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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not want this woman to replace the kids she can't have with mine?

388 replies

HandsOFFplease · 10/12/2012 06:16

Get your Xmas Biscuit and Brew ready, long post to avoid drip feeding. Long time lurker, first time I'm posting.

Amicably split up with ExDP when DS was 4 and DD 6 months, was pleased that he moved on pretty quickly, but had issues with his new DP and the way she acted around my DCs straight away. Over the past 2 year she has become un-fucking-bearable and I'm at my wits end and clueless as to what to do about her. She was told at a young age she couldn't have children as she delights in telling everyone she knows repeatedly at every chance she gets and it's obviously been a major issue for her all her life, she started IVF privately less than three months after getting with my ExDP, and is constantly trying to undermine me and take over the care of my DC's.

  1. Two weeks after he began to date ExDP she had pictures of my DC on her facebook, one of which was of her bottle feeding my daughter (I didn't even know they'd met her at this point) with the tag, 'mummy time' others has tags like 'my handsome boy' I immediately texted ExDP and told him to get her to take them down. She set her facebook to private so I couldn't see if she had them up or not and then sent me text messages telling me she was just trying to bond with the children and that I was being unreasonable.

  2. I invited her and ExDP to DD's first birthday party, she spent the entire day monopolizing DD refusing to allow anyone else to hold her, insisted she was in every photograph with her and even tried to open her presents with her. When I put my foot down and refused, she told me it was unfair that I was excluding her and stormed out of the house crying.

  3. Convinced herself and ExDP that DS had a wheat allergy, no idea where this came from as he has never had any issues with allergies, started him on a wheat free diet at her house and tried to make me follow it, phoned up his school behind my back to tell them he had this allergy and she was worried that I wasn't taking it seriously enough.

  4. She took my DD for her first haircut w/o asking me and is constantly taking DS despite me repeatedly asking her not to cut his hair. She has kept DS off of school to take him to unnecessary Doctors/Dentist appointments w/o asking me, I only found out when I received absence letters from the school.

  5. Bitched, whined and moaned from day one that ExDP doesn't get enough time with the DC, despite the fact he suggested our current arrangements and has never said he's unhappy with them.

  6. Sent me nasty messages when I went back to work and chose to put DD in a nursery instead of allowing her to look after her during the day.

  7. When DS starred in the Christmas Nativity she demanded I force my DM to give up her ticket to her so she could come see him (there was a limited number of tickets per child), when I refused she accused me of trying to 'keep the children out of her life'. My DM had terminal cancer; she won't be able to see him perform again.

  8. Constantly feeds the DCs chocolate and sweets, knowing I'm trying to limit them, encourages DS to lie to me about this.
    .

  9. Tried to start potty training DD when I specifically asked her not to, as she wasn't ready for it.

  10. I'm still very close to ExDP's PIL they think she is a weirdo they invited me to a family BBQ, I left children with a close family friend for the night. She spent the entire night making comments about how she would never leave them alone and said I was selfish to put a night out before my DC.

  11. ExDP couldn't make it to Parent's Evening so she came instead; she repeatedly interrupted the teacher and ranted about how the school was not doing enough to support DS's learning. I have never had an issues with his schooling, I was absolutely mortified and had to apologize to DS's teacher.

  12. Threw a massive tantrum in front of the DC during handover and made them cry when I told her explicitly she would not be taking them out of school/nursery to go on honeymoon with her and ExDP for 2 weeks to Australia DS still hasn't forgiven me.

  13. MIL phoned me and told me she'd invited ExDP and his DP over for a meal, apparently she'd spent the night with ExDP discussing the likelihood of them getting custody of the DCs if they went to court!

  14. Is CONSTANTLY buying them expensive presents turning them into spoilt brats which they can only play with at her house. DS now tells me he wants to stay at his Dad's because it's much more fun than here.

