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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

...to have difficulty trusting DH?

37 replies

Lunabelly · 01/07/2011 09:57

Ok, in a nutshelly but long post, our old flat, our NDN was apparently my best friend, one night at a party, she and DH were caught in a toilet cubicle (how very classy), then she spent the following fourteen hours in my home because she wouldn't leave, then I was slowly dripfed horror upon horror by the two people I trusted most. :(

But HEY! Apparently they didn't sleep together. (I believe they did and I believe I know when)

The only reason I forgave DH was the fact that I found out that we were at least victim number three. (I have reports that she is now onto a new victim but that's another thread!)
Because this is what she does. Wheedles in, goes for your husband. And I had nowhere to hide from her because she was right next door.
So in the course of mending our marriage (which was hard due to the constant cackling from next door), our DS was concieved, and quite frankly, my son saved my life.
OK, so she tries to wheedle in again, fails, stalks and harasses me to the point we have to get the police involved. They read all the letters and texts, and told us we should have dialled 999 on at least two occasions. Just knowing that they took me seriously and were in my corner was a huge comfort. But I couldn't go into my beautiful garden because she would go into her garden, and start playing love songs such as I am a Woman in Love , really loudly. She would go into my front garden and to weeding and cut MY buddleaia back, approach and touch my DCs on the school run, and cackle for hours on end. Even worse, her long suffering DH would have a go at me for upsetting her - I had ordered her off my property. Confused

What with that, my DH having shaken me to my core and the fact that we were by then six of us in a one-bed flat, I had a slight breakdown all over the floor and ended up on strong antidepressants.
At this point I need to say that after our first DC together, DH pretty well much withdrew affection and relations. Having found out what I found out on that night , I presume that seeing the birth brought back memories for him and so apart from the marriage mending days, our sex-life is pretty much zero. I try to understand because of what happened to him, but it is hard to live without affection, especially when you have issues and anxieties - although I have always been...quirky, these issues got worse while living in that flat and after DD was born - this is maybe why mum hates DH.

So, after my meltdown, we managed to get housed and now I have found the strength to come off the chemical cosh and am fast becoming the Lunabelly I once was. So we are at the present day.

He has recently joined twitter. Yesterday, because I obviously feel a need to keep vague tabs on him, I looked at his profile page, and there was a porno type profile that he was following. So I looked through his list of people he follows, and there were about 15 pornoesque profiles. So I fired off a text along the lines of "I should have fucking slit my wrists when you were first caught out because all these years I have forgiven you and tried to accept our affectionless marriage and YOU'RE FUCKING LOOKING AT PORN"

So he did his usual overreaction by saying "They weren't porno, and I'm giving up work because if I'm with you 24/7 you'll learn to trust me"
I told him, if we had a normal marriage, it wouldn't have bothered me so much, but the fact that we don't, well, it's like a punch to the heart.
Yes, I have put on weight - because of the pills, stopping smoking and being so bloody unhappy, but HIS past had infected our marriage long before the weight gain. Again, I do my best to be understanding in that department.

We DO love each other, and we know we need to communicate, but everytime I try and open a dialogue, he does his hissy fit. I asked him if we should end it so I can find someone who actually loves me, and he gets upset and says "NO! I love you".

Sooooo...after that long post (so you can't accuse me of drip-feeding!), AIBU for having trust issues? WWYD?

OP posts:
WhereYouLeftIt · 01/07/2011 15:43

Lunabelly, I know that you say that you love each other, but - patently - love is not always enough.

"He was hurt as a child, I did not know this until the night they were caught. She knew." So there's a double betrayal, because he shared something with her that he didn't with you.

You cannot continue whilst your marriage remains in the state that it is, and you know it. You know that you and he need to talk, and you know he doesn't want to.You know the marriage will crumble if his state of denial continues. What you don't know is how to change things so that he will TALK. And sadly neither do I. Could you persuade him to Relate or other counselling? It may take the threat of his marriage ending to make him face up to it?

