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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Why do I feel odd about this? Non biological parent and 'dads'

185 replies

LRDtheFeministDragon · 09/02/2017 15:29

My DP is expecting our first baby. She got pregnant partly because I have a history of miscarriage, which is being investigated at the moment. So far there's no definite indications of why it happens, but some tests have come up positive and so they're continuing to check things out.

Obviously, we're thrilled about the baby and I honestly don't feel the tiniest bit that she isn't mine. In fact we both regularly forget she won't inherit anything genetic from me. Grin However, I feel a bit odd about the mental 'boxes' people put me in. We just did NCT, and we had a lovely teacher who was falling over herself to be inclusive, and everyone else there was really nice and friendly. Now we've finished the classes we were encouraged to set up little facebook groups - a general one, one for dads and one for mums. Perhaps predictably, the general one is silent, there's one for mums which DP tells me is full of chatter, and as far as I know, there isn't one for dads at all because no one's set it up. Or, of course, they have and I just don't know. I could set it up myself, but I'm a bit nervous, firstly because I know someone in the same situation as me who had men complain they couldn't talk freely in front of her, and partly because ... and this is bad ... I just don't feel as if I have so much in common with the men. Rationally, I know we share a lot of common ground, and they're all nice, but I feel out of place. And obviously I don't fit with the mums either. And I feel oddly lonely.

I am not generally one for language policing and so my issue isn't that I mind people talking about 'the dads' and including me, or referring to me as 'honorary dad'. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just don't feel as if I have the same experiences as them.

I am sure this will all fly out of my mind once the baby's born and I'll be far too busy and sleepless to think about anything so trivial. But can anyone sort of understand why I'm feeling out of place, and help me figure it out?

OP posts:
MoMandaS · 09/02/2017 15:49

Sorry, cross posted.

Batteriesallgone · 09/02/2017 15:50

Wow the thread had no responses when I started writing that Blush

I imagine most Facebook lesbian mums groups would be highly secret, for obvious reasons. You might be better off trying to find them via a roundabout route rather than searches. There are a fair few lesbian couples in the Facebook breastfeeding groups I'm in, your partner could join one and ask for recommendations of support groups for you, as an example of how I would go about it.

LeftoverCrabsticks · 09/02/2017 15:52

On one of the due date groups on a (non MN) forum I was on, both the mothers joined the group and the non-biological one was made to feel just as welcome and treated no differently.

If you're not sure, you could always get your partner to ask if anyone minds. Having had four children and been in a variety of due date groups over the years, I can almost guarantee nobody will mind at all. If nothing else, people are curious and would welcome a slightly different situation to their norm in the group.

Eevee77 · 09/02/2017 15:54

I wouldn't bat an eyelid if I was in a mums group and someone in your shoes joined, even in a small goroul. A lot of it will just be chatter that you can join in and of course you can look over any pregnancy related posts too and take from them what you want. Please join the mums group, I'm sure they'd be happy to have you there.

HerOtherHalf · 09/02/2017 15:54

I think you're overthinking it. This baby will have two mums. Enjoy being one of them, go to whatever groups. classes etc you want to and if anyone has a problem with it to hell with them.

Congratulations BTW.

Eevee77 · 09/02/2017 15:54

A small group** sorry typo

MLGs · 09/02/2017 15:54

I would put you in the Mums group not the Dads.

toomuchtooold · 09/02/2017 15:55

Do you think the miscarriages are complicating things? I had recurrent miscarriage before I had my kids and I started to feel like, it's hard to explain, but I was a bit allergic to all baby stuff, I started to feel like it was just not my world and was never going to be. Aside from the grief and disappointment, I just felt very out of it (and quite glad to be, to be honest - the whole gushy baby world never really appealed even before the miscarriages).

I do think it'll be easier once the baby arrives, as at that point you'll all be parents - at the risk of stereotyping the blokes, I assume at this point they're mostly all childless, so they'll probably be clueless in a way that most women just aren't.

NoSquirrels · 09/02/2017 15:55

LRD, you wouldn't be "pushing in" - it's a FB group, not a dinner party! You don't have to contribute to everything if you feel it's not appropriate, but if your DP is OK with you joining the mums' group then do it.

In my NCT group we would totally have welcomed you in.

MLGs · 09/02/2017 15:56

I bet that's what people expect you to do!

AnotheBloodyChinHair · 09/02/2017 15:56

Well you're a mum so you join the mums group. What happens if a heterosexual couple is adopting a baby. Won't the mother join the mums' group even if she hadn't conceived the baby?
I suggest you stop overthinking things because you are likely to feel out of place in these groups and others along the way. Thing is, there will also be other people feeling they don't fit for other reasons - they're shy, they're poor, they're foreigners, they have a sen kid, they don't have the right postcode...

