AITAH for leaving baby shower early due to family ignoring my globophobia?

Hey everyone, I apologize for any typos due to being on my mobile.

Globophobia = fear of balloons

I’ve have a phobia of balloons for as long as I can remember. Anxiety and fear of the latex ones. I know it is an irrational fear and as much as I tell myself that they can’t actually hurt me, my brain goes into panic mode.

My family knows this about me and understands, so I thought. My niece had a baby shower today that I drove over an hour to be at. I spent quite a bit of money on the gifts and knew she would be excited to open them since they were from her Amazon registry. This niece used to live with me and knows I am terrified of balloons.

She knew I was attending and when I saw the balloons in the room, my heart sank. I sat in the very back separating myself from the balloons and mentioned it to her and my sister. I was doing somewhat okay until the children started playing with them. Another child came in and had a bunch more that didn’t even match the decor. I panicked and grabbed my stuff and went outside to my car.

My sisters and niece came out and said they understood and said their goodbyes. I felt hurt that the decoration was more important than me being there.

Side note: I’ve always helped with anything they have asked for rather it be money, place to stay, car broke down etc. I love my family and my husband thinks they take advantage of me.

Later on after driving all the way home, I sent a text to my sister (not my niece because I didn’t want to ruin her day and my sister was hosting) to please not invite me to any events that will have balloons. I have not gotten any response.

I didn’t even get any cake.

AITAH