On today’s installment of men being the most oblivious creatures on the planet, it seems one new dad managed to singlehandedly revive the pro-guillotine argument, calling his wife a “princess” for requiring an epidural while giving birth *and* making her foot the anesthetic’s four-figure bill.


Last week, Redditor /u/WateryKoala422 took to r/AITA to question her asshole status, recounting the infuriating tale of giving birth to her first baby, nothing that  'Everything was going well and we were in our little newborn bubble of bless until the hospital bills came.”



Though OP had initially “planned to go for an unmedicated natural birth with as little intervention as possible,” the unpredictability of childbirth managed to get in the way. “That was up until I hit the 24-hour mark of labor, I caved and got the epidural (which I was open to having if needed). My husband had no problem with it, even encouraged it.'

Ok, deep breath,” she penned in the since-deleted post, which garnered 5.4 thousand upvotes.


Despite her hubby’s initially calm reply, he quickly changed his tune upon seeing their bill, insisting they deviate from their usual setup of evenly splitting expenses, forcing her to cover the anesthetic’s $8,000 price tag.


'When the bill came he brought it to me to pay all $8,000+ (after insurance) from my personal savings, I asked why,” she wrote. Her hubby’s rationale? “‘You're the one that couldn't hold out for a few more hours and hacked up the bill with all your meds and an extra nights stay,’” she recalled him saying. Adding that he argued that “he shouldn't have to pay for all of my extra requests.”


“If I wanted luxury, I should expect to pay for it."' Ahh yes. Relief from the excruciating pain of childbirth. What a luxury.



In the days following, Redditor /u/WateryKoala422’s post went viral both on Reddit and later on Twitter, where a screengrab of her submission racked up more than 23.2 million views, everyone with even a shred of compassion siding with OP.


“I love imagining this cheap, feeble loser paying waaaaaay more than $4k for divorce lawyers/movers/new furniture/new house,” wrote Twitter user @caitiegreen.



“Luxury? For having your vagina tear to birth his child? For having pain he would never be able to tolerate?” fumed u/tnannie, denouncing the story  as “some of the most vile behavior I’ve seen on this sub.”




“The epidural lets you rest so you can get through the pushing stage, which can last hours (or at least did for me),” they continued. Since he’s not paying for the consequence of having sex with you, sounds like sex is a luxury he can’t afford. His lack of generosity and compassion is appalling. This is not a man who should be raising kids.”


Meanwhile, others took a more pragmatic approach, theorizing ways to even the playing field. “If I was OP I would say I was leaving him unless he got hooked up to one of those machines that replicate the pain of labor. For 38 hours,” wrote u/Ok_Tour3509 “… After that, I would leave him.”


As Redditor u/LadyMageCOH so aptly put it: “He's calling you a princess for needing pain management after 24 HOURS of labor?” Damn, dude has balls. Be a shame if someone kicked him in them.”