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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

He left

438 replies

WhatIsHappiness · 06/06/2018 09:27

I've NC but I posted before about DH being confused, wanted a break, etc. This has been going on for 6 months, during my pregnancy, and last night he left us.
He said he needs space to think about what he wants but we are not getting divorced.

AIBU to tell him that I don't want him back? He made it clear that he doesn't want to separate so what is the bloody point of having a break? I still can't understand how someone could simply leave his DC (newborn and one in junior school) just like that!

OP posts:
Juells · 07/06/2018 10:12

The re-writing history thing is so common. Much later I ran into one of my ex's work colleagues and he told me that everyone felt so sorry for my ex, because for no reason at all I'd just taken the children and moved away and he was devastated! He'd had years of sympathy from everyone, for having to deal with such a bitch 😂

IamXXHearMeRoar · 07/06/2018 11:34

I wish I had been told-

Get a good lawyer, not a nice lawyer a good one. Tell the GP, HV, School, bank, cc company, services everyone you are now single and get official financial disassociation notice in place (look this up it is fucking important). Get credit reporting notification, it doesn't cost much and you need to know if he is or has fucked up your finances. Apply for all discounts and funding - if you have any friends who have done this family to single parent process get them on board for this bit, they can come over and help with calls and baby and make sure nothing gets missed out.

Change all passwords, add security words to accounts, change security question answers. Assume a total breach and act accordingly. Banish the words "he wouldn't" from your life, he would and has.

This will help it all sink in and get your life back on your terms. Even if sometime in the future you both resolve this, for now you need to put your dc first and get your house in order. He has gone, assume it is for the best and start as you mean to go on.

Change the locks and pack his shit up and put it out. The lock change ban is about denying him access to his property eg if both of you are on the house deeds then legally both of you have a right to access, and also a right to change whatever SO you can change the locks you just can't do anything to legally stop him breaking in. Make it difficult for him. Change the locks, and get one put on any rooms in the house you want private, like your bedroom. Take charge of your house and space, you are allowed to and it will be good for you. Get anything valuable or important to you out of the house.

Feeding a baby when you are stressed is really tricky, eating regularly is a big help. Can you enlist your family/friends to take turns staying with you to help out and to feed you good regular food? It makes life a lot easier for you and the dc and having a third party in the house whenever ex shows up will be a big help in stopping him showing up. You are in charge whilst baby is bf, this is your job and not negotiable - you don't need permission to do what's best for baby or for your children ever. Do your job and don't be guilted out of it.

Prepare for this to get nasty as soon as he realises things are no longer in his control. He is assuming you are at his beck and call, waiting for him and doing the right thing like you always do. There will be some temper and dick swinging once he realises that ain't happening. Stop playing by the rules.

Get a new sound board that isn't him, he is no longer on your team. You deserve better. Do a list of the shit things he has said and done on 1 bit of paper and a list of practical to do stuff next to a list of everything you want out of life (no matter how wild) on another bit. Pretty soon you will only need the second bit of paper, it gets easier.

Tell people you are now a single parent because your husband has left you. The shame is his, don't hide what he has done. You will get support and the more you say it the more you will settle into your new reality.

I would send a very short clear text or email to in laws stating - "As you know husband has left and I am now a single parent. Obviously I hope that this won't effect the children's relationship with you. Please feel free to contact me directly to arrange visits, thanks". Then meet them in public, not your home, so you can leave if they are dicks. And have someone stay at your home while you do because if he is going to break into the house it will be when you are meeting his parents.

He isn't who you thought he was. What would you say to your friend or sister if their husband did this? Would you want them to get back together with a selfish lying shit head who bails whenever he feels like it?

Be prepared to hear a lot of shit about yourself in the next while. Just remember he left and he left the children with you. Family abandonment is judged (not harshly enough if men do it imo) and he will need some excuses to stop feeling the judgement. Some fucked up backwards rationalisation process goes on in these tiny men's minds. It is irrelevant.

What good parent leaves children with a controlling abusive whatever? Answer NONE, if he thinks you are good enough to take care of the children (vulnerable most precious innocent little humans) and be full time carer then that immediately cancels out any shit he says about you.

