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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not know where to go from here/feel completely overwhelmed?

53 replies

lessthanwise · 08/01/2018 12:36

I have recently found out that my partner has been texting another woman for the past several months, almost a year (discussing me and our relationship as well as sexting and receiving pictures of her - that kind of thing. He hasn't met her whilst he and I have been together).

I have confronted him about it and he has behaved in what I would consider to be the most reassuring way considering the circumstances. He has apologised, taken responsibility and not tried to blame his actions on anything or anyone else (despite us both having had an extremely difficult year).

I have told him, although I don't think I really meant it, that I am questioning whether we have any kind of a future together and I have asked him to give me some space to think for a couple of days. He has gone to stay with his brother whilst I stay at home in his house.

He's devastated and has begged me to forgive him. He has assured me that I'm the only woman he wants to be with and that he wants us to make this work. He's said that he will do anything that I ask of him.

My main problem is that I'm currently 38 weeks pregnant and unsure where to go from here. I do actually love him and I want things to work with him but I don't want him to think that I'm a pushover and will tolerate this sort of behaviour. A part of me really just wants to punish him. I want him to know how he has made me feel and to understand the risks of this kind of behaviour and what he will lose. I still don't really understand why he has done this.

Due to the circumstances surrounding our relationship - we were both married when we first started sleeping together and now I'm pregnant with a very unexpected baby which was the main reason my marriage ended when it did - I have nowhere else I feel that I could stay and little support from friends. I do have friends but I don't think they're particularly sympathetic to my plight for obvious reasons so I'm here to ask for some advice and support. Again.

I don't know if I should move out because, although I do think I need some space, I'm due to give birth within the next couple of weeks and I'm not sure that I'll even have the time to find somewhere suitable before baby arrives. Will I have the time or the energy to prepare a new house for a baby within the next few weeks? I'm also not sure how I would cope with parenthood on my own. It's not something I want to face alone. Single parenthood isn't something I had planned for.

Would I be better off continuing to live with him but perhaps have separate bedrooms for time time being? The house is big enough that we could avoid one another when we wanted or needed space but it is very much his house so I think I might just feel a bit awkward... I've only lived with him for a month up until now. We were hoping to sell when we were a bit more settled with baby and buy somewhere together.

I just need some advice. What would you do in my situation if you still felt as I do? I know it's difficult to trust him, especially as our relationship began as an affair, but I would like the final outcome to be to remain together.

Would I be unreasonable to ask to take the things we have already bought for baby with me to a rented property? He wouldn't be able to have baby overnight or even by himself for a while anyway as I am planning to breastfeed. I could rent somewhere with three bedrooms so that he could come and stay with us some nights and I could eventually replace everything so that he would have what he needed at his house for when he has baby by himself. Or do you think this is too final? I'd realistically have to rent somewhere for at least six months or a year which seems such a long time at the moment.

I'm sorry that this is all over the place. I hope that you can make sense of it.

OP posts:
KatnissMellark · 08/01/2018 12:38

I bet he's lying. He's done it before, he's doing it now, he'll probably do it again. Get rid.

KatnissMellark · 08/01/2018 12:39

And yes, take the items for the baby.

Wolfiefan · 08/01/2018 12:42

He moved in with the mistress. It left a vacancy.
He's showing you who he really is. A cheat and not someone who you can trust.

lessthanwise · 08/01/2018 12:42

I know that most people think that he's a serial cheat and that I should just leave him but I really don't think I'm ready for that. I want to make it work or at least attempt to.

OP posts:
ButchyRestingFace · 08/01/2018 12:42

I have recently found out that my partner has been texting another woman for the past several months

Is it his wife? Confused

Get rid, in any case.

Wolfiefan · 08/01/2018 12:43

Don't you deserve better than a cheat?
Get an STD test and get out. You may want to make it work. He doesn't.

64BooLane · 08/01/2018 12:46

Why do you want to make it work with him? He’s a liar with a record of infidelity.

You can’t make him into someone he’s not and if you try, it’s your baby who’ll end up in the crossfire.

lessthanwise · 08/01/2018 12:47

You may want to make it work. He doesn't

I really do believe that he does though. I've offered him a way out. I've asked him if he really wants to be with me, if he's staying because he feels he needs to for the baby. I've reassured him that we can coparent, that he can be "free" if that's what he wants.

OP posts:
Rainbowsandflowers78 · 08/01/2018 12:47

The problem is if you don’t leave him now you’ll need to do it in a few years - after an unhappy couple of years, stress on your baby and lots and lots more heart ache. I think you need to be strong and do it now. You should live somewhere else from him and keep regular contact - he could possibly prove himself to you and the child over time.

Rainbowsandflowers78 · 08/01/2018 12:48

But from a position of low risk to you rather than you stay with him and the stakes get higher/it gets harder for you to leave

Notallthat · 08/01/2018 12:50

How/why did he leave his wife? Did they have kids together? Likely he was just as 'devastated' when she found out about you. Get rid of him and take everything you need for you and baby.

Rainbowsandflowers78 · 08/01/2018 12:50

Ps you only need to rent somewhere with 2 bedrooms - the baby will be in with you for the first six months and he could always sleep on a blow up bed in the lounge - he doesn’t need a bedroom!

