Transcript

My Wife Refuses to Get Our Baby a Birth Certificate

From The Dr. John Delony Show · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 16 min · 2,564 words · 59 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "My Wife Refuses to Get Our Baby a Birth Certificate", an episode of The Dr. John Delony Show published January 8, 2026 (16 min, about 2,564 words). It mentions 5 people, works and ideas, including birth certificate, Social Security number, measles vaccine, University Systems, polio vaccine.

What this episode is about

The discussion revolves around a father's concern for his wife's growing skepticism towards societal norms, particularly regarding parenting decisions such as homeschooling, vaccination, taxation, and the refusal to obtain a birth certificate and social security number for their newborn. As she delves deeper into these beliefs, he worries about the potential implications for their family and seeks advice on how to engage her in a constructive dialogue to address their differing viewpoints.

Key takeaways

  • Homeschooling skepticism can mark the beginning of a slippery slope into distrust of societal norms.
  • Social media algorithms thrive on fear—parents' anxieties are prime fuel for misinformation.
  • When intimacy fades, it's often a sign of deeper emotional disconnect—watch for the red flags.
  • Safety in conversation isn't just about being right; it's about creating an open space for fears.
  • Navigating modern parenting means balancing truth-seeking with the emotional needs of the family.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 3:00: birth certificate, Social Security number, University Systems
  2. – 6:00: measles vaccine, birth certificate, Social Security number
  3. – 9:00: birth certificate, Social Security number
  4. – 12:00: birth certificate
  5. – 15:00: birth certificate, measles vaccine, polio vaccine, Social Security number

Notable quotes from "My Wife Refuses to Get Our Baby a Birth Certificate"

  • Paying taxes and now she doesn't want to give our b get the birth certificate or social security number for our newborn.
    about birth certificate · at
  • I could go down the hall and ask somebody who works, on the measles vaccine or whatever. And I know that's an insane privilege that very few people have.
    about measles vaccine · at
  • Somewhere, I actually don't know the mechanics of that all the way down. your kid needs a polio vaccine and your kid needs a measles vaccine.
    about polio vaccine · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

Companies & orgs

  • University Systems — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. And I will never underestimate the privilege I had of working with at university systems with like I didn't have social media a and b it would never occur to me to go to…

Concepts & topics

Full transcript with timestamps

My wife has like over the course of our marriage has uh um I guess grown more skeptical of I guess societal norms I'll say. Um and uh it started off or it has started off with uh pretty normal stuff that's like more accepted.

Give me give me an example. um like kind of like homeschooling, you know, like I believe in homeschooling is is not bad at all and and uh she, you know, she's she's skeptical about like vaccines uh that that the schedule particularly was at first, but you know, now it's grown into all vaccines and then um you know, she's talking about recently has talked about like not paying taxes and uh now she doesn't want to uh give our b get the birth birth certificate or social security number uh for our newborn.

Oh yikes yikes yikes. She's down the rabbit hole. She spent a lot of time on social media.

Uh yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is a dangerous trajectory for you, your wife, and especially those sweet kids.

Yeah. That's that's what I believe. And I'm trying to I've tried to bring it up before and talk to her about it, but I get kind of flustered and I think the arguments usually or the conversations usually devolve into an argument.

Yeah. And I'm trying to figure out how to better approach it um so that we can kind of come to a resolution and

uh move forward in like a a safe manner. Um, man, that's such a great question and unfortunately millions and millions of people are struggling with the same thing.

Yeah, because we've entered into the strangest uh information environment I think in human history. Um yeah

the things you're talking about are so insane like on so many levels. And I absolutely understand when you have a baby. Is this your first one, second one? Third one? What What What baby is this?

This is our second. Okay. I remember how scared I was not knowing how to have two kids in the house.

Uhhuh. And in our house, I don't know about yours, but our house had there had been a bunch of loss, too. a bunch of miscarriages, a bunch of hospital visit like and so it was heightened. I was just a scared guy.

Yeah. And I will never underestimate the privilege I had of working with at university systems with like I didn't have social media a and b it would never occur to me to go to some weird influencer who's trying to sell me supplements like the groundup dirt from like some volcano somewhere as an antidote to whatever. I just simply had I could go down the hall and ask a cancer biologist or a epidemiologist or I could go down the hall and ask somebody who works, you know, on the on the measles vaccine or whatever. And I know that

um that's an insane privilege that very few people have. So, I want to honor the fact that your wife is scared and she wants to be a good mom and that we live in a world now where that fear is channeled through algorithms simply designed for one thing, to keep you glued to them. And the easiest way to keep you glued to something is to scream you're going to hurt or kill your child.