Look up MrsDeVere if you want a masterclass in dealing with stbxh.

Gemini69 · 07/06/2018 11:50

you're doing good OP... you're focused Flowers

justilou1 · 07/06/2018 11:59

You know what he's thinking? He doesn't want YOU to be the one telling people that HE'S left. He wants to be the one to make YOU look like the bad guy, and to do that, YOU have to look like the crazy bitch, not like the victim. He's setting you up.
Get the best ball-busting lawyer you can afford. ASAP!

expatinscotland · 07/06/2018 14:05

Hope you are getting on well today, OP.

Cuttingthegrass · 07/06/2018 14:07

You are amazing OP. I agree with ensuring your dignity at all times. THIS WILL BE VERY HARD. But he will use any sarcastic or nasty texts or messages to try and twist into showing people you are crazy, hard to live with... the usual total bollocks that's needed when these tossers re-write history.

Yes yes yes to the ... he is not on your team now .... he is not on your side. Took me ages to get this into my thick skull!

SussexMedley · 07/06/2018 14:16

You're a heroine, OP.

I know this is going to sound a bit nuts, but when you're doing practical stuff to deal with this crap, try playing the Mission: Impossible theme tune. It really helps you to feel like the absolute badass that you are.

Juells · 07/06/2018 14:34

Upbeat music all the time. I used to dance around the living room with the baby in my arms, playing Ry Cooder feelgood songs full belt. This was one of my favourites...I'd sing along at the top of my lungs with the chorus.

TediousWaffler · 07/06/2018 15:52

I know this is going to sound a bit nuts, but when you're doing practical stuff to deal with this crap, try playing the Mission: Impossible theme tune. It really helps you to feel like the absolute badass that you are.

Can I second this and also suggest the Great Escape theme tune as a reminder that you’ve had a lucky one (escape that is)?

SussexMedley · 07/06/2018 16:06

Yes! And change his name in your phone to The Shithead and get it to play The Buffoon or a sad trombone whenever he rings.

LakieLady · 07/06/2018 16:21

What sort of man leaves his wife on maternity leave, breastfeeding a tiny baby?

The sort of man who doesn't want his wife to have many options.

A newborn is a very good way of controlling someone.

LakieLady · 07/06/2018 16:26

Change all passwords, add security words to accounts, change security question answers

That's a grand idea, but isn't there a risk that he might open a new account and have his salary paid into it? That could leave OP with very little to live on.

Mind you, it would stop him clearing out joint accounts.

I suppose it depends if there's a lot of savings and stuff that OP is entitled to share.

SussexMedley · 07/06/2018 16:30

One who has no understanding of what a man is.

YearOfYouRemember · 07/06/2018 16:34

WhatIsHappiness - another poster here who has been thinking of you. I read your posts with my heart in my mouth but I think you're doing great. Haven't seen such a strong stance in a while.

Juells · 07/06/2018 16:35

Tee hee, I remember sobbing to a (male) friend that my DH said I didn't make him happy. DF said "FFS, he's not a man, he's a fucking teddy bear!" That did stop the waterworks temporarily, while I laughed. But my DF was right, my H was being so precious about his happiness and how I wasn't servicing it that he was prepared to throw his family under the bus.

Figgygal · 07/06/2018 16:39

That text from him it's just made me so angry how can he say he didn't leave Angry

I wonder what you think now that you've mentioned legal separation he can't just dick you about like it's doing and expect you to sit there and take it

lisasimpsonssaxophone · 07/06/2018 18:36

OP, I’m glad it helps to hear similar stories and since I shared the crap parts of mine, I should also tell you that it had a happy ending! My ex had been awful to me for years and years, but I could never leave (I tried a few times) because he would always sob and cry and make me feel like the worst person in the world for ‘giving up’ on us. But after he met the OW it was like he got distracted and his grip suddenly loosened, and I was finally able to leave. It didn’t feel like that at first - I felt like I’d failed and that he wouldn’t have strayed if I’d just ‘tried harder’ somehow - but after a while I realised that if that’s what it took for me to be able to escape, then I was almost glad it had happened.