  15. Found out I hadn't breastfed my DC and spent a family party telling all who would listen, had they been her DCs she would have done it because she's not selfish and cares about their health.

This all came to a head tonight at handover when she revealed she's had the DC's names tattooed horribly on her chest. I admittedly lost my temper and told her she needed to stop trying to replace me and that my kids are my kids, to which she replied she was a far better mother than me and it was unfair that she couldn't have kids and I could.

I honestly cannot deal with this headcase woman anymore. I've tried to raise this issue with ExDP and told him that I feel like she's trying to replace the children she can't have with our DC, but he completely supports her and thinks I am being unreasonable and that it's unfair of me to not let her have an equal say in how they are raised. I've warned him that if she doesn't back off I'm going to stop contact, I have no idea what she's saying to them when they are at his house. As I said, I'm not the only person who sees this, the majority of his family agree with me.

AIBU?

OP posts:
GhostShip · 10/12/2012 21:45

I also think it is totally irrelevant to your situation as except for Eastenders infertility does not create baby stealing side effects

Yes tell that to the man who's wife and unborn child was killed by a woman cutting the baby out of her in hope of keeping it herself.

I'm not saying every women with infertility issues has baby stealing tendencies btw - not at all! i'm just saying its not just the stuff of TV programmes

ShiftyFades · 10/12/2012 21:49

Just want to add my support OP, what a nightmare situation for you Sad

Did you manage to get some legal advice / make an appointment?

BumBiscuits · 10/12/2012 21:55

bridget I didn't make it clear, I was agreeing with you.

BumBiscuits · 10/12/2012 21:56

ghost she did it to hang on to her man, not because she was infertile.

Bogeyface · 10/12/2012 21:58

I think that contacting her exes or their exes would be a really good idea. Hard for them to argue that her issue is purely with you if you can get statements that she has done this before.

In fact, it might be very helpful for your ex too as he will see what kind of basket case he has trapped off with.

And I agree that you need to see a solicitor ASAP, even if it means chucking a sickie tomorrow. Get your word in first, just in case she decides to call SS or whoever.

foreverondiet · 10/12/2012 21:58

Mad. Agree need lawyer.

Also need to discuss ASAP (tomorrow?) with school, explaining that she does not have parental responsibility so can not attend parents nights or take children out of school without permission from your or discuss medical matters like allergies. re: nativity play - again should have spoken to school, explained situation to get extra seat. Again make it clear to her and school that she is not entitled to attend parents night.

I think haircuts harder to stop, I mean your ExP surely has as much right to take kids for haircuts as you, and he is with her then not sure how to deal with that. Again with presents or sweets not sure what you can do?

GhostShip · 10/12/2012 22:00

Bumbiscuits How on earth would you know that?

Theres been the exact situation happen where the women was single too.

DoingitOnTheRoofTopWithHugh · 10/12/2012 22:05

Crazy baby stealing is never a side effect of infertility ghost. Someone may be the sort of person who would happily chop up a pregnant woman but the fact that there are infertile is not what made them do it. If they could have kids they might have done something to them in the first place. That's what mental illness does.

quoteunquote · 10/12/2012 22:06

what kungfupanda said,

I have seen a few of these situation develop, take it very seriously please.

GreenEggsAndNichts · 10/12/2012 22:06

I am so sorry you're having to deal with this. This sounds like an absolute nightmare. :( I have no suggestions which are any better than what's been made already, but please take this very seriously. Definitely keep a diary, it will be invaluable.

GhostShip · 10/12/2012 22:07

I don't think I ever said it's a side effect of infertility for gods sake. I never said being infertile = baby snatcher. Of course it's mental illness.

But if that woman had been able to have babies of her own, I doubt her mental illness would have manifested in such a way, if at all.

pigletmania · 10/12/2012 22:10

YANBU she is dangerous. You need to get a solicitor quickly, act fast, limited supervised contact. Explain to school te situation this is horrid

GhostShip · 10/12/2012 22:11

I've just read my initial post and can see it could look like I'm saying that, apologies if thats been misconstrued!

