On Day Seven Postpartum, My Mother-in-Law Kicked My Mom Out

Seven days after my C-section, my mother stood in the living room at three in the morning, holding my crying baby until her legs were trembling. My mother-in-law snatched the baby from her arms and patted the swaddle in disgust. “Don’t pass that bumpkin stink of yours on to my grandson.” I was in too much pain to get out of bed. All I could do was listen as she dumped the lactation soup my mother had spent the entire afternoon making into the tr*sh. My husband stood in the doorway, dragging my mother’s suitcase behind him. “Auntie, why don’t you go home for now? My mom is enough here. Don’t put Wanqing in such a difficult position between you two.” With red-rimmed eyes, my mother walked out the door. Before she left, she turned back and reminded me not to cry, not to pull at my incision. That very night, the baby was rushed to the hospital with a high fever. In front of the doctor and all our relatives, my mother-in-law pointed at my mother and cursed, “It was her! She fed him some random nonsense and hurt my grandson!” My husband looked at me with a dark expression. “What exactly did your mother feed him behind our backs?” I gripped the bed rail, cold sweat breaking out from the pain in my incision, and suddenly laughed. She had no idea that the nursery camera had captured every last detail of her secretly feeding the baby some folk remedy. If they wanted to bully my mother, I would make them pay back double.