Like your husband, my ex started off by saying that he just wanted some time and space to think, which I quickly realised was his way of saying that he wanted to test the water with OW before splitting with me completely. At one point she apparently made it clear she wasn’t interested (although she evidently changed her mind soon after!) and he actually came home and told me that he’d stay with me because he didn’t want to be alone. Spineless prick!

Since we split I’ve gone on to achieve things I never thought possible, and I have a wonderfully supportive new partner now. I’ve never been happier. So this could well be the start of the most wonderful new chapter in your life!

Juells · 07/06/2018 18:52

told me that he’d stay with me because he didn’t want to be alone.

You lost a prince there. A prince, I tell you. 😂

WhatIsHappiness · 07/06/2018 18:59

I've been out all day, just got home. Baby and I enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air. We spent the day with DH cousin's wife (we are good friends). I told her everything, it was good to get it off my chest IRL and she can't believe what happened. She gave me good advice, basically the same advice as the lovely people from MN. I will be catching up with the messages now!
DH took our older DC to his after school activity, dropped him off after. He seems different since I saw him on Tuesday, he looks quite sad and devastated. It seems like he realised what is happening. Too late!

OP posts:
lisasimpsonssaxophone · 07/06/2018 19:14

Oh I know Juells! He married the OW... dread to think what she’s going through now. My self esteem was at rock bottom by that point, but when he said that something just snapped. It made me realise that our whole relationship had become solely about him and what he wanted/needed, so much so that he thought nothing of casually telling me he was staying with me after unsuccessfully testing the water with someone else! That was a lightbulb moment for me.

OP, I’m glad you’re feeling ok and that you’ve been talking to your friend. If he decides to come back (and I have an inkling that he will) then just remember that you have a say in all this too. You don’t have to just go along with whatever he decides. Take some time to think about whether this is even the relationship you want to be in. Whatever you decide is fine as long as it’s really your decision! It sounds like you’re doing brilliantly so far, so keep going and good luck! Flowers

ReservoirDogs · 07/06/2018 19:17

My take:

He definitely is seeing work colleague

He is conflicted about appearing a complete bastard in front of others hence his need for a "break".

Cousin is just a cover - he is staying with OW.

Don't even bother with legal separation go straight for he divorce.

Juells · 07/06/2018 19:29

...and if he starts whinging about wanting to come back 'now he's had time to understand what he really wants' just remember that wanky self-indulgent text about how the children are doing so well and now "we are going to break their hearts"

Wanker.

expatinscotland · 07/06/2018 19:35

'He seems different since I saw him on Tuesday, he looks quite sad and devastated. It seems like he realised what is happening. Too late!'

Don't fall for that. The only thing he's sad about is that he doesn't get to keep you as his backup plan and that his little ruse to keep his ditching his family for OW by getting you to shut up didn't work. Or there's been a glitch with OW.

That's all. He walked on his family. He left.

Keep interviewing solicitors. Honestly, you need to get legal advice because they all turn nasty when the time to discuss money starts.

expatinscotland · 07/06/2018 19:39

And fuck what he really wants, do you want a lying ratbag who thinks his family is just something he can ditch or assume as it pleases him? Who re-writes history to suit himself and thinks he can call the shots on everyone's lives and fuck their feelings and needs? Nope.

SussexMedley · 07/06/2018 19:39

He actually said to me "before I thought I couldn't get anyone, but now I know I can get someone else, I'm getting lots of attention from other women!"

It shows how utterly little he thinks of you that a) he would feel this way and b) he would think he can actually tell you, and still think there is a snowball's chance in hell that you would ever, ever, ever take him back.

To him, you are not a person. You have no desires, wants, feelings, memory or indeed any motivation or purpose beyond accommodating him.

I actually think that saying this to you is worse than the affair. People have affairs to feel good about themselves but they're not usually intended to hurt other people. This is actually worse than him trying to hurt you, because by trying to hurt you he's at least acknowledging that you have feelings to hurt.

This is him telling you that not only can he think of you as nothing, he can tell you he thinks of you as nothing, and yet nothing will change. He can still have you back if it doesn't work out elsewhere.

It is sickening. He is revolting. He has lost his soul. Please, please, please tell us what happens when he realises that his brainless, unfeeling living doll is actually one smart sharp cookie and she's taking over the show.

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