You say birth of your first child is when he changed - what do you mean by that? Did you shift from lover to mother in his head? What?

Lunabelly · 01/07/2011 15:51

I think seeing me in pain maybe re-reinforced the idea that sex=pain=horror, because of his childhood. That's just my armchair psychology, but, at the risk of TMI, we were swinging from the chandeliers the morning I went into labour, then as soon as she was born - boom. He went from rampant sexytime at the drop of a hat to visibly shrinking from me if I caressed his face say.

OP posts:
WhereYouLeftIt · 01/07/2011 15:57

And can he genuinely not see how this shrinking from a caress (which to me is intimacy rather than sex) could make you feel rejected and sad?

Lunabelly · 01/07/2011 16:06

He says he does but...

OP posts:
WhereYouLeftIt · 01/07/2011 17:01

... but it doesn't change anything? Sad

I cannot see how your marriage can continue if he will not engage.

As you said, the porn would be less of a problem if your marriage was 'normal'. But what it says is that he feels the need for sex, but not with you. Massive rejection. Massive.

What has he said about going for counselling? Either singly or joint?

wrongdecade · 01/07/2011 17:04

Tbh I'd be liable to leave he clearly doesnt seem to care,

I feel awful as im saying that but it seems apparent

Lunabelly · 01/07/2011 17:17

I have suggested we end it as even though I love him he'd clearly rather we weren't together, but he then gets upset, and tells me that he knows he has problems, that he loves me etc and that I should know that.

Well, no, I'm not a mind reader, and constant rejection over seven years kind of makes you think other things.

Anyway. I have told him that I am going to start going out with my friends - a lot - and if he doesn't like that, well, tough. My life is fast running away from me, I've spent almost all of my 30s in a deep depression, I'm made to feel as wanted as a dose in a brothel, so am going to grab some of that life back .

OP posts:
PrettyMeerkat · 01/07/2011 19:54

He needs to get help for what happened to him as a child.

I don't see how the 2 of you can continue otherwise as his behaviour is making you feel rejected. Even though facing up to what happened won't be easy he needs to realise the impact it all has on you.

I don't think it is fair of him to expect you to stay in a sexless relationship.

Xales · 01/07/2011 20:20

The only reason I forgave DH was the fact that I found out that we were at least victim number three.

As long as you pretend your husband was a victim and allow him to pretend also you will never resolve this.

He was never a victim. She didn't just grab him by the shirt, drag him into her house and shag him.

It was a premeditated build up that your husband allowed himself and gave himself permission to go further every time. From the acknowledgement that they were attracted to each other, the first touch, the first kiss etc.

You husband was as complicit as her every step of the way no matter if she had done this before or not.

If you want to save your marriage you need to go and get counselling and talk about all aspects of your marriage and your H needs counselling to get over his so called past. You cannot self diagnose this it needs proper sorting.

If he over stepped boundaries with regards to twitter then you need to have a conversation along with your counselling about boundaries and what is acceptable.

scottishmummy · 01/07/2011 20:35

your dh no victim he had consensual jiggy

WhereYouLeftIt · 01/07/2011 21:03

"... but he then gets upset, and tells me that he knows he has problems, that he loves me etc and that I should know that."

He knows he's got problems. Agreed. But by not dealing with them, he's making them YOUR problems. I think it's going to need to be an ultimatum -he gets help or the marriage is over and it's all his fault. Sad

Going out with friends sounds a good idea, you could do with spending time with people you can relax with.

PrettyMeerkat · 02/07/2011 10:02

He needs to accept responsibility for the affair. The fact that she is a serial husband shagger is neither here nor there, nor if the fact that he was hurt as a child.

You are making excuses for him.

A lot of men go off of sex after seeing their wife have a baby (usually just in the short term) and most of them haven't been hurt as a child.

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