Yeah. Right. And then the powerlessness you feel that you watch and let's be honest, this isn't just about that. You're losing your wife in other places too. Fair.

Yeah, definitely. Tell me about that. Um I mean we not very intimate I think anymore and um

tell me about that. We um I mean it's been a couple years now I think that it's degraded.

Um and we um yeah we don't we don't I mean we don't have intercourse. We don't hug, we don't kiss all that much. Um except for, you know, when we're trying to make a baby essentially.

Sure. Um and then, you know, we can't really have a lot of conversations uh in terms of, you know, what I would consider normal conversations like finances and

Okay. Um and just everyday life really. Uh all right. That's that's what I want to put on the table.

Mhm. And I'll challenge you the same way I challenged a previous caller. Are you a person who is safe to have scary conversations with? meaning when somebody picks up their phone and a hundred people tell them that the measles vaccine is going to kill their kid

and that and they bring it to you is your instant response is that's so stupid we're not doing that

or you know what measel vaccine is how that became contentious I will never understand

ever but let's take that one off the table Let's say the social security number. I don't want a birth certificate.

Mhm. If it's like, "Hey, I'm starting to question whether we should have these government documents." Um, are you somebody that's like, "That's so stupid." Or are you somebody who goes, "Hey, I got us a babysitter. I want us to go out. Tell me about it." Um, I I would say for the most part I am the latter, but for the when she brought up the birth certificate and tax also taxes before and social security number, uh, I was really taken aback and uh,

sure. Yeah, I was kind of uh, confused and I kind of just answered as very bluntly like what are you talking about?

Well, and that's the right answer by the way. Don't don't hear me say like you need to gently go into that one, right?

Yeah. Cuz here's here's what you're facing. You're facing a potential um lethal decision for your children. Your wife is now asking, "Should we start committing crimes?"

Mhm. Your wife is starting to ask, "Should we hide?" Like, "Should we pretend?" And it's all pretend. Should we pretend that we're hiding? Right. And and what that tells me is you have a wife who's struggling deeply with fear and with anxiety.

Yeah. Or let me put it this way. My guess is she is very very lonely right now. Fair.

Yeah, that's fair. Okay. And so I want to enter into that conversation with deep compassion.

Oh yeah. Um the worst thing for a schizophrenic is to find out someone actually is following them around. Right. was that just because you're paranoid that someone's following you doesn't mean they're not right.

Yeah. And what you don't want to do is become yet another like there's research that says like if somebody's super conservative or super liberal and you hand them clear documented evidence about how their position on a particular issue is categorically factually incorrect. It actually drives them further into their position which is so bizarre and strange. Yeah, I think I I tried to I think I I made that mistake because I tried to say like the state, you know, the midwife filled out the birth record. The state already has the record. The birth certificates for us for our legal protection. And I think that

it's for your babies. Like I had to take my birth certificate that I still have from Texas Women's Hospital. I still have it in a safe that's inside another safe. It's that important of a document. I I just used it last week, right? And all that to say is this. Those things are proxies to what's really going on, which is your wife is terrifyingly alone, terrifyingly scared.

Okay? And she is looking for things that she can control. Okay? And so my my my plea to you is to enter into not trying to solve each one of those issues cuz you're actually going to drive her away.

Okay? Is heading into the issue that is I feel like I'm losing my best friend in the world. I'm losing my wife and I'm scared.

Yeah. For you. How can I love you right now? Well, you would love me by being on my side that we don't want We're not going to talk about that right now. Are you okay? You get what I'm saying?

Yeah. Yeah, I do. I miss you. And when you go into those conversation, that conversation using eyewords, on the whole, those are invitations.

If if you sit down and say, "We're never having sex. We haven't had sex in years. You're not doing this. You're not doing this." Then you become yet another one of those vaccine pedalling, governmentup supporting Looney Tunes that her entire feed is telling her um is trying to kill everybody.

Yeah. Right. So, play this out for me. You sit down at the table with her and and I like breakfast just because the sun is out and people have slept sometimes.

Um, you sit down and you say, "I want Will you hold my hands?" What? Will you hold my hands, please? I just need to say something.

And you said, "I love you and I miss you and I'm worried about you and I'm worried about us." What would her response to that be? Just play it out. And it might be a super negative response, but play that out.

Yeah, I think her initial response would be laughing like and very skeptical of uh of like the genuineess of me trying to be intimate with her.

