My Husband Thought I Did Nothing While at Home with Our 5-Month-Old Baby until I Left Home for a Week – My Story

Things were going smoothly for my husband and me until I gave birth to our daughter. He believed I wasn’t doing anything all day while he was at work, so I decided to leave home for a week to prove to him that this wasn’t true at all.

After finding out that I was pregnant, I quit my job in order to focus on being a mother and wife. My husband Dave supported my decision and thought this would be better for our child in the long run.

Thankfully, I had an easy pregnancy without complications. I was able to move around a lot, so I would often go to the market and return home to cook something for my husband. During my pregnancy, my nesting instincts kicked in pretty early, too, so as early as my second trimester, I was energized to keep cleaning our home most of the time.

“Our house has never looked this great, honey,” my husband commented once. “Thanks for keeping everything together for us,” he said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

I smiled, happy that he appreciated my efforts. I continued to do this until I gave birth at 39 weeks. When my daughter came, she became my entire world. A human being relied on me for everything – how could I prioritize anything else?

To my husband, I was simply being lazy. He commented on how messy the house had gotten, and how we had been eating the same type of food for several days. “I don’t have time to cook up something new every day,” I told him. “Marissa cries a lot and is a colicky baby. She needs me,” I would explain.

Dave shook his head, thinking I was lying. “Marissa can stay in the crib while you attend to things in the house,” he replied. “It won’t even take that long!”

“Why don’t you try it, then?” I suddenly blew up. “I’m trying my best to be a great mom to our child. Do you know how exhausting it is to breastfeed every two hours? And in between, she wants to be held. She cries every time I put her down in the crib. I literally have NO time to do anything else!”

“What are you trying to say?” he shot back. “I work the entire day, and I come home to an unkempt house and food that I’ve reheated from the fridge more than twice. How in the world wouldn’t I be frustrated with that? Stop hiding behind the child and just admit you’re being a lazy wife.”

My eyes were filled with tears at this point. “That hurt,” I told him, walking away to enter our room.

How could he not realize how difficult it was to raise a child alone? Yes, he supported us financially, but he was barely home. And every time he was home, he barely helped with the baby except for when I needed to take a quick...