Making it “All About Me”

I’m a pastry chef, and when I was pregnant with our first baby, I made a “birth day” cake when I was about 39w pregnant and put it in the freezer so I could take it out when my labor started and we’d have something nice to share with our midwife, doula, and nurse at our home birth.

My husband and I were FaceTimeing with my MIL today and she asked how preparations are coming along for the new baby. I mentioned that I had just finished making another cake for the freezer, and she made a face and said, “Oh, THAT again?” And I said, “Of course. I made one for the first baby, why wouldn’t I do it again?” And she starts saying that it seems really show-offy and like I’m trying to take focus away from the baby and make it all about myself, and why isn’t it enough that people will be congratulating me on the baby, do I really need them to be complimenting my baking too? I was so taken aback, I really didn’t think that anyone would interpret it that way. I was legitimately just trying to do something a) that I truly enjoy doing, and b) that I thought was a nice way to celebrate together with my birth team and my family. But now I’m considering just taking the cake out and serving it as dessert after dinner this week instead.