There is nothing quite as alarming as a child-free person trying to convince a pregnant woman to give them her baby.

Like it’s a sweater that didn’t fit.

OP got unexpectedly pregnant in college and found herself alone.

When I was 18 and in my first year of college, I got pregnant. The father joined the Navy to escape responsibility.

My parents (who are strict conservatives except when it’s inconvenient) abandoned me and cut me off financially. They wanted me to have an abortion to prevent the loss of my scholarship.

That’s how I found myself at 18 suddenly and totally responsible for myself and my living situation with no financial or emotional support from anyone.

A woman stepped in and helped her get a job and a place to live, and at first, OP was grateful.

I lived at a private dorm and was “befriended” by the property manager – Donna.

When I told her my situation, she swooped in like a hero and helped me get a place to stay at one of the other properties she managed (I was getting evicted from the dorm).

She then helped me get a job at a gift shop at one of those properties.

Then, she figured out the woman wanted her baby.

I thought she was the most wonderful person for all of this until her true motives became clear. She wanted to adopt my baby, even though I had expressed no interest in giving my baby up for adoption.

After a few weeks of work, she launched a campaign to convince me I was unfit to be a mother and that my baby would be so much better off if I let Donna have it.

At first it was subtle, passive-aggressive remarks about how much money she and her husband had, how she couldn’t have children herself, how she hoped she was able to adopt one day and what a wonderful life they would give their baby.

But, as time passed, her approach became more aggressive and direct. She was always around the shop and would even come to my apartment, ready to point out things I did (or didn’t do) that proved what a terrible mother I would be.

She went into long rants about how awful I was for having a baby without a father, how we’d be “welfare trash” forever, how God brought her into my life because she was MEANT to have my baby.

It was endless and constant, for months. Sometimes I let her comments upset me and make me wonder if she was right, but in my heart I knew that I’d be a good mother.

When OP told her it wasn’t happening, she started to make threats.

For a while, and feeling intimidated, I let myself be bullied into including her in baby-related events – I even let her go with me to the sonogram where I found out my baby was a girl. She was so excited “for me”!

As I got closer to delivering, I got stronger in making clear to Donna that I was not giving up my baby. I tried to avoid Donna as much as I could, but was regularly reminded how much power she had over my living situation.

I soon had coworkers telling me she was claiming that my baby’s adoption was a “done deal”. She even told people she was decorating a nursery and buying baby girl clothes.

When it became clear that she was not going to change my mind, she started threatening me with eviction from my apartment and firing me from my job. That way, I’d realize how unstable my situation was and recognize I had no business having a baby.

OP ended up homeless and unemployed.

And sure enough, I lost my job. She fired me for not wearing my shoes behind the cashier’s counter at the gift shop. When I was on my feet all day, my feet would swell right out of my shoes. I’d stayed behind the counter and slip off my shoes for a bit – but never in view of the customers.

Still, that was reason enough, in Donna’s mind, to teach me a lesson. It didn’t take long after losing my job to also lose my apartment.

I ended up couch-surfing and even spent some time homeless until I got some housing assistance.

But she fought back, and ended up getting enough money to get back on her feet.

In the meantime, I had gone to the EEOC and complained, and they helped me mediate with the owners of the gift shop property.

As a result, Donna got fired from managing that property and I got months of backpay and some extra money for my trouble (in exchange for not full-out suing them).

This small cash windfall turned out to be a huge blessing that actually enabled me to survive financially until I had my baby and could get back in school.

Donna firing me was the best thing that could have ever happened. I saw her years later and she was still childless.

Best Revenge: My daughter is now getting ready to graduate, full scholarship and magna cum laude, from a top law school.

Turns out being raised by a single mom is not as awful as Donna thought! 🙂

Does Reddit love this story? Let’s find out!

The top comment says it sounds like the woman could have easily escalated.

It can be hard to tell who your friends are.

They say it’s probably for the best she never became a mother.

It happens more than we’d like to think.

Overall, this was a happy story.

You have to love these kinds of endings.

This woman deserves all the kudos.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.