A man has been shamed for abandoning his wife in the delivery room to cry in his car merely seconds after his second daughter was born. He explained how he has always longed for a son so he can pass down his great-grandfather's name, as per his family tradition.
But as his first child was born female, he hoped his second would be male. Taking to Reddit, he said: "For three generations of our family, we have had somebody carry on the name of my great grandfather.
"However, despite the fact my dad, uncle, and aunts had three boys and two girls between them all, so far all of us have either been suffering with fertility issues or have only had daughters.
"Don't get me wrong, my wife and I already have a daughter and I love her very much.
"However, given that the other relatives are either planning to adopt daughters from parents who could not raise them, committing to being childfree, or saying they are happy with the three girls they have, I felt a lot of pressure on me to be the one that has a son."
To his delight, he and his wife came to learn she was carrying twins - instantly doubling his chances of having a son with that pregnancy.
"We saw it as a blessing from a higher spirit," he added.
While he admits having one child would have been easier on them financially, he says he was pressured into 'trying again' by his child-obsessed great uncle.
He said: "We contemplated stopping but my great uncle, who is obsessed about how many kids people have, was all like, 'Well, Nelson Peltz had 10 kids - more kids make you find ways of making more money'.
"And other relatives chimed in saying people with more kids make more money.
"We were so nervous about the gender that we did not want to know until birth.
"But that did not stop relatives from coming in with a bunch of old wives' tales saying based on my wife's symptoms the babies were the same gender for sure."
The couple welcomed their second child - the oldest twin - at 11.20am on Sunday - but silence fell across the room when they saw the newborn's gender.
"I hear the baby crying and then silence from the previously chatty relatives," he added. "Finally somebody, and I forget who, tells me it's a healthy girl and I should be proud.
"I was so upset because of the relatives put in my mind that if the first one was a girl, the second one would be too. And I hate to say it, I was having stress over adding twins to the house.
"I made my excuses and walked out. I went out to the car and cried and then drove to the nearby cafe to get a coffee to calm myself down."
Before arriving at the café, he received a call from his mum saying he "had a son".
The man said: "I turned around the car and sped back to the hospital.
"However, when I got to my wife's room a nurse came out and said in a rather smug tone, 'Sir, your wife is asking that you not be admitted inside'.
"I tried to tell her that I wanted to be with my wife but she just gave me a 'You don't scare me' type eye roll.
"My wife banned me from her room for the next day and finally this morning she said I could come hold my twins.
"She pointedly made me acknowledge our daughter first (as if a baby understands English) and then let me hold my son.
"I could not stand it anymore and told her that throwing a grouchy nurse on me and then what she did just then was petty and I cannot believe her.
"She got mad and said that she was naming our son the name I wanted and then threw me out again."
Confused, the man has taken to Reddit to ask users whether he is in the wrong for "going away to collect his emotions" after finding out the first twin was a girl.
One user said: "You realise that for the rest of her life, your wife will always remember that when your daughter was born, you got upset and had to leave because that wasn't what you wanted.
"The first emotion you ever felt about your daughter is disappointment. That is absolutely disgraceful and you should be ashamed of yourself."
Another user added: "Financially, you said you would be better off with just the one child you already had, yet you chose to bow to pressure from family to try and have a boy.
"And what makes you the biggest a***hole of all is walking out on your wife at a critical moment when you thought the second twin would be a girl.
"What concerns me most is how you will now treat those children. I'm sure your girls will not even realize they have a father."
A third user said: "You abandoned your wife while she was giving birth, first of all. And second of all, you need to seek help for your views on baby girls vs baby boys.
"You literally broke down and cried at the prospect of having two daughters, but sped back when you found out the second was a boy?"
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