AITA for wanting a day to myself while my wife is 8 months pregnant?

Just a quick disclaimer: this story deals with pregnancy stress, family pressure, and feeling emotionally overwhelmed.

I honestly never thought I’d be the kind of husband who even asked this, but here I am.

My wife is 8 months pregnant, and for the past month, I feel like I’ve been doing everything I can to take care of her. I’ve handled most of the chores, helped with whatever cravings she has, and tried to be there whenever she needs me. I know she’s carrying so much right now, and I really have tried to step up.

But lately, I’ve been feeling drained.

My friends have this game night every first Friday of the month. I already skipped the last one because I wanted to stay focused on my wife, and I didn’t complain about that. But now the next one is coming up, and I really want to go. Not because I don’t love her. Not because I don’t care. I do. I love her completely. I’m just exhausted.

It’s not only the pregnancy stress either. My dad has also been sick, and mentally I feel like I’ve been carrying a lot at once. And as selfish as it sounds, part of me just wants one night where I can breathe, laugh, and stop thinking about everything for a few hours. I even admitted that I wanted to go hang out and get a little Dr*nk with my friends just to decompress.

From my point of view, it would only be one day. Really, less than a day. Around eight hours. And I told her that if she needed me, I’d Uber back immediately. I thought that sounded fair. But she told me she really wants me home.

That’s where I started feeling torn.

Because on one hand, I get it. She’s heavily pregnant. She’s uncomfortable, emotional, and probably needs reassurance more than ever. On the other hand, I feel like I’m running on empty. And I hate even saying this out loud, but lately she’s felt a little overbearing to me. I know that sounds terrible. I know a lot of this comes with pregnancy, and I know I’m supposed to be patient. I’ve been trying. I really have.

Then she said something that stuck with me: “You don’t get days off when you have a kid.”

And honestly… I couldn’t even argue with that.

That was the moment I started questioning myself. Maybe this isn’t really about one game night. Maybe it’s about me realizing that life is about to change completely, and I’m panicking because I know freedom is going to look different from now on. Part of me keeps thinking, once the baby is here, I’ll adjust and become the dad I need to be. But another part of me wonders if wanting this break now already makes me selfish.

So now I’m sitting with this guilt, wondering if I’m wrong for even asking. I love my wife. I want to support her. But I also feel like I’m close to burning out, and I don’t know if asking for a few hours to myself makes me a bad husband… or just an overwhelmed person.

Looking back on it now, I think what I really wanted wasn’t just a night out. I wanted someone to notice that I’m struggling too.