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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not want him present at the birth

111 replies

1950s1 · 18/01/2021 20:35

The father of our children and I keep rebounding. He loves me and knows that I have emotionally disconnected from him which he says he is desperate to fix. He is the childrens bestfriend and we want to stay together to conveniently remain as a family unit which I don't have an issue with. He came back to live with us today, because it makes things more convenient. Everyone I've spoken to about this says they would leave, but I'm not asking for advice on that, I really don't want to leave. My partner has a close female best-friend, they've known eachother for aproximetly four years, but my partner and I have known eachother much longer. He swears they just have a
brother-sister bond. Admittedly though I don't understand what one of those is. I'm uncomfortable with their relationship, There are no boundaries when they have conversations, she says they don't keep anything from eachother, and presses him when he has tried to keep my information away from her. He says he doesn't see anything wrong with this, they are friends, he should be able to trust her. She is obssesed with him, and knows all the details about his entire life. He has revealed too much to her, their conversations can be personal and deep. She passive aggresively said she was happy for him if I was what he wanted. It made me assume that she fancied him. I confronted them both, they swore they didn't feel that way towards eachother. Ever since knowing about me