Reddit Stories - VANISHED at 7 Months Pregnant, Returned 2 Years Later_ The UNSETTLING Tale of a REAPPEARING Parent_

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #vanished #pregnancy #parenting #mystery #reappearanceSummary:A chilling tale of a parent who vanished at 7 months pregnant, only to return unexpectedly 2 years later. The unsettling story raises questions about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the disappearance and reappearance.Tags:redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, vanished, pregnancy, parenting, mystery, reappearanceBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. My former partner departed when I was seven months expecting, reappeared 24 months later insisting on visiting our child, and currently his relatives are pressuring me. I am torn between safeguarding my son and giving him a dad. For context, around two years ago, I, 29F, got pregnant with my ex-boyfriend while I was living with him. My ex, let's call him Travis, and I had been together for almost three years when I got pregnant and had been living together for a year and a half when it happened.

Travis and I had met through friends and we had a good relationship. He was sweet and charming, and we got along well. The only complaint that I had with him was perhaps that he was a bit too particular about money, and it could sometimes come off as stingy. But I didn't mind it because it helped us save money, so I didn't make a big deal out of it. And I'm sure that he could also have a lot of problems with me, but he never talked about it, so I didn't think it was necessary for me to bring it up with him. And I'm not exaggerating, but his stinginess was a bit excessive,

and he was just always looking for ways to save money and cut back on costs. It wasn't a problem for me until I moved in with him, and realized that everything that he had in his house was dirt cheap and of very poor quality, be it food or toiletries, or even the furniture, which was all secondhand, and looked like it had all been through a lot. Now, before I moved in with him, I used to hang out with him in my house, apartment, and sometimes it is, but I never noticed all of that. But then I ended the lease agreement on my apartment, because the rent was way too high, and it was just more convenient to move in with

Travis. However, after moving in with him, I began to take note of such things, and I tried to ignore them for a while, but then I couldn't keep my mouth shut for too long. So eventually, I decided to talk to him about it, and he protested at first, but I managed to wear him down and talked him into buying new things for his house. I told him that it would be like an investment and it would be good for both of us in the long run. But I promised him that we would split all the costs equally and that seemed to pacify him so that's what we did. Soon enough, within just three months of moving in with him, I had changed everything about the house, and the place looked much better after I got rid of everything that he had owned previously. I thought that I was doing him a favor, and it would be a good thing

for both of us, but apparently not. I guess that was the point after which our relationship began souring a little bit because he thought that it was quite controlling and selfish of me, even though I was just trying to improve his quality of life and it wasn't something that I was doing just for myself. So I thought it was a bit unfair for him to say things like that, and I would get really annoyed at him whenever he would say such things. But that didn't stop him from bringing it up every time we had a fight, and it was basically his trump card because any time we were arguing about anything, he would tell me that he had basically changed his entire lifestyle for my sake, and my comfort and that had to shut me up. I thought it was not cool because I had

also paid for the things that we had purchased, so it wasn't as if he was the one who had paid for everything and we were also splitting the rent so this home now belonged to both of us, and I didn't say anything wrong with trying to make it inhabitable for myself as well. But he just wasn't willing to listen to any of that, and he would just keep saying that he changed everything about his life for me, and I guess I was supposed to be grateful for that, and never fight with him because of it. We didn't break up, despite that, because I thought that we could make it work. Things had gotten a little rough after we moved together, but I just figured that they could fix it eventually so I decided to stick by him. There was also the fact that when things were good,

they were great, and I didn't want to give up on us so quickly just because of a few fights. And I'm not the kind of girl who gives up on relationships easily either, so that was that. We continued to fight and make up, but at no point did either of us entertain the idea of a breakup. I guess he wanted to make things work with me just as much as I did, but maybe it changed after the pregnancy. When I found out I was pregnant, both of us were overjoyed, and he told me that he would marry me as soon as he got the promotion that he had been working towards. I was quite happy about it because I really did want to get married to Travis.

I loved him and the baby was only going to bring us closer so we had a couple of discussions about marriage, but he never officially proposed with a ring or anything of the sort. It was all informal, but both of us had decided that it was going to happen in the long run, when the time was right. He was just waiting to get a promotion at work, and he had been putting the time in for quite a few months. Once he got a raise, we would start planning the wedding and get engaged formally. That was the plan that both of us had agreed on and I believe that even if he didn't get the promotion, we would still get married, but that was quite stupid of me. When I was three months along, I decided to take a break from my job because it was just getting a little too stressful

