When a relationship ends, it's not exactly an ideal time to find out you're expecting a baby, but while tricky, there are certainly ways to co-parent and make it work.
This is the situation one woman claimed to have found herself in after learning she was pregnant with twins after dating a man for three months. The pair had already broken up by the time she discovered her situation and he had gotten back together with a previous ex-girlfriend.
As such, the mum-to-be didn't think the dad would want much to do with the babies, but he was reportedly "ecstatic" as his partner had struggled with fertility and he'd always wanted to have kids.
Everything seemed to be going well until in a shocking twist the girlfriend started acting as if the twins were her own and the pregnant woman was nothing more than a surrogate.
To make matter worse, it was even demanded that she hand over one of her babies to the other woman.
Writing on Reddit, in a post that has recently resurfaced, the 29-year-old mum-to-be explained: "I dated a guy Joe (30M) for three months before he left me to go back to his ex Kim. Right after we broke up I found out I was pregnant and I'm now 24 weeks.
"I let him know and he was ecstatic. Turns out his girlfriend had fertility issues and would likely never be able to get pregnant naturally and he has always wanted to be a father.
"Getting back together was out of the question for both of us so he's still with his girlfriend.
"We found out I was having twins. According to Joe when he told Kim she had a mental breakdown about her infertility and wanted to talk to me. I met them at their house and Kim stated that she wanted to be involved in my pregnancy because she would eventually be the children's stepmother.
"She started telling me that I needed to do a home birth, that I needed to formula feed so that they could have the babies half of the week, that she wanted one boy and one girl, and that she wanted the kids to call her Mama since they would be calling me Mommy.
"I shut her down and said I would make the best choices for my children and my body and left."
Kim didn't back off though and instead started texting her every day, complaining about her eating habits and exercise and moaning that her job wouldn't let her take maternity leave as she wasn't the one who was pregnant.
"At the virtual genetics counselling appointment, she attended instead of Joe and took over the whole meeting trying to talk about her family history which wasn’t relevant," the mum continued.
"When it came time for my 20-week level two scan, they allowed me one guest and Joe suggested I take Kim instead of him, which I refused to do.
"Joe did end up coming and he found out the gender because I wanted to keep it a surprise for me so we could throw a gender reveal party.
"I put a pregnancy announcement on my social media and then she put up an announcement saying they were expecting twins 'the non-traditional way' and how blessed she was. I was irritated but I kept my mouth shut.
"Then she threw a gender reveal party and posted it on social media. I wasn’t even invited. She also announced that she's having a baby shower."
The woman snapped and says she commented on Kim's posts to tell her to stop treating her like a 'surrogate' and that the kids weren't hers and Joe didn't have any 'claim' on them until they were born.
She added: "I then called Joe and reiterated all of this and stated that I would not be seeing either of them until we went to family court and that my mother would be my birthing partner.
"He and Kim and some of her friends and family are saying I’m an a**hole and her mother even called and insisted I give her one of my babies like this is the Parent Trap? So AITA?"
Thousands of people responded to the post, with many horrified by Kim's behaviour and urging the mum-to-be to seek legal help immediately.
One person said: "I'm not being dramatic in any way when I say this get a lawyer now. Keep records of everything, and whatever you do, do not allow yourself to be alone with Kim.
"Almost none of Kim's behaviour is ok, it's in fact disturbing. Block phone numbers, file a police report for harassment if you have to. Keep yourself and your children safe."
Another commented: "Kim's mother suggesting they split the twins between parents?!?!? WTHF."
A third added: "OP [original poster] was right when she said she wasn't being treated as a mother, but the surrogate. I would go so far as to say the twins are seen as objects as well. OP needs to lawyer up and play hardball about custody. Kim's not going to get better here, she has people enabling her behaviour."
Do you have a parenting story to share? We want to hear all about it. Email courtney.pochin@mirror.co.uk
