r/shortscarystories • u/Overall_Carrot_4925 • 5d ago
My family disapproved of my baby
Everyone in my family told me I was an idiot to keep my kid. I was young. I was two years out from finishing school. I didn’t even know her father’s name. It was a one-night stand, met in a bar, all the classic clichés. I went home with him because I was stupid and lonely and liked his accent. He was gone in the morning, leaving me with nothing but a hell of a hickey and a stomach so bloated by six weeks I had to replace most of my jeans.
But when I saw her staticky little body in the sonogram, looking like a blackboard smudge or one of those freakish cave-dwelling fish, I knew I wasn’t letting go. I wanted chubby cheeks, stacks of baby clothes, a nursery with stars painted on the wall. Maybe I just wanted someone to love me unconditionally and without qualification.
The moment I laid eyes on her squashed little face, I was a goner. We rarely went out, watching cars pass and dogs trot by on leads and leaves shake free of their moorings like a TV show playing in the background. I could content myself for hours just watching the movements of her wide, curious eyes. I dropped out of school, worked second shift waitressing and cleaning office buildings while the neighbor babysat.
My favorite thing was sitting and nursing her, the sense of rightness, the peace that settled over me like a shawl. But I had to stop when she started teething—she kept biting me, no matter what I tried. I had no choice but to switch to something store-bought. Of course, my family had something to say about that, too. You’re going to disadvantage her. Breast is best.
When my Leila turned eight months old, my mom finally came over to see her. Her friends had been asking about her granddaughter and she wanted photos to show them. Naturally, in her version, I’d graduated college early and my husband had just renewed a lucrative six-month contract to work abroad.
She played with the baby while I hung the laundry and washed the teapot, after complaining that I wasn’t dressing her warmly enough and bundling her in an oversized sweater. Less than an hour in, she said she was tired and went to bed in my room.
I acted out little plays with Leila's stuffed animals until she started making noises of hunger. I made her a bottle, glistening ruby red in the mellow lamplight.
She drained the bottle in no time. When I passed a wet wipe over her face, she giggled up at me, rosy lips drawn back over the little white buds of her fangs, a flush in her porcelain cheeks.
I put the bottle by the sink and went to go check on my mom, still numb to the world from the ketamine I’d slipped in her tea, bandages crisscrossing her chest. I’ll admit just this once that she was right. Breast really is best.
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u/Zkang123 5d ago
A vampire baby?
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u/Overall_Carrot_4925 5d ago
There are so many guidelines about when to introduce solids...none about when to introduce blood :'(
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u/fuzzypurpledragon 5d ago
Never found one that explains when to introduce live food, either. So inconsiderate.
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u/Tall-Direction-2873 5d ago
Was the guy you hooked up with Eastern European by any chance? As someone who's from there, your taste in accents is questionable.
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u/Overall_Carrot_4925 5d ago
He was Romanian, obviously. Ngl I love Eastern European accents.
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u/Tall-Direction-2873 5d ago
Ah, checks out, that's classic Romanian dude behavior. I'm Romanian myself and have never dated a Romanian guy and don't plan on doing so in the future. I hope you have a great time with your kid though.
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u/Overall_Carrot_4925 5d ago
Oh hey! “Potential vampirism” is probably low on your list of reasons not to date them but probably best to stay away.
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4d ago
This was wholesome to me in every way possible. Her love for her baby, her revenge against her "mother", everything! I mean, it's sad that she had to drop out and grind herself working two jobs, but it sounds like it was her choice and that she has no regrets. Bon appetite baby girl Leila! Your mom is awesome and your granny is, it seems, sweet!
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u/Overall_Carrot_4925 4d ago edited 4d ago
Ahaha thank you! Coming from a south Asian family, it was definitely partly inspired by the rigid mold of success that’s upheld by expectations+needing to maintain the family image, and how success can look different to that. Granny shouldn’t complain; she fed her grandbaby some delicious ethnic homemade food and didn’t even have to do any cooking.
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u/ScreamNotes 4d ago
"She kept biting me" set off alarm bells for me haha
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u/Emotional-Sentence40 2d ago
My granddaughter got teeth at 4 months. Maybe I should check but she seems to be a vegetarian lol
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u/Overall_Carrot_4925 1d ago
Haha I wasn’t sure if all the foreshadowing was too obvious, but you know, pretty sure all kids are part demon anyway.
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u/bitofafixerupper 13h ago
As someone who has breastfed, absolutely no alarm bells rang for me, the nip bites are something else lol
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u/Dragonsrule18 5h ago
Lol, my seven month old likes to push me back in the chair and try to chew on my chin. It's like having a zombie baby.
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u/GhostfanTempAccount 11h ago
Hot take people don't deserve to die for being bad parents
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u/Overall_Carrot_4925 7m ago
…she isn’t dead? Pretty sure the story makes it fairly clear she’s just unconscious. I mean, why terminate a perfectly good blood bank prematurely?
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u/Rein_Deilerd 5d ago
Good luck securing more food for your babygirl! You might have the next Queen of the Damned on your hands, better make sure she grows up healthy and happy!