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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Sexless Marriage

129 replies

rosesandkisses · 04/07/2025 20:37

AIBU to be utterly misreable (I am 38) - I got married last September, with hopes to start a family. My husband has had sex with me 4 times since then.

Amazingly, I did manage to fall pregnant in May but that resulted in an early miscarriage.

I started to track ovulation as a way to help conceive in April and asked him if he could make sure he has viagra in the house to aid his ED. I explained about the ovulation kit and how we should have intercourse at the time if shows a ‘peak’. I got a smile face on the test kit and was so excited! I messaged to let him know, he had not bothered to get viagra so we missed that month to try. I was very upset, less about not actually have sex, more about the lack of planning from his side.

I feel myself slipping into a depression, I see pictures of myself from last summer full of life and here I am in bed on a Friday on Mumsnet asking if I am unreasonable in floods of tears.

I feel like a fraud making an appointment at the fertility clinic when I know the route cause could be a lack of intercourse and intimacy rather than a medical issue. I want to support him and be kind. I feel this ‘secret’ about our sex lives is eating me up.

We were at an event two weeks ago where I became tearful and went outside, he came and found me. I started to tell him how I felt and he accused me of ‘using him’ (I have no idea where that came from) and that I was speaking to him like dirt. I was basically saying all of the above to him whilst crying, I was not speaking to him like dirt, I was letting out my fears about the future.

Our plan was to get married and try for a family and I feel I could have been sold a lie - surely if he wanted a baby he would be trying to get support and input by now. It is all me researching and making appointments. He has known me since I was 34 and I am now 38. I explained to him I felt he has already had years of my fertility and he will not be wasting a month longer going forward. I cry about the situation now most days.

I have researched all the fertility clinics (paid for the appt in July) and ideas such as home insemination (paid for a kit). I have been to the GP and organised some basic tests. I got and paid for some vitamins for him, he forgets to take them. You get the picture. I feel like I am pushing everything forward. I suggested adoption, he is not interested as ‘he doesn’t want some randoms genes in his house’. I then said what does he think about sperm donation / egg donation if it transpires there is an issue there - again he was reluctant as he wants his own off- spring. I kindly pointed out the reality of situation and that it maybe something we need to think about given the trajectory of things and this recent miscarriage. I discussed IUI as an option and explained how it worked and he seemed open to that. He seemed reluctant to use an egg donor or sperm donation. I spoke about getting a dog - he does not want a dog either. All of these suggestions are speculative as neither of us know at this point if there are any fertility issues. I seen myself with 2-3 kids but now I am slowly grieving a life without children.

What on earth am I meant to do? And most importantly, AIBU to be going out of mind about this? I have been as kind and patient as possible towards him, but I feel resentment and the instinct / possibility that he is actually quite content childfree with not having kids and has led me down the garden path creeping in. Although I would never say that to him and that is speculative. He is 51 - so a bit older than me.

He seems to continue his life as it was before he married me, golf - ski trips etc. He was away for four weeks in February time; combination of work trips and skiing (I do not ski), I think it was around that time that my depression about the situation really ramped up. All I think about is starting a family and what I can do about it, but he is off on another holiday or conference.

During the MC I was not only upset about the loss but also the reality of having to find a way around his ED / have sex with me in order to ‘try again’ and I felt that pit in my stomach that this could realistically be the reality for a long time going forward.

AIBU to be upset about this?

OP posts:
GivingUpFinally · 04/07/2025 20:45

No you're not being unreasonable at all. I'm so sorry you're this situation. I rarely say ltb unless it's a case of abuse. But, here I go...LTB

Putting babies and fertility aside for a moment.

Life is too short to be this unhappy.

Take ownership of your life back.

Leave.

Either happily enter another relationship, that will give you everything you're looking for or go it alone and have a donor sperm baby on your own.

You have choices. Make one and stick to it.

You deserve more than what you have. Believe in yourself. You can do this.

Stop wasting your fertility and time with this man.

soveryconfused85 · 04/07/2025 20:41

Did you have sex before marriage or is this a new thing?

I say this kindly, as I can hear the frustration and upset in your post, but does he want children? If he does, he is going a weird way about it! Or do you think he does want kids but is embarassed about the ED?

getting to the route of the problem will hopefully help you to know how to best go about fixing it.

good luck

Uupo · 04/07/2025 20:41

What was the relationship wise sex wise before marriage? But you seem to have two completely different life paths and you seem surprised that he’s basically kept the life he had, you can stay and not live the life you want, or power on and get a dog, ivf sperm donor and whatever else you want in your life. If he’s living the life he’s essentially always lived a wedding wasn’t going to be likely to change that.
yanbu to be upset

MessageMystery · 04/07/2025 20:41

YANBU - Are you sure he actually wants a baby?

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