Corrupted Memories
This weekend my MIL and I butted heads over the events surrounding the birth of my oldest son.
I contend (and shouldn’t I really be the one to know??) that while my husband and I originally intended to spend the days in the hospital–maybe the first week–on our own, just the three of us, when we called to tell my MIL that he’d been born, she asked if she could come and we agreed that it was fine. She then called my mother and asked if she’d like to ride along on the trip from Houston to Austin. The two of them showed up at the hospital later in the afternoon and stayed a few days until the grandpas both showed up on the weekend.
My MIL remembers it this way–and insists that this is what happened:
We had originally told her she could not come to see the baby for two to three weeks, but as soon as I went into labor, her son (my husband) called to tell her that I’d gone into labor and asked if she could come. In her words, “My son needed me.” She then immediately made arrangments and rocketed up to Austin.
Okay, first of all, why would he call when I was going into labor?? I am not the kind of person that likes spectators for these sort of events, and besides, who knew how long labor would take anyway?? Her version is preposterous given my and my husband’s personalities.
I brought in a third memory. Imagining my mom would be able to confirm my story, I called her up. Turns out she remembers virtually nothing about that day, other than getting a call (she can’t pinpoint what was said) and driving up to Austin with my MIL. I had her hand the phone to my dad. I reminded him how my mom drove up early to Austin when I had my son and he came later, on Saturday by himself, showing up late because he stopped at a flea-market. His response? “I think it was an auction.” This is his one memory of the event.
Sooo…after much arguing and debating, my mom MIL is sticking to her story. On a hunch, I asked her how she thought the birth of my second son went down. Her response? “You called me from the freeway, on the way to the hospital.” Wrong again. We called her after he was born (see a pattern here?) and she showed up a couple hours later dressed for her theater reservations. She has no memory of this.
09/08/2009 at 11:07 am
What's your husband's story? And is it possible that he could have called his mother and given her the impression that he "needed" her?
By the way, the story had me laughing. It just goes to show that people "see" things differently.
09/09/2009 at 12:50 am
I do not have in-laws or babies, but I still find this funny.
09/09/2009 at 11:58 am
Love it.