for me and I needed less of that. I am a contractor and it's a physically stressful job, to say the least, so it was getting very difficult for me and I decided to take a maternity break. Now the unfortunate thing is that I had started at the firm just a couple of months before and they don't really cover maternity leave financially for employees who have been with the company for less than a year so I wasn't going to get paid until I went back to work. I had discussed this with Travis, and he had told me that he would handle everything so I didn't need to worry. I told him that I would still contribute and do whatever we could, but I just wouldn't be able to split the rent because that was the biggest of my expenses, and until the baby

was born. I had to take care not to spend too much money because there would also be a lot of things that I have to think about for after the baby was born. So it was decided that until I went back to work, he would be covering the rent entirely on his own, and it was fine by me. Two months passed and things were going well, he was still hoping to get a promotion, but one day, he just came back home really upset and told me that he had been passed over and somebody else got the promotion that he had been looking forward to. To say that he was devastated would be an understatement because the next few weeks were terrible for both of us.

He had started drinking and it was obvious that he was very upset about what had happened and he was not even bothered enough to hide it. He would come back home from work and just start drinking like there was no tomorrow and I would be on edge the entire time because I didn't want anything bad to happen to him. I tried to tell him to cut down on the alcohol, but he told me that as long as it wasn't hurting anybody, he didn't see any reason why he should stop. I was pregnant and exhausted all the time, so I didn't even have the energy to argue with him and make him see sense.

Also, he was just extremely rude all the time and constantly irritable, so I didn't want to waste my time trying to talk to him. I thought he would get over it eventually, but it just kept getting worse. Around the time I was five months along, he started to cut down on the drinking, but he still remained quite irritable and would snap at me any time I tried to talk to him. I still didn't break up with him, because I was still hopeful that things would work out eventually and he would snap out of whatever this phase was. Also, I was five months pregnant and my parents lived in another city, so if I broke up with him, I would have nowhere to go. and I didn't want to be a burden on any of my friends.

I was about to have a baby with this man, so I figured that I was just going to have to suck it up for a while and then things would eventually get better. But one day, he just came back home from work, and he told me that we needed to start splitting the rent equally again because now he was not going to get paid more than what he was getting since he didn't get the promotion, he wouldn't be able to handle all the expenses on his own anymore.

I was quite alarmed by that because I had already opted for a break and I was quite big by that point, so I got tired pretty easily, so it would be impossible for me to go back to work at that point. I tried to tell him that it was just two more months and that I would be back to work, so he could just wait it out, but he told me that he had already been waiting for a long time to tell me about this, and he just couldn't anymore. He said that it was becoming very difficult for him to manage all the household expenses

on his own and that he would need me to start contributing to the rent again. I thought that it was a joke or something because there was no way that he was asking a seven-month pregnant woman, carrying his baby, no less to go back to work just so he wouldn't have to spend like one grand more than he usually does. I tried to tell him that he was being very unfair because we had discussed this earlier, and he had promised me that he was going to take care of it all. And I wasn't even asking him to take care of everything and pay for all the expenses, just the rent. I was still paying for my half of the groceries and the other bills, so it was not like I was depending on him entirely. But he wasn't ready to budge from what he was demanding

of me, and at one point, he told me that I could either start coughing up the rent instead of making excuses, or I could leave his apartment. That was incredibly insulting to me because when we had moved together, we had thought that this was going to be our home, and even though the lease was in his name, I had always treated the apartment like our place. So for him to say that he was going to kick me out if I didn't pay rent while I was carrying his child was so crazy that I didn't even know what to say to him. I told him to calm down and think about it with a cool head, but he told him that he told him that me that his mind was already made, and there was nothing I could do to change it so now. I just had to accept the facts and make my own decision. I was very upset so I ended up yelling

at him that day, and it turned into the fight of the decade. We were in a shouting match for about half an hour, and I got so tired that eventually, I decided to just give up and started packing my things. I was humiliated by how he had treated me, and yet again, he had brought up the fact that he had changed everything for me, and it was unfair. of me to expect so much from him while giving him nothing in return. He actually believed that I had done nothing for him, which was more than insulting. It was devastating for me because I loved him and I just couldn't deal with the fact that he was saying such things to me. So I packed my clothes and moved in with a friend. I didn't want to be a burden on her, but I also couldn't not tell her

what had happened. So I tried to explain the situation to her without crying, but I just couldn't keep the tears in and I ended up crying harder than ever because I was emotionally destroyed after that fight. My friend, Brianna, was nice enough to tell me that I could live with her without paying rent for as long as I had to, and she was not going to let me suffer. She and I had already been roommates in college, which is how I knew her, and I knew that she was a good person but while we were living together when I was pregnant, she really exceeded my expectations and did everything for me that even Travis wasn't. Before I moved in with her, I would have to attend all my appointments with my OB slash GYN by myself because he was always too busy, but Brianna made sure that