Okay. So, so here's the only thing you can control when she starts laughing is your emotional reactivity.

Okay. Could you stay present then? Yeah. to where she felt the weight, not the weight of this is a big heavy conversation, but the weight of this guy that I've created two kids with, this guy that is my husband is rooted.

Mhm. Does she have any other women in her life that you could reach out to and say, "I'm worried about my wife."

Um, she's very close to her sisters and mom. Okay. Are they in the same little tribe where they just send each other crazier and crazier Facebook messages? Uh yeah, sort of. Um yeah, okay.

I think the the mom is uh I think more reasonable and uh yeah. Okay. I I am here today because my wife reached out to a couple of my guy friends.

Okay. And they they told me things that my wife had been telling me, but I couldn't hear it from her at the time because I wasn't well.

Okay. And I will tell you initially I was like did you you called so so and so? Yeah. Cuz I I'm worried about you.

Okay. And for whatever reason that tether was kept me kept me hanging on. Yeah.

But this isn't So let me let me back all the way out. Yes. Your child 100% needs a uh birth certificate. He or she already has one for whatever it's worth.

Mhm. The fact that y'all don't want to get a copy and your wife thinks she is avoiding something is madness.

Yeah. Did y'all have that kid at home? Yeah, we did. Okay. Was there a midwife there that went and registered?

Uh, yeah. Okay. Tada. Yeah. Yeah. I tried to have the cool. I know. I know. This isn't a logic issue. This is a this is a fight or flight. This is a trauma response.

Yeah. Trauma is probably not the right word. This is a terrified mother response.

Okay. And so it's getting to that level. So when I was a scared, anxious wreck, when my wife would say, "Hey, we have to pay bills every month or we look at our bills. We are fine financially. We're okay." Then what it my body registered that as oh she's one of them. When my buddy showed up and I didn't know she had called him and he said, "Hey, you need to go talk to somebody, dude. You're not okay." That was the very first time that it registered with me that maybe, just maybe, it's me. Maybe it's me. And that started that turned the car I was driving off a cliff one degree.

And that started a complete total arc that here I am and my car is completely going a different direction now this many years later. But yes, your kid needs a birth certificate. They they have they have one of some shape, form or fashion. Unless unless you are in the deep Appalachian Mountains and y'all had a baby and your cousin delivered it and nobody like Right. and if there was no prenatal care and there was no no fill in the blank, fill in the blank, fill in the blank. Um, I would be stunned if when the midwife registered, if there's not a social security number somewhere, I actually don't know the mechanics of that all the way down. Um, your kid needs a polio vaccine and your kid needs a measles vaccine.

And if you don't want to listen to the show anymore because I said that because I'm a part of bit, fine. Go talk to somebody's great-grandparents who live through polio. Talk to parents who have buried their children from measles, right? And I also get the do we need he B the day they're born? I get all those questions. All the questions are good. This is a scared scared mom. Let's start there. And then it might be on you to invite couples over, to invite people over to the house to begin building a world where she's got other people she could reach out to and text and maybe get a human interaction. Maybe you say, "Hey, at night time I want us to start putting our phones away. Would you join me in that? I'm going to turn my phone off when I walk in the door. A way you could love me would be to turn your phone off." Little things like that that will slowly turn this tide.

But you're right to be scared for your kids both now and in the future. But also going to war with your wife is tough. There will come a moment when you might have to file the paperwork and deal with the blowback. But let's start with connection first. Thank you so much for the call, man. Man, you are you are like millions of husbands and wives whose partners are just scared to death and trying to grasp any straw they can. And there's a return to a rootedness that we all need, especially in our marriages.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "My Wife Refuses to Get Our Baby a Birth Certificate"?

Dr. John Delony (Host), Unnamed Caller (Guest).

What is "My Wife Refuses to Get Our Baby a Birth Certificate" about?

The discussion revolves around a father's concern for his wife's growing skepticism towards societal norms, particularly regarding parenting decisions such as homeschooling, vaccination, taxation, and the refusal to obtain a birth certificate and social security number for their newborn. As she delves deeper into these beliefs, he worries about the potential implications for their family and…

What is mentioned in this The Dr. John Delony Show episode?

5 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including birth certificate, Social Security number, measles vaccine, University Systems, polio vaccine. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "My Wife Refuses to Get Our Baby a Birth Certificate"?

The episode runs 16 min; the transcript is about 2,564 words in 59 timestamped sections.

More from The Dr. John Delony Show

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 9, 2026.