Someone marked your registry gift. It never showed up.
WrapSheet blog
There's a particular kind of panic that only hits after a baby shower. You open the registry on your phone. The stroller says purchased. So does the playpen mat. So does the sun tent. None of those things are in your living room.
I saw this exact mess on BabyBumps this week. Three different people ordered from the registry, had the gifts shipped to their own houses (the usual move so they can wrap and bring them), then never made it to the shower. No text. No "sorry we missed it, can we drop this off?" Just a quiet little inventory of gifts that exist in theory.
Related cousin of the same problem: someone marks an item purchased and never buys it. Or they buy it somewhere else and forget to mark anything, so you get two monitors and zero of the bottle warmer you actually needed. The comments under those threads are not gentle. People are annoyed. I don't blame them.
Here's my take. You are allowed to follow up. Once. Politely. Waiting until 38 weeks and hoping the stroller materializes in someone's guest closet is not a plan.
If they ordered it and didn't show, start soft. "Missed you at the shower! Hope everything's okay." Give them a beat to open the door. A lot of people will blurt out that the gift is still at their place. If they don't, then it's fair to be more direct: "I was going through the registry to figure out what we still need, and I saw the stroller marked purchased under your name. Just checking whether that's still coming our way or if I should grab one myself."
That wording is a little awkward. Good. Awkward is better than stuck without a stroller because you were too polite to ask.
If they marked it purchased and never bought it, same idea, shorter fuse. Marking something purchased is a claim on the list. Other guests see it gone. You stop planning around it. When nothing arrives, you get the worst of both worlds: a fake "done" and a real gap. Asking "did you already buy this, or should I put it back up?" is not rude. Leaving a needed item stuck in limbo for months is.
If you're the guest, fix it before the parents have to chase you. Bought it to wrap and bring, then got sick / work / kid drama? Text the same day. Offer to drop it, ship it, or reverse the purchase so they can unlock the item on the registry again. Ghosting a registry gift is weirder than just saying you can't make it. Presence is optional. Clarity is not.
And please stop marking things purchased as a placeholder for "I'm thinking about it." Either buy it or leave it alone. Registries are boring on purpose. They only work if the purchased column means something.
Don't let the registry become your only source of truth. Screenshot who bought what when the notification lands. Note whether it shipped to you or to them. After the shower, compare the pile in your house to that list. The mismatch is where the awkward texts live. If you're drowning in boxes and names, a simple photo log of who brought what (WrapSheet is built for that exact pile) beats relying on memory two weeks later when you're also learning how a car seat clicks.
Gifts are optional. Holding someone's planning hostage with a half-finished registry purchase is not. Follow up once. Be kind. Then buy the stroller yourself if you have to. Your due date does not care about someone else's closet.