I didn't have to do any of it alone and even when I went into labor, she was there by my side, every step of the way. She was also kind enough to allow my parents to come visit me every single day in the two weeks leading up to my due date, and I can't imagine anybody else opening up her home and her heart to us like that. Since then, we have been very close, and my parents refer to her as the sister that I never had. And I agree, she really is like the sister that I never had. Coming back to Travis, he was barely there for me after I left. We never formally broke up, but after I stormed out of the house that day,

I waited for him to call and asked me to come back for weeks, but that call never came. Instead, he blocked me everywhere and he also blocked all of our mutual friends. I don't know why he had to take things to such an extreme, but he made it very obvious to me that he didn't want to speak to me. Even on the day that I went into labor, I couldn't reach him, so I decided to call his parents. I didn't even know if they were aware of the breakup or not because I hadn't spoken to Travis and his parents also had not contacted me

after the big fight that we had. Even though before that, they had been checking up on me every other week. But I thought that they should know and maybe they would let Travis know as well, so I called them to let them know which hospital I was going to be at. I didn't say much and I didn't know what to expect but nobody showed up from their family. On the phone call, when I was telling his mom that I was going into labor, she didn't sound like she cared and when nobody showed up, I realized that she actually didn't. And neither did her husband and definitely not Travis.

When I gave birth to my son, the only people who were there for me were my parents and Brianna. I'm kind of grateful for it because I don't need Travis. However, that's how I feel now. Back then it was quite different. I was very disappointed that Travis hadn't shown up for the birth of his own son, but I tried to be strong because I knew that after this point, there was no going back. I knew that I was going to have to be a single mother, and it was very obvious to me that Travis couldn't give less of a crap about his child.

I cried my eyes out when I got home from the hospital. But after I was done, crying, I decided that I was going to speak to a lawyer and make sure that Travis gave up his rights as a parent because if he hadn't even shown enough for the birth of his son, there was no reason he had any right to be involved in our lives anymore. I was going to take care of myself and my son all on our own. I told Brianna and my parents about my decision and they were on my side. So they decided to start speaking to lawyers who dealt in this kind of thing. And once we had decided on somebody, we had him draw up the papers, and I personally paid Travis a visit with my lawyer about a week after I had given birth to our son. Just so I could get him to

sign away his rights and that would be the end of everything. There was not much to talk about, I told him exactly what the paperwork was for and I said that if he didn't want to be an active part of his son's life, then he had an easy out right now and he could just sign his rights away and we would be done. It was a relatively straightforward process and soon enough, we were done. That was the last time that I saw him and it broke my heart, but I knew that it was necessary. In the long run, that's what would be the best for me and my son. I knew that Travis was flaky and he had broken my heart by letting me down, but he was not about to do the same thing to my son.

He had signed those papers and he was out as a parent. There was no more coming back from that. After that, it was just me and my son. I didn't demand child support from Travis because I didn't want anything to do with him anymore and I knew that he was very stingy, so he would make a whole song and dance about it if I did ask for child support. So I had to work really hard to be able to support myself and my son, and yet again, Brianna was extremely supportive of me. I went back to work just a few months after my son was born, and I had to dip into my savings so that I would be able to contribute to the expenses of living with

Brianna and we would be able to split everything equally. She never asked for it, but I wanted to be of use because I felt really guilty living with her for free since she was also just an employee who got paid around the same amount that I did and she was supporting me and my son. son without any complaints. My parents decided to rent out the house back in our hometown so they could move here to be closer to me. Rent was much higher around these parts, so it was a little expensive, but they managed to get an apartment close to Brianna. They asked me to come move in with them, but it was surprisingly Brianna who asked me not to since she liked living with us and she had become attached to me and my son, so we decided to stay together. My parents would watch my son

whenever Brianna and I were at work and everything was just great. In a few months, I got so busy with work and raising my son that I completely forgot about Travis, and it really helped with the process of healing and moving on. When my son was about eight months old, I heard from a couple of my friends that Travis was back to seeing other people and surprisingly, it didn't even hurt me or make me feel anything. Two years have passed since I broke up with Travis, and being a single mother has been great. It's at least better than being with somebody who doesn't love me enough and didn't even bother to be there for me and his son. I moved into my own apartment a couple of months ago, since Brianna has also started seeing somebody and even though it was very difficult

for the both of us, I'm not sure that her new boyfriend would be comfortable with this arrangement. We still live close by, and every good thing has to come to an end someday so I moved out a few months ago. She visits me every weekend and so does my parents and we make it a whole thing. Life has been good and I definitely do not miss Travis. However, about a week ago, Travis showed up at my door and said that he was ready to be out of my life again. He told me that he had asked for my address from a friend, and after a lot of deliberation and failed dates, he had realized that he had made a huge mistake and he wanted me back. Not only that, but he also wanted a relationship with his son and so, he was back now. I thought it was ridiculous of him

