Reddit can be a place of confessions, tragedy and sometimes, a place of advice too.
But for one mum-to-be, it’s a platform she says saved her from what could’ve been a terrible fate.
A 29-year-old pregnant woman, writing under the username babyblues17, turned to the platform some two weeks ago with a dilemma. She is almost nine months pregnant with her first child, but her husband’s past is coming back to haunt their future.
“When my husband was a freshman in college, he was arrested for possession of marijuana. It was a large enough amount that he was charged with a Class D felony (our jurisdiction is very harsh regarding marijuana), but not intent to deal. He plead guilty and did his time and probation without a problem, passing every drug test along the way.
“He has not touched marijuana (or any other illegal substance) since, and we rarely even drink (and haven’t at all in over a year). I have no criminal record, and have never done drugs myself. It was a stupid mistake he made as a foolish eighteen-year-old, and he’s worked hard to put it behind him,” she explains.
However, things grew complicated when someone contacted Child Services and said the couple were drug users.
“We have been as cooperative as could be with our caseworker. We’ve been interviewed, our home has been examined, and she found nothing remotely suspicious or incriminating. We have both taken drug tests and passed.”
Despite their co operation, babyblues17 said the case worker said there was still the possibility that their child could be taken from them in the labor and delivery ward, and that they may not be allowed to take the baby home.
“I was devastated and horrified to hear that. When I asked why, she said it was “not up to [her],” and “we’ll have to wait and see,” which made absolutely no sense to me. What gives? I feel like there’s something she isn’t telling me, but I have no experience with DCS and I’m not aware of anything we could have possibly done wrong.”
Overwhelmingly, the comments section was full one one overriding query: Can Child Services investigate a foetus?
Finally, a former CPS investigator chimed in.
“Something here is not making any sense at all, unless the law has changed greatly in the last few years when I left the department. As of this moment you are pregnant correct? You don’t have any children? They are investigating the foetus?” they posed.
Another agreed.
"Former CPS worker here, too. Agree with you. CPS does not investigate pregnant women with no current children. Something is not right."
On the advice of commenters, babyblues17 went straight to a lawyer and explained the situation.
"He seemed to agree that something was very fishy. To make a long story short, the woman 'handling our case' has no affiliation with DCS. I'm still in complete shock.
"We went straight to the police. They're taking this very seriously. I can't give a lot of details because it's an ongoing investigation, but she seems to have been a very skilled/well-researched liar. I never would have known anything was amiss without the advice of this subreddit and the intervention of my attorney.
"I feel like a complete idiot, but the instinct to cooperate unquestioningly when faced with an intimidating 'authority figure' is strong," she added.
The mum-to-be added the hospital has been informed, and they're taking appropriate security measures.
"I haven't had the baby yet. We're staying at a trusted family member's home until the baby is born," she wrote.
Now, that is terrifying.
Top Comments
I don't go onto reddit a lot, but when I've been on there have found it quite good. I read a couple of sexual advice/body advice type articles there and was actually quite impressed how when on a few occasions when women self conscious about their bodies wrote in, how the guys in their own very no nonsense straight shooting guy way told these women they had nothing to worry about, that it wouldn't put them off etc. Yeah there was the odd guy that disagreed (but not in a nasty way and hey they are entitled to their own body preferences) but the majority of guys where saying wouldn't bother them.
For instance one girl was very despairing of how supposedly terrible her breasts where, the way she described them was something like they were as flat as pancakes and she wanted to keep her top on during sex, just about every guy told her they wouldn't care and they just like boobs no matter what they look like! One guy told her that he had been with a girl with the exactly the same type of breasts and he had been totally hot for this girl because they had amazing chemistry.
Sadly this woman asking the advice just couldn't believe them, and some of the guys were getting really exasperated with her trying to convince her that she didn't need surgery etc. Some of them were quite blunt with her, so it was quite obvious that they really meant what they said and weren't just trying to be nice.
On another occasion a woman who was overweight had similar body self esteem issues, most of the guys had the same reaction, basically saying that if they aren't into the girl and just want sex they don't care what her body is like, but on the other hand if they were into the girl it would also be irrelevant to them if her body wasn't perfect, because well they are into her. Guy after guy was saying things like, "we wouldn't notice if you were fat", but then one guy hit it on the head by saying, actually it's not that they wouldn't notice but it's more like when they are into a woman or turned on it's all pretty much sexy to them what they see. Of course there were some guys who said it would put them off, but mostly they were in the minority.
I found these articles quite comforting, and it was an insight into also how we women often worry endlessly about our figures and these women could not believe these guys were telling the truth despite all that reassurance, and how exasperating it must be for men.
I also found it reassuring how the guys at times would be blunt or crass because to me that was evidence that they really meant what they said and weren't just trying to make her feel good. You know the kind of thing where they would say something like, "Yeah from the way you describe yourself sounds like you are fat, but hey my ex was fat like you with droopy boobs but I was so into her we had great sex." or "sounds fine to me, I'd tap it!"
Kind of made me laugh a bit because a woman giving the same advice would sugar coat it and say something like, "oh sweetie I'm sure you have a lovely voluptuous body that some man will find beautiful" whereas the guys were just like, "yeah you're fat, get over it cause we still want to f***k you!" or "What your boyfriend wants you to keep your top on during sex! Sounds like a douche, give him the boot, I'd definitely want to see those puppies, all part of the experience." I think the bluntness made me realise these guys were really genuinely telling the truth! And in their own unevolved way were trying to comfort the woman that she was fine just the way she was.
OMG how weird & scary?!