BumBiscuits · 10/12/2012 22:14

ghost I remember the case. There had also been research on the subject.

Uppermid · 10/12/2012 22:21

What a woman, and how on earth you've remained calm and dignified I don't know.

I would agree withy he others about getting this moved in case she's on here

Thumbwitch · 10/12/2012 23:06

Moving it to OTBT now won't make any difference in terms of its searchability - only threads that start off in OTBT are hidden from search engines (unless Tech has been able to change that situation in the last couple of months)

But I do agree it might be wise to save it to your computer and then have it deleted, just in case.

Valdeeves · 10/12/2012 23:10

Good luck - have it out with your ex on his own - tell him you will be seeking legal advice if she doesn't back off.

PoppyPrincess · 11/12/2012 01:42

This woman does sound bonkers!
I'm not sure where you'll stand legally though as when the kids are with their father it is up to him who else they spend their time with and as creepy as her behaviour is to most mothers, unfortunately, haircuts, drs/dentists appointments, parents evenings etc...well they're not really seen as a safeguarding issue are they? She could make it look as though she's just trying to do what is best for the kids. As far as I'm aware you can only stop the SM from spending time with the dc if you can prove that they are a risk to the DC.
If I was you I wouldn't want the woman anywhere near my kids but I'm just worried about where you will stand legally.
I think things like spoiling the kids with presents n treats is just part and parcel of kids having separated parents, the non resident parent (and step parent) are often not too worried about spoiling them. My DS's dad won't think anything of letting him eat a whole box of ice creams in 1 day and of course I'm the mean mummy when I won't allow the same...but that's just part of being mum.
But all the other stuff is just way OTT, I'd be throttling the woman by now if I was you!
I'm not sure what the best thing to do is but definitely get legal advice, even if its just a free 30 min session and also speak to school etc.
If she continues with dr/dentists appointments I'd be tempered to change which practice you go to but don't tell her.

AltinkumATEalltheTurkey · 11/12/2012 07:09

I really don't get the poster who has said what will a solicitor do??!!, the same that any solicitor will do, give advise from legal prospective and also help aid any actions that needs to be done. As with any legal situation, OP is not trying to chance the law or enforce the law, what she is wanting to do is enforce her responsibilities as the childrens mother.

exoticfruits · 11/12/2012 07:25

Of course you need a solicitor! You are paying for their expertise and knowledge of the law. In this case it is well worth it- you need to be a step ahead.
The 2most important things are get legal advice and keep a diary of dates and behaviour.

fromparistoberlin · 11/12/2012 08:14

op

I am sure this has been covered, but I think a pragmatic solution is to get legal advise vis a vis parental responsibility

a very simple explanation is here:
www.gov.uk/parental-rights-responsibilities/what-is-parental-responsibility

and clearly alot of her actions fall outside this. In parallel write a diary

And start to gently gather the supporters and the feedback

I agree you need to adress this, and from a legal POV parental responsibility might be an entree

PoppyPrincess · 11/12/2012 09:47

I'm confused...OP and her ex have parental responsibility, the new gf doesn't. I don't think parental responsibility is really the issue, it's about getting the fruitloop to back off.

OlivetheotherReindeer · 11/12/2012 12:26

How did you get on with you SIL last night OP?

badtime · 11/12/2012 12:34

I have just taken a look at this thread and it is terrifying. I would be nervous that she might start hurting the children and blaming OP for it.

I hope I'm wrong.

VenusRising · 11/12/2012 13:19

Get legal advice.
Sorry you are going through this. She sounds mentally unstable.
Maybe you could get custody arrangements changed so that kids are residential with you and only see their dad, not her.

Take all you have said here to a family solicitor ASAP with the aim to remove their dad's residential custody and to have strict visiting conditions to limit all contact with this unstable woman.

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