SomethingBorrowed · 09/02/2017 15:58

You should be allowed to join the group you want of course, but I understand how they both seem kinda wrong.
Dads one is for men. Mums one will likely be mostly talking about pregnancy/aftermath of birth/breastfeeding...
I would join the mums one though.

museumum · 09/02/2017 15:59

If i were your dp i would probably post on the mum's group - please could my dp join in as she's not pregnant but she is a woman and will be a mum.

if i were another pregnant mum i would answer 'of course she can join'!

ask your dp if she can do this for you...

BreezyThursday · 09/02/2017 16:00

I wouldn't have an issue with you joining the mum group, but what actually is meant by 'mum'?

I'm not trying to be inflammatory, just curious as I'd figure the only reason to have mum vs. Dad group would be that one lot were physically having baby - so would want to share experiences of that - whereas other lot supporting so want help with that rather than hearing all the icky details? Why can't it just be parents' groups?!

snorfully · 09/02/2017 16:01

Absolutely you are Mum and should join the Mums group. I’ve raised kids as both a bio (sorry) and step mum (primary carer) and have never differentiated based on biology. I have the same role to all the kids in my care.

Congratulations by the way.

Helbelle75 · 09/02/2017 16:01

In our antenatal group, we just have the one chat group that everyone belongs to. I never thought of having separate groups as not sure how that would work.
I would join the mum's one to be honest, and encourage the other partners to do the same! Not sure why it needs to be separate.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 09/02/2017 16:02

Thanks - this is really reassuring, that these distinctions disappear a bit after the baby's born. I guess that's partly what was worrying me - that we'd have the baby, and I'd be left feeling a bit isolated as the mums would all want to meet separately.

batteries - oh, that's a good point, of course they'd be secret. So I would struggle to find them.

toomuch - yes, that's why I posted about the miscarriages. Because it feels relevant, but I'm not quite sure why.

Btw, I can't simply join the mum's group - I would have to be invited in, and I haven't been. I think possibly if it'd been opt-in, I would have opted in, but since I haven't been invited someone obviously made a decision about it.

OP posts:
VeritysWatchTower · 09/02/2017 16:03

Completely agree, join the Mum's group.

My friend and her wife are having a baby, although my friend isn't the one carrying she is still a Mum. Not a Dad.

Congratulations Flowers and I hope the rest of the pregnancy goes smoothly for your DP.

VeritysWatchTower · 09/02/2017 16:04

Cross posts, I think preg head has meant people aren't thinking about your situation. I would invite you in.

Purplebluebird · 09/02/2017 16:04

My friends are in a similar position, well, they are currently trying to get pregnant. In my book, you'll be mum too, so both should be in the same group. You're not a "substitute" for a dad, you are you and in a unique relationship to your child (when born), and this should be celebrated.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 09/02/2017 16:05

I wouldn't have an issue with you joining the mum group, but what actually is meant by 'mum'?

Well, yes, that's the question isn't it!

But then, I have felt a bit odd about 'icky' stuff in the dad's group during NCT, because a certain amount (sensibly) is about teaching men about women's biology, and talking about when you can start having sex again.

OP posts:
LRDtheFeministDragon · 09/02/2017 16:08

I suggest you stop overthinking things because you are likely to feel out of place in these groups and others along the way. Thing is, there will also be other people feeling they don't fit for other reasons - they're shy, they're poor, they're foreigners, they have a sen kid, they don't have the right postcode...

How do you suggest I stop overthinking?

There are people in the group who fit some of the categories you mention - and I've done my best to think about them and try to include them. I definitely wouldn't consider them to be 'overthinking' when they raise worries (eg. about raising a child in a different culture from their own).

OP posts:
LurkingQuietly · 09/02/2017 16:08

This has made me feel a bit sad. You absolute are a mum, you and your DP need to present a united front about this. Yes, your DP is carrying your baby, but that doesn't make you any less of a mum, believe me. I would hope when your DP asks the groups admin to invite you that they are mortified about their oversight. If not, then you actually don't need these people with their negative, small minded attitudes. Best of luck with your new baby. Enjoy.

museumum · 09/02/2017 16:09

is your partner taking the maternity leave? if so then i think it's inevitable the other women will meet up without you. in my experience these groups are more about filling in the long hours of baby care while your partner is out at work than about actual baby-rearing advice.

minipie · 09/02/2017 16:09

You're going to be a mum. Join the mum's group. I really, really don't think anyone will mind.

Just don't join in when they whinge about heartburn or piles Grin