While I Was Pregnant, My Husband Pressured Me to Lose Weight

After I gained sixty pounds during my pregnancy, my husband, Elijah, stopped giving me money for living expenses, claiming it was to make sure I lost the weight.

"Lose ten pounds, and I'll give you $1000."

"From now on, all your expenses will be paid for based on how much weight you lose, until you’re back to a normal weight.”

The next prenatal checkup would cost $968.

To scrape together the money, I starved myself for two weeks.

But I only lost three pounds.

"Have you even been trying at all?!”

"If it's not ten pounds, you don't get the thousand!"

Hunger clawed at my stomach until I could barely stand it.

I forced myself through three days without eating, and finally lost ten pounds.

I sent him a screenshot of my weight, and at the hospital billing desk I anxiously urged him to send the money.

But all he sent was a one-dollar payment.