Dawn O. Braithwaite, who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about being a stepfamily.
My husband (33m) has two daughters (9 and 8) from a previous marriage.
He shares custody of them with his ex wife Mina (33f).
They divorced 7 years ago.
I met him 5 years ago and were almost 2 years married now.
This is my (30f) first biological child.
Things are tense between us and Mina.
That doesnt mean I dont discuss things with my husband or that Im uninvolved.
My husband would like me to be an equal part of it.
Mina is single, for anyone who asks, and is pregnant via a donor.
They were really excited.
When we told them we were expecting they werent excited.
They see their mom having a baby as different than me having a baby with their dad.
We get along so this was a surprise.
But they dont see me as a parent so to them the baby isnt a sibling.
While their moms baby has just their mom so theyre real siblings.
This is something being addressed via therapy and my husband and I talking to them.
Now onto the gifts.
Neither baby is born yet btw.
I told him I didnt think we should spend a lot on gifts like that.
My husband said hes worried its just another negative for our son if we dont.
I told them it was an insane amount of money to spend for this.
They think its unreasonable to not want to spend a lot of money in these circumstances.
Dawn O. Braithwaite, there is no one right way to be a stepfamily.
They need to avoid competition with the ex-spouse and the other household.
He should likely be the one communicating with his parents in this situation.
Check out the results:
