My In-laws Called Me Paranoid Until My Sil Almost Let My Baby Fall Out Of A Second-story Window. Now They’re Threatening To Sue Me For Cutting Her Off. What Do I Do?
The Family Blowback
After he left, Keith and I sat in the car for a few minutes without saying anything. Lily was asleep in her car seat and I didn’t want to move and wake her up. Keith’s phone started ringing. He looked at the screen and said it was his parents calling from Bridget’s phone. He answered and immediately his father’s voice came through, loud enough that I could hear it from the passenger seat.
His father was yelling about how we’d called the police on family and that we were tearing everyone apart. Keith tried to talk, but his father kept going, saying Bridget was devastated and that we were treating her like a criminal over accidents. His mother got on the phone and her voice was high and tight like she’d been crying.
She said Bridget was sobbing and that we’d humiliated her in front of the neighbors. Keith finally got a word in and said that Bridget had refused to leave after being asked multiple times. His father said that didn’t matter, that you don’t call the police on family.
Keith’s voice stayed calm but firm when he said that Lily’s safety came before anyone’s feelings, including Bridget’s. His mother asked how he could say that about his own sister, and Keith said because his sister had nearly let his daughter fall out a window yesterday. There was silence on the other end.
His father said we were being dramatic and that Bridget would never have let anything happen to Lily. Keith asked if they had seen the police report and the hospital records. His mother said those things were being taken out of context. Keith told them he had to go and ended the call. His phone immediately started ringing again, but he turned it off.
We finally went inside and I put Lily in her crib. She didn’t wake up during the transfer and I stood there watching her breathe for a long time. Keith came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. He said he was sorry for not seeing what was happening sooner. I didn’t know what to say, so I just kept watching Lily sleep.
Trauma and Therapy
That night I couldn’t sleep at all. Every sound made me jump, and I kept getting up to check on Lily even though she was fine. Keith found me standing in the nursery at 3:00 in the morning just staring at her crib. The next day was the same. I was exhausted but couldn’t relax enough to sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes I saw Bridget’s phone in camera mode and that open window. Keith noticed how jumpy I was and asked if I was okay. I said I was fine, but he didn’t believe me. The second night was worse; I fell asleep around midnight but woke up at 2 thinking I’d heard something downstairs. Keith went down to check and found nothing, but I couldn’t go back to sleep after that.
On the third day, Keith sat me down and said I needed to talk to someone about what we’d been through. I started to say I was handling it, but he stopped me and said I wasn’t sleeping and I was constantly on edge. He said his family had put both of us through hell by dismissing my concerns and making me think I was crazy. He said maybe talking to someone would help. I made an appointment with a therapist that afternoon.
Three days after the police came, I was home alone with Lily while Keith was at work. I heard a car door slam outside and looked out the window. Keith’s mother was walking up to our front porch. My stomach dropped. She knocked on the door and called out that she knew I was home. I didn’t move.
She knocked again, harder this time, and said she just wanted to see her granddaughter. I walked to the window next to the door where she could see me, but I didn’t open it. I told her through the glass that she needed to leave. She pressed her hands against the window and said she needed to talk to me. I said there was nothing to talk about.
She said she was Lily’s grandmother and had a right to see her. I told her she chose to defend someone who repeatedly put Lily in danger and I couldn’t trust her judgment anymore. Her face crumpled and she started crying. She sat down on the front step with her back against the door.
Through the window I could hear her saying she was sorry. She said she should have taken things more seriously but that cutting off the whole family was extreme. I opened the window a crack and told her she staged an intervention to call me paranoid just hours before Bridget nearly let my baby fall out a window. She kept crying and said she didn’t know it would get that bad.
I said that was the problem, that she didn’t want to see how bad it already was. I told her I needed space to figure out if she could ever be trusted again. She asked how long and I said I didn’t know. She sat there for another 10 minutes before finally getting in her car and leaving. I called Keith at work and told him what happened. He said he’d talked to his mother and make it clear she couldn’t show up unannounced.
