The internet has backed a woman who spent over $2,000 on a fridge to lock food away from her husband.
Reddit user u/throwra_snackattack shared the story on the popular r/AmITheA****** forum on Monday where it has received thousands of upvotes and comments.
She explained: “I am expecting my first child with my husband Paul. Fake names. I’m currently 10 weeks pregnant and my biggest pregnancy issue is fatigue and, mainly, cravings and hunger. No matter what I do, I cannot seem to stay full.”
As she cannot always find the food she wants in the house, the poster explained that she visits the store a couple of times a week to pick up her favorite snacks.
“But every time I check the fridge, almost all my snacks are gone,” she said. “I keep telling Paul to stop eating my food and he says that it’s not a big deal and I can just get more. But that involves me—not him—stopping at the store for more, and me—again, not him—spending more of my money.”
After weeks of this happening, the poster explained that she “snapped” after her favorite ice cream was eaten.
“I opened my laptop and ordered a full-sized fridge ($2,300), paid from my personal savings account that he has never contributed to,” said the poster. “My husband and I don’t mingle our accounts together, so he never saw I bought it until two days ago when it was delivered to our house. He came home from work and saw it plugged in our garage.”
When her husband saw the fridge, he had questions.
“He asked why there were locks on it and how much it cost. I told him not worry how much it cost and there’re locks on it to make sure he doesn’t eat all my snacks for my cravings,” said the Redditor. “He said I can’t control what he eats, and I told him not. I’m just controlling who eats my snacks but the fridge in the house is open and he can have whatever is in that and the cabinets, but the fridge in the garage is for me only.”
After having the fridge for a week, the woman was thrilled that she had not needed to replace her snacks all week, but said that her husband was not speaking to her because of the large purchase and because she was “turning food into war.”
Senior therapist Sally Baker told Newsweek: “Women can feel vulnerable when they are pregnant, especially in the first trimester with all the raging pregnancy hormones flooding in so that nest building and needing to feel secure and supported by loved ones becomes paramount.
“Having to buy and lock down a separate fridge so the mom-to-be had all her snacks accessible when she wanted them without her husband selfishly eating them sounded like the opposite of feeling confident that her needs would be met.”
In more than 1,800 comments, Redditors backed the woman and overwhelmingly slammed the husband for his behavior.
“You have every right to be annoyed and frustrated that he has no respect for you concerning food,” said one commenter in a post with over 18,700 upvotes. “What bothers me is that after eating your food, he tells you to go out and buy more. That is some nerve.”
Another Redditor said: “You’re about to have this a******s baby, I think you need to consider couple counseling because this is not a healthy partnership.”
Others even implied that the couple were heading toward a divorce as a result of the food-based argument. One Redditor said: “Shame you have a child with this person already though, it will make the inevitable divorce messier.”
But in later updates, the poster explained that her husband had apologized to her since the argument, and even made the effort to buy his wife additional snacks and flowers.
“Women can feel very different from early on in their pregnancy however it can take a while for their partner to understand the seismic shift that is taking place in their lives. For many fathers-to-be, their partner’s pregnancy can feel quite abstract as initially, her pregnancy doesn’t outwardly radically change her,” explained Baker.
“Some men frequently hold back from making any real connection with their baby until it is born and the reality is a no-nonsense, mewling bundle. This isn’t the same for pregnant women and certainly, this woman knew she had to be proactive to get the snacks she wanted and keep them secure in the short term until her partner could appreciate what she needed.”
The news that the couple had rectified the issue was positive though, said Baker: “Fortunately for this couple, he got with the program fairly quickly and as his wife’s pregnancy becomes more real to him he’ll hopefully understand how important his role as protector and provider is to her.”
Newsweek has reached out to u/throwra_snackattack for comment. We were unable to verify the details of this case.
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