Rainbowsandflowers78 · 08/01/2018 12:51

He as in your cheating partner btw

Nikephorus · 08/01/2018 12:55

Why do you want to make it work with him? He’s a liar with a record of infidelity.
Yes but with all due respect OP also has a record of infidelity. Maybe he figured that since their mutual physical infidelity was apparently okay before, his emotional infidelity would be equally okay now? Now he knows it isn't.
I think it's a bit off to pile blame on the man when in this case the woman (OP) has been equally culpable in the past. And don't forget, there is a baby involved here - advising OP to kick him to the kerb isn't necessarily going to be best for that child.

JacquelineChan · 08/01/2018 12:55

we all know what OP should do , but realistically how easy is it to move and up sticks while you are 38 weeks pregnant with no friend or family support ??
what i would do in that situation is ''take him back'' but just emotionally check yourself out of the situation.
give yourself a deadline to get your ducks in a row , give your baby the best start possible , start building up a support network.
don't make any major decisions right now, 38 weeks pregnant is not the time for stress and angst.
Look after yourself and that baby. you know what you have to do in the end , give yourself time to be strong enough to do it

Bluntness100 · 08/01/2018 12:57

So he was basically cheating on you before you fell pregnant.? And it was being pregnant that forced the end of your marriages? And you think this woman has been happy to text him for a whole year and they've never met? On what planet does this happen please?

Your call if you stay, but yes it does look like he likes the thrill of an affair. He was already engaging with someone else before you fell pregnant.

Sorry op.

Nctothisfornow · 08/01/2018 12:58

It sounds like you really want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
If you really want to go down that route, then living apart or living in the same house seperately is not going to do much to help build the trust.
If i was you - id be more insecure living apart, wondering if our time apart was spent with the OW. But that would be why i couldnt personally continue a relationship with trust issues. You might be able to handle it better.

Are your reasons for wanting to stay together simply due to the fact you dont want to be a single parent?
Because you cant really hold much weight to what he has said as he is known to lie. So him saying that he is sorry and wants this might mean absolutely nothing.

Could you look to doing some kind of couples counselling?

lessthanwise · 08/01/2018 13:01

How/why did he leave his wife? Did they have kids together? Likely he was just as 'devastated' when she found out about you

She found out about our affair. Initially she wanted to try to make it work but he didn't so they separated. It wasn't long between her finding out about me and them splitting up. In that time we/I decided to end our affair as I wasn't sure I wanted to leave my husband and she was threatening to tell him about us. A few months later we bumped into one another again (when the affair started we worked together but he had moved on by this point) and ended up back in bed. A few months after that I was pregnant.

Neither of us have other children.

OP posts:
DrMarthaJones · 08/01/2018 13:01

I know that most people think that he's a serial cheat

Not even serial though, is it? You had an affair with him while he was married, and ony left your marriage when pregnant. So if he has been texting etc this other women for a year, that was before you even left your husband. At one point he had a wife, a mistress AND this other one as well.
If you stay with him, you'll be the "wife", which for this man leaves him with TWO other spaces, dosn't it?

Figrollsnotfatrolls · 08/01/2018 13:05

He is a serial (tried to spell philanderer (?) but predictive text not working!) so fucking cheat will have to do. .
Your baby deserves so much more for a df than him.
And you need to gather up your self respect - and the baby items.... And ltb.

lessthanwise · 08/01/2018 13:07

So he was basically cheating on you before you fell pregnant.? And it was being pregnant that forced the end of your marriages? And you think this woman has been happy to text him for a whole year and they've never met? On what planet does this happen please?

I think he met her in the overlap between his marriage and our affair ending (as per my last post) and our affair restarting, my marriage ending and falling pregnant.

I know they've not met since as I've seen the messages. The whole thread is still there on his phone. I haven't read the whole thing as there's so much but I've read quite a bit.

I found out about the texting by looking at his phone while he was asleep. He has said to her that he has no intentions of ever meeting her.

OP posts:
whiskyowl · 08/01/2018 13:10

So you were both cheating together when you met, and your marriage broke down less than 38 weeks ago and you're now living with this new bloke?

It doesn't sound like a very stable or committed situation, I'm afraid. He does sound rather like a serial adulterer. Some people just enjoy the excitement and the thrill of that. Unless this is some kind of affair that has rumbled on for decades undetected, it does sound like you're in way too deep for such an early stage of the relationship.

I honestly think that it might be a good idea to take a cold, hard look at what your life might be like if this relationship were to break down. Where could you afford to live? What would you be entitled to? It's important to know your options in an unstable environment.

trevthecat · 08/01/2018 13:10

Sorry but you were both cheating on ex partners. You must of always thought this could happen. Maybe it's a bit of karma

BadTasteFlump · 08/01/2018 13:11

So he cheated on his wife with you, and now barely months later he's cheating on you with the next one.

It's not looking good, is it? Anybody can make mistakes but he's clearly not learnt anything from his. Which tells me he will never change and IMO you need to start planning a stable life for your baby when it arrives (ie, without him in the picture).

Graphista · 08/01/2018 13:13

Why have you started a second thread about all this? It's been discussed at length on the other thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread