Reddit Stories - Mill COVERTLY added a SUBSTANCE into my stew while I was EXPECTING, leading

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #tifu #relationships #drama #family #betrayalSummary: Mill COVERTLY added a SUBSTANCE into my stew while I was EXPECTING, leading to a shocking revelation that shattered trust and caused a rift in our relationship. The aftermath left me questioning everything I thought I knew about our family dynamics.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, relationships, drama, family, betrayal, trust, revelation, secrets, cooking, unexpected, shock, relationships, dynamics, rift, trustissues, familydramaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Mill covertly added a substance into my stew while I was expecting, leading to my hospitalization for three days and posing a risk to my unborn child, yet she says she was just trying to help. I'm 12 weeks pregnant. We told family at six weeks after the first scan because I felt like I needed people in the loop in case anything went wrong. My husband wanted to wait longer but I pushed for it. His mom was the first person we told in person. I thought it would be a nice moment. It was for like five minutes. Then it turned into a routine that took over my week. She started coming by every other day. I'm not

exaggerating. She has a spare key for emergencies that I forgot about and she used the door like she lived here. It would be like 10 a.m. or 7 p.m. or right when I got out of the shower. I would hear the door and then shoes on the mat and then her voice calling my name. She brought bags. Containers, jars, bottles, printouts. She said she had a list and needed to go through it. She had notes from a Facebook group. She had stories about birth from women she knew from way back. She said the microwave destroys something in food and if I use it the baby won't get what it needs. She said raw milk has what the baby needs and that milk from the store is dead. She said if I reach up to get something from the top shelf I could wrap the cord around

the baby. My first instinct was to laugh because I thought it was a joke and then I saw her face and it wasn't. I told her my OB said the microwave is fine and raw milk is not fine and the arm thing makes no sense. She shook her head and said doctors work for companies and the old ways worked. I said, look, I appreciate care, but I'm not doing any of that. For a bit I tried to set up boundaries. I told her text before coming. I told her I need rest on work days. She nodded and then turned up again with another bag and said it was quick and she would leave soon.

I worked from home and I would be in a meeting with my camera off and I could hear her opening the fridge and rearranging food. She threw out a box of frozen meals and left a long note about why they are bad. I told her not to. She said I should thank her. I told my husband to talk to her and he did, but he is soft when it comes to. to her. He's her only kid and his dad passed and I know he carries that and I do try to get it. Then the day that everything went sideways. I had a work call, then a nap because I felt off. She came over around noon with soup and bread and said it would settle my stomach. I ate it.

I remember it tasted like broth and something sweet that stuck on the back of my tongue. I asked what was in it and she said bones, herbs, love. I rolled my eyes. I rolled my eyes. I rolled my eyes at the last bit and didn't push. Around 3 p.m. my stomach started to cramp. Not like normal. It felt like waves but without breaks. I went to the bathroom and then again and again. I felt hot and dizzy. I remember lying on the floor because the tile felt less warm. I texted my husband come home now and then I vomited and saw a clump that looked like ground plant and that smell came back and I felt my throat burn. I panicked about the baby. That's the only thought I had.

I called my OB's office and the nurse said go to ER. My husband got home and saw me on the floor and started to panic and then tried to steady me and put shoes on me and get me to the car. I said get a bag for the soup. He said what? I said the soup. He grabbed the pot. At the ER they took me in fast after I said I was pregnant and vomiting and cramps.

They took blood, urine, vitals, the usual. They asked what I ate. I said soup from my mother-in-law. They asked what was in it. I said I didn't know. They asked if I had any other symptoms and I said there was a weird sweet taste. They put in fluids and medicine for nausea. They did an ultrasound and the tech didn't say much, just that we'd wait for the doctor.

I was trying not to look at the screen. My husband squeezed my hand and stared at the wall. After a while the doctor came and said the baby looked okay for now, but they needed to keep me because I was dehydrated and my lab showed something off and they wanted to monitor. I asked what off meant. He said signs of food-borne illness and something that looked like contamination with plant compounds and they needed to figure out which.

He asked if I had taken any herbs. I said no. He asked about powders or teas. I said no. And then my husband looked at me and then at the pot and said her mom brought soup and she's into herbal stuff and maybe she added something. They admitted me. I stayed three days.

I went from scared to angry to numb to scared again. Every time a nurse came in I asked to check the heart. They humored me a couple times and then told me to rest because stress doesn't help. I lay there and kept replaying the last few weeks. the drop-ins, the jars, the posts she read out loud, the times she told me to put a copper coin on my belly to align something. I thought about my own mom who lives far and calls me once a week and says, how are you, do you need anything, and waits for me to ask. I thought about my husband and how he moved between rooms and tried to be with me and also text his mom.

He showed me a text from her that said, how is she and he didn't reply and then she texted I feel sick with worry and he still didn't reply. On the second day my husband came in and he had this look like he'd seen a thing and didn't know where to put it. He said his mom confessed. He said she bought a hormone balancing powder from a woman in a Facebook group. $3,000. I said $3,000. He said yes. She thought it would support the baby. I asked what was in it. He said the cellar won't say, it's proprietary. His mom said the cellar told her to add a small scoop to food and it would fix imbalances. His mom said she put it in my soup. She said she thought I wouldn't notice but that it would help and later she was going to tell me. After I went to the hospital,

she messaged the cellar and the cellar blocked her. She started crying on the phone and said she only wanted to help and she loves me like family. The doctor came in while he was telling me this and my husband told him and the doctor wrote it down and said, OK, we're sending samples to toxicology and will treat symptoms and keep an eye on the baby. I kept thinking if I hadn't asked for the pot he wouldn't have brought it and maybe no one would ever know. I kept thinking about the scoop in the soup and the way I tasted something sweet and ignored it. I kept thinking about all the lines we drew and how she stepped over them with a smile and a bag in a story and I felt stupid for letting it happen.

Then I felt guilty for thinking of her like that because she's alone and I know that she has no one else. I went in circles. I tried to sleep and then I would wake up and check the monitor and then stare at the ceiling. On day three they said I could go home. They said keep fluids, keep food simple, watch for fever or bleeding, call if anything changes. I called my OB to book a follow-up. We got home and I stepped into the kitchen and looked at the counter and the sink in the fridge and I wanted to throw out everything. I wiped down the counter three times. My husband stood there and said, I'm sorry and I said I know it's not you, but she crossed a line and I can't see her right now. He said, I get it. He called her and said we need space.

She cried and said she didn't mean harm and she didn't know it would make me sick. I heard her through the phone. The sound didn't match the facts. I went to bed. So here is where I am. We haven't seen her since the hospital. We muted her texts. We didn't block because she lives alone and I don't want her to spiral. She sent long messages. I didn't read all of them. She wants to apologize.

She wants to drop off soup again. I told my husband I am going no contact for now. He said okay. He's been checking in on her from a distance. I know some people will say, call the police. I thought about it. I don't know how to prove it beyond her telling us and the pot, but we don't even have the pot now. The hospital has samples, but I don't know what they can do with that.

I also think of the fallout and how that would suck all air out of the next months and I can't do that. I just want calm and a baby that is okay. My mill is not a screamer or a plate thrower or anything like that. She speaks in a low voice and says please and thank you and offer. help. And then she did this. I'm trying to hold both things. I'm not asking for legal advice here. I just want to know if I'm wrong for drawing a line as hard as I can. I'd offer saying no contact with someone who says love and then adds a scoop of something from a stranger to my food without telling me while I'm pregnant. Edit, I guess this is an update because time passed

and things happened. It's been almost two weeks since the hospital. I feel okay now. I can eat. The follow-up scan was fine. I'm back at work. We didn't block her number, like I said, but we muted everything because the constant ding made my pulse go up. She kept sending messages the first few days that were all please pick up and I can explain and then some long ones that started to sound like she was defending the choice.

Then she went silent for a week. My husband started to worry. He drove by her place on his way back from work and saw the car and the curtains the same and got out and knocked and no answer. He asked the neighbor who said they saw her yesterday bringing in groceries. That settled him. That night she sent a message that said she couldn't believe we were doing this to her after all she's done for us and that what happened was a mistake and we should know her heart

and that she would learn to live without expecting anything from anyone. I read it once and put the phone face down and went to brush my teeth and I stared at the the mirror for a while. I kept thinking how the word mistake covers so many things. It doesn't sit the same here. My husband didn't reply to that message either. He said he wants to let it cool. I said I don't want to manage her feelings. He said I know. Edit. Two more days went by and my husband said he couldn't sit with it anymore and wanted to check on her in person. I said I'm not going. He said he'd go alone and keep it short. he was gone for two hours when he came back he sat down and didn't talk for a minute then he said they

talked she cried she said she was sorry she said she got carried away he asked her where she got the powder and she told him more about the group he asked for the seller's info again but she said the account is gone he told her she cannot add anything to my food ever again and she said yes He asked her if she understood why we are angry and scared and she said she does now. He told her we need space. She said she respects that. He said he believes she meant it. I said people say a lot in tears and then go back to what they do.

He said he knows but he wanted to tell me. I sent her a message after I sat with that for a bit. I kept it simple. I said I heard what she told him and I'm glad she understands now and I appreciate the apology. And I need space to focus on work in this pregnancy and I need quiet. I said this is not about punishment. This is about safety and trust and I need time. She wrote back and said she will wait until I'm ready. She didn't add extra lines to justify her choice or tell me what to eat or mention the group. The next days felt normal in a way I was craving. I worked, I ate simple food,

I walked. My husband and I did small house stuff and made a list for for things we need before leave. I know some people will say I'm letting her off easy. I know other people will say I'm too hard. I keep going back to the line I drew, I need space. I'm not making her earn anything. I'm just not ready to let her in while I'm still trying to steady myself. A couple weeks after that I felt like I could breathe enough to think about next steps. I told my husband I didn't want to be in a cold war with his mom until the birth. I also didn't want to pretend nothing happened. I told him I'd be open to a visit later, with rules. He asked me to pick the rules and he would say them. I said no drop-ins, no food from her kitchen,

no comments on my body, no advice unless I ask, no gifts that go in or on my body. He said, got it. He wrote them down. Edit, week passed and I realized this is becoming another update. We decided I was ready to see her for dinner at our place, with food from a place we order from. I wanted to see if she could sit and talk like a person without turning my home into a clinic. I sent her a text in the morning, come by at six, we're getting takeout, please don't bring food or anything for me to drink. She replied, okay, I will come empty-handed. She arrived at six, ten. She knocked. She didn't use the key. I noticed that first. She had a small purse and nothing else.

She took off her shoes and asked where to put them. I said by the mat. We sat. My husband asked about her day. She talked about her neighbor's dog in a plant she bought and a TV show she started. I kept waiting for the shift. It didn't come. The food arrived and we ate.

She didn't comment on what I ordered. She didn't watch me chew. She didn't hover over my plate. after we ate she said she wanted to say something and asked if that was okay. I nodded. She said she is sorry and she should have listened and she gets it now, and she will not give me advice or food or anything without asking me first. She said she let fear run the show and that she will deal with that herself. She said she hopes in time I can forgive her but she understands if I can't yet. I said, thank you for saying that and I am not ready to talk about forgiveness

but I'm open to trying to build trust back with small steps. She said, okay. We put on a simple game on TV that we can half watch and talked about names for a bit. She asked what we're thinking and we told her a couple we like and she smiled. She didn't push for a family name. She didn't bring up the powder or the group. When she left, she hugged my husband and asked me if I'm okay with a hug. I said yes.

It was a short hug. she said good night and left i locked the door and leaned on it and breathed out i told my husband i know people online will say i caved i don't feel like that i feel like i can try this as long as the rules hold i don't want to spend the next months in a fight if we can avoid it but i also won't let her in without change some days after that she sent a couple links but they were from government sites about vaccines and nutrition and she wrote sharing because i'm reading not telling you what do. I didn't click them right away. When I did, I saw they were basic. No comments that sounded like hidden orders. She also texted a picture of a baby blanket she is knitting

and said she will only bring it if I want it. I said that's fine. That felt like progress to me, but I'm keeping one foot on the break. Edit, I hit the next appointment. Everything looked okay. My OB said to keep doing what I'm doing. I told her a bit about the situation without going into names and she said protect your stress levels and keep your boundaries and document anything that crosses lines. That last bit calmed me because it gave me a plan. My husband asked if we want to give his mom a copy of the key back. We took that old one back for emergencies. I told him no, not now. He agreed. We had two more small visits like that. Coffee from a place, a short walk in the park, simple talk.

She asked me once if I needed anything for the nursery and I said we're okay and she didn't insist. One afternoon she said she found a pregnancy class at the hospital and wanted to know if I'd like to go together. I said, thank you but I think my husband will go with me. There's still a part of me that gets a spike when I see her name on my phone. I think that will take time to fade if it ever does. I know what she did and I know what it did to my head. I also know she confessed. She could have kept quiet and said the soup was just soup and we would never know. That doesn't erase what happened. It adds context. I'm letting both things exist.

I keep my rules. I keep checking in with myself. When I feel my chest tighten, I pause and I step back. Update, a few months and some days passed and now I'm writing this last part with a baby asleep on my chest. This is messy to type because I need one hand and I keep dropping the phone. Birth was earlier than the date they gave me, but within the window doctors said was fine. The labor started at night. We went to the hospital. I won't go into details. What matters is the baby cried and then slept and then cried again and fed and looked at me with that new face that doesn't look like anyone yet. The pediatrician said he looks okay.

I keep wanting to use big words, but I won't. He eats. He sleeps. He makes sounds. He grabs my finger. I can't think beyond that most hours. We told family and my husband sent his mom a message from the hospital. She replied with a short line and a photo of a candle she lit for us.

I know some people will roll their eyes at that, but it felt like our way without pushing in. When we got home, we made a plan for visits. Short, no holding the baby. If anyone feels off, wash hands, no kissing masks. If there's any sniffles, bring food only if we asked. And it had to be from a place we know. She came over with my husband's aunt. The first time she put her purse down and asked if she should wash her hands.

And I said, yes, she didn't reach for the baby until I offered. She cried a little bit when she held him and said, thank you. She didn't say anything about how I look or what I should eat or how to she looked around like she wanted to arrange something and then she sat back down. She started doing small tasks without comment. She asked if she could fold laundry and I said, sure. She washed some dishes. She wiped the counter.

We picked a name for the baby that. that is a version of my husband's dad's name. We didn't tell her in advance. We told her when she came over and I saw her face do a thing I've only seen on him when something hits hard. She said, thank you. She touched the baby's head and said his dad would be proud. I'm typing this and I can feel my own eyes sting a bit, but I'm not going to get into

that because then I'll start crying on the baby and he will wake up. People keep asking if I forgave her. I don't know how to answer. I think in Internet posts, it's always a yes or no. In this house, it feels like a series of small choices every day. She hasn't crossed a line since dinner. That matters. She handed over the key.

That matters. She stopped the daily messages. That matters. She learned and she is using what she learned in ways I can see. That matters. The soup happened. Three days in the hospital happened. I don't forget.

I'm not telling myself a story where that was a blessing in disguise or some lesson from the universe. It was a thing that could have gone way worse and I don't want to minimize that. I'm noting it and still moving through my day with this baby who needs food and sleep and clean clothes and doesn't care about Facebook groups. Both sets of grandparents are coming by in a way that works for us. My mom is here twice a week and cooks big pots that I can freeze. and she asks before she touches anything in the kitchen. She texts me a list and I pick. My husband's mom checks the group chat and covers a shift when we ask,

usually late afternoon so I can nap. Sometimes she holds the baby while I shower and I can hear her humming from the bathroom. She asked me if I'm okay with that and I said yes and then I listened for words like back in my day and they didn't come. She holds, she pats, she hands him back when he fusses and says mom is the boss in a way that doesn't feel like a dig. We're keeping visits short. When she leaves, she sends a text saying,

Thank you for letting me spend time and that she's heading home. That's it. No notes about what I should have done. I know some will think I'm painting a neat arc. I'm not trying to do that. I'm tired most of the time and my brain is a mess of feeding times

and burp cloths and laundry that never ends. I don't have space to hold on to anger every hour. I also don't have space for drama. If she had pushed one more time, I would be done. If she does in the future, I'll be done. I can do both love and limits. I keep saying that to myself in the middle of the night when the baby wakes and my thoughts start spinning.

Love and limits. I'm making it a rule for everyone around me, including me. Someone will ask if we ever reported the powder. The hospital sent samples for testing but told me results can take a while and may not give a full list. I signed what they gave me. I asked if I should do anything else and they said if I ever find out what exact product it was, report to the food agency. I don't have that info. The account blocked her and then vanished. My husband looked for it and couldn't find it. His mom says she knows she got scammed and feels shame and that's her

work to do. I'm not in charge of her lesson. I'm in charge of who gets access to me and the baby. If you're reading this to decide verdicts, I can't tell you what to say. I came here at first to ask Ida because my brain needed a yes or no. I think what I wanted was confirmation that it's okay to cut contact even when the person says nice things and smiles while doing harmful things. I cut contact. Then I tested small steps. I'm still testing.

I don't feel like an asshole for that. I feel like a person who went through a thing and is trying to move forward. without pretending it didn't happen. Right now the baby is making this snuffling sound that means he will wake up in a minute, so I'm going to wrap this up. I wanted to put the whole thing in one thread instead of posting multiple times

because I don't have the energy to keep answering. If more happens, I'll add it here. For now, we are home, we are okay, we are figuring it out, we have people around us who are learning how to be around us in a way that helps rather than hurts. I can live with that.

And because I know some will ask, about how my husband is with all of this. He's here. He took time off when the baby came and he gets up for the first diaper change and then again later and he stands between me and any person who tries to pull focus. He used to hesitate with his mom, now he doesn't. He told her the rules. He keeps the rules with me if I start to bend them out of guilt. Last small thing. We named the baby after a version of his dad's name and I can see the way it changed something in the room during visits, like it pulled some of the tension out of the air. I don't want to read meaning into everything, but I will say it made some talks easier because it felt like we were all on the

same side for a moment. I'll take moments like that when they come, as long as no one pays for them with their health.