to expect that I would just take him back, no questions asked, and I told him that he was no longer welcome in my life. I tried to shut the door, but he told me that he was going nowhere until he at least got a chance to see his son. He told me that it was quite unfair that I was withholding his own child from him and he hadn't even had the opportunity to see his own son even once since he was born and it's been two years. So now he deserves to meet the boy at least once. He told me that he was ready to be a father now, and if I was a good mother, then I would do what was right for my son and not try to get back at him by withholding our son from him. I thought it was laughable because, first of all, he had terminated his rights as a parent,

and I had proof of it. So now, he had no right to demand to see his son because legally, he was not his father anymore. And for two years, he had nothing to do with us. So it was very bold of him to come back out of nowhere and expect us to be okay with it. I literally just laughed in his face and reminded him that he had signed his rights away shortly after our son was born. So now he was not our son, but he was just my son, and he needed to get out or else I would report him to the cops. Then I shut the door right in his face and ignored him as he rang the doorbell for about five minutes until he finally left. But now I feel very guilty about it because I discussed it with my parents and Brianna and while they agree that I absolutely do not need to get back with Travis, they don't know if

this is the best for our son. There is also another factor, which is Travis' parents, who have been trying to talk to me ever since I drove them away. They have been crying and begging me to give Travis an opportunity to fix everything and let him have another shot at being a parent. They sent me a bunch of videos, apologizing to me for the way that they behaved with me two years ago and for not being there for me. They explained that they were just upset that Travis and I had broken up and there were a lot of personal issues as well that they were dealing with which led to making some bad decisions. But now, they were really sorry, and they had come back to their senses. They are trying to convince me that this is what's best for my son because in the long run,

he'll definitely want to know about his father, and if I tell him that his father had wanted to come back. But I decided that he was not going to be a part of his life. My son, my son, is going to be very disappointed and they are just trying to prevent it. They admit and acknowledge that Travis screwed up colossally, but as a mother, should forgive him because my son needs him. Travis has also unblocked me and is trying to convince me of the same things. He's also trying to tell me that we actually belong together and he knows that I'm mad right now, but I'll come around eventually and he's ready to wait for me. I just don't know what to do. I feel like this is a huge dilemma and it's driving me nuts right now. I'd offer not wanting to let my ex-boyfriend,

who dumped me while I was pregnant, see our son. Update 1, hey, so I have thought about it, and I think I'm not going to let Travis back into my life again. And I'm certainly not going to allow him to have any contact with my son, at least until my son is old enough to know what happened. I'm going to tell him about his father when he's five years old and then he can make up his mind for himself. I know it's still young and five years old. I know it's still young and five years old is not mature enough, but that's what I told Travis and he seems to be okay with it. So that's the conclusion that we have come to for now. Let's see if it sticks or not. As for everybody, in the comments, who was telling me that I was evil for not letting my son see

his father, well, his father wasn't even there for me when I was giving birth to our son, so I guess we can all call it even. And I appreciate the other people, who were supportive and kind to me and didn't judge me too harshly. The rest of you really need to interest a little. Update 2. So about two days have passed since I had that discussion with Travis, but his parents are not happy about it. They think that five years is a very long time and it's not healthy for a boy to go for that long without having any contact with his father. I think it's funny that they have a problem with it now because they didn't seem to have a problem back when I was giving birth and none of them bothered to show up. Travis told me to

ignore his parents and block them if it really came down to it, but the things that they had been accusing me of are really messed up. They think that I am depriving Travis of a relationship with his son on purpose because I want to get revenge as if I would be petty enough to withhold my son from my ex just because I wanted to make him feel bad. They think that I am selfish enough to do that because I obviously don't care about my son. I'm not saying this, they said this and I wanted to hit back at them, but I decided not to because it was obviously not worth it. His parents are old, crazy and dramatic, and I'm not going to waste my time trying to talk sense into them. They can believe whatever they want too, I don't care about it.

Update 3, hi, so almost a month has passed since I reestablished contact with Travis and we have decided that he's going to contribute to his son's expenses and try to do his best as a dad. We are still trying to build trust between the two of us because otherwise, it's going to be very difficult to co-parent. Well, I might introduce him to our son this year itself, but we are taking things slow right now. He has been quite apologetic so far and keeps telling me that he regrets everything that he did, and wants to make up for it however, he can,

so I'm willing to give him a chance. And I also thought about it, I've been putting myself through a lot and really pushing myself to do better for my son, but here, Travis is willingly stepping up to help me out, so I don't have any reason to reject his help. I'm going to give this a chance, no matter what, because it's for my son.