I was just recently married to my husband Tom and his obnoxious family, when we received the happy news that Tom’s younger sister, Hailey, was pregnant. Or at least we thought it was happy news.  The problem Tom’s family had with it was that it was to be Hailey’s first child and she was only 20 years old.  Hailey was an irresponsible college student at the time, and could barely keep a job.  So of course, the news of her pregnancy was nothing short of a scandal in this family.  Unfortunately, my mother-in-law, Teresa, was not concerned with the logistics of what Hailey would do to raise this child.  Instead, she was more concerned with what the neighbors and her friends would think.

She’d burst into tears saying that she would be the “butt of everyone’s jokes” and that everyone would gossip behind her back.  Her parenting skills were going to be challenged and her reputation would be tainted because of her child’s actions. She was so embarrassed.  During a difficult time for Hailey, I seemed to be the only one trying to help her set her priorities straight. I offered advice on what she should do about school and living expenses during and after the pregnancy.  After all, Hailey was still a child herself in many ways, and needed some type of adult to step in to give her direction.  Given her mother’s self-absorbed reaction, Hailey was definitely appreciative of my help.

Finally, in Hailey’s sixth month of pregnancy, my husband’s family had some time to come to terms with the situation and Teresa decided to give her daughter a baby shower.  The funny thing was, though, Teresa was convinced that the baby was a girl.  Hailey had decided to keep the baby’s gender a secret, so no one really knew for sure except the doctors.  Teresa just wanted the baby to be a girl. So on the invitations she wrote that it was “expected to be a girl.”  The guests, not knowing the circumstances, took her word for it, so almost all of the merchandise and gifts at the shower were pink.  Even the decorations and the favors were pink – including the cake! Teresa gave this elaborate, overdone party, with all sorts of goodies and even an ice sculpture, and everyone had a great time.  I mean – an ice sculpture?  Really!

Ironically enough, just two months later, Hailey gave birth at 6:30pm on a Thursday night to a healthy and beautiful baby BOY!  I could not contain my laughter.  It was the funniest thing I had ever been party to.  Even after being told that the sex was not confirmed, Teresa, being such a determined know-it-all, could not be told different.  Well, needless to say, I think I saw Teresa in the waiting room that night turning the same shades of embarrassed, flustered and angry that she had turned when she first found out Hailey was going to be the ruin of her good name.  I thought to myself, now she could really use one of those pink pacifiers from the party!

After the birth, many of the guests who had attended the shower came to visit Hailey in the hospital. Invariably, they all asked her the same question: why did Teresa tell everyone it was going to be a girl?  Every time this happened in front of Teresa, she would start changing color right before my eyes again – she went from a melodramatic auburn to a bright pink.  Now the gossips had even more to talk about!  They all wondered how anyone could overlook the minor detail of a baby’s gender.  It remains an inside joke among family and friends that Teresa just can’t seem to shake.

Posted in Baby Showers, Humorous

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