A woman has sparked an online debate after sharing that she refused to pick up her 4-year-old son from her ex’s home when his pregnant girlfriend went into labor.
Posting on the AITA subreddit, the original poster (OP) explained that she shares custody of her son with her ex, who was expecting a baby with his current partner. According to her post, her ex called around midnight on a Saturday asking her to pick up their child because his girlfriend had gone into labor.
While the mom said she had no issue watching her son, she explained that she couldn’t safely drive to get him. “I had no problem watching my son, but I had been drinking so I told him I wouldn’t be able to pick him up and he needed to be dropped off,” she wrote, noting that her ex lived only five minutes away.
Her ex, however, wasn’t happy with that response. The mom said he began to argue, insisting she come over since his girlfriend was about to give birth. She stood firm, saying it would be unsafe to drive after drinking.
“I explained I had been drinking and would not be driving to come get him because I did not feel safe driving myself, let alone with my 4-year-old in the car,” she wrote. “I was perfectly capable of watching him, but he would need to be dropped off to me.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/woman-man-arguing-baby-062025-52368fc8ff7f45468c8bbe9deaaf3850.jpg)
According to OP, her ex called her irresponsible and said she shouldn’t have been drinking so close to his girlfriend’s due date — though she noted he had never told her the date or asked her to stay available during his parenting time.
“I told him that while my 4-year-old is my responsibility on my parenting time, his girlfriend and new baby were not my responsibility,” she said. “It would be irresponsible of me to drive after I’d had a few drinks.”
The argument escalated until he began yelling at her over the phone. She hung up and texted him instead: she was home if he wanted to drop their son off.
“He ended up dropping him off and screaming at me in front of our 4-year-old,” she wrote. “This whole argument took 30 minutes, while he could’ve just driven the five minutes and been on his way. I honestly feel sorry for the girlfriend for having to wait even longer to go to the hospital, but I was not about to put my son or anyone else in danger because he wanted me to drive after drinking.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2):format(webp)/woman-man-arguing-9225-bd419fd9b8214b4cb04f61ed1fff45a3.jpg)
In the comments, many Reddit users sided with the mom, saying her ex should have planned for this exact situation.
“You said it best: when it’s his parenting time, his child is his responsibility,” one commenter wrote. “He should have made plans for the possibility that his girlfriend would go into labor while he had his son.”
Another commenter agreed, adding that communication and planning could have avoided the conflict entirely. “The moment I found out I was pregnant again, we started making plans for childcare for our other kids for when the baby was due,” they wrote. “Your ex should have done that and told you her due date. The time wasted arguing because you didn’t want to drive drunk is on him.”
