend a party thrown by her? Utterly ridiculous,” one person wrote.