'I missed my daughter's birth – my wife can't get over it but I think she should'

A man who missed the birth of his daughter believes his wife should “get over it” – and people agree with him.

The birth of a child is usually cause for celebration – it’s a monumental, life changing event – but for one man, it’s caused a string of arguments. A year and a half after his daughter was born, his wife is still berating him for missing it.

The frustrated father took to Reddit's popular Am I The A**hole forum, where strangers pass judgement on the actions of posters to gauge whether they are in the wrong, where he asked whether he was justified to feel irate over his wife’s relentless anger.

The Redditor, who posted under the handle Key_Atmosphere6114, explained he works in a job which leaves him completely uncontactable at certain times. He either doesn’t have access to his phone, or he’s in the middle of nowhere with no signal.

Key said such times "are well scheduled in advance" because they "basically take up [his] whole day," and there are a lot of safety regulations and rules he has to follow during these times.

As his wife was pregnant, he’d planned to take time off work near her due date but she went into labour one month early and Key was on an inspection, unable to be reached. He explained: "I only learned about her going into labour when I got signal again. By the time I got to the hospital, she had already given birth."

Even though he is now a very "involved father," it’s still a sore subject between him and his wife. He said: "The issue is every single time we have an argument, she will bring up I missed the birth. It happens almost every single time – from serious arguments to what fast food we should get."

He reached his “breaking point” after the couple got into an argument about their daughter’s childcare and nursery arrangements. His wife wants to pull her out of the current centre in favour of one closer to their home, but it’s much more expensive. They split the duties of taking their daughter and picking her up equally – Key does drop off while his wife does the pick up – so he felt justified in standing his ground.

The father continued: “The only one closer to our home is too expensive and we can not afford it. In the middle of the argument, she pulled out I wasn’t there for the birth again. I told her she needs to get over that and stop using it in every f***ing argument we have. She called me a jerk and left.”

He asked the Reddit hive mind if he was in the wrong in the situation for what he said, but he was voted not the a**hole. One Redditor said: “NTA. This is the definition of both 'not fighting fair' and 'concealing the real issue.'

"You didn't miss the birth due to negligence or apathy, you missed it due to work requirements. Work is what (I assume) provides income and other necessities. Does she think you should have predicted early labour and what, quit your job?"

Another person asked for further information regarding the missed birth: “Does your work not have an emergency on site person that can be reached in case of… well, emergency?” To which Key replied: “She [his wife] didn’t call my company, we do and they can contact me but she didn’t call them”.

A third joked: “It's on the kid for coming out a month early.” Another said: “It sounds like you need to get to the REAL root of her issue. Of course she is upset you missed it, but even she certainly understands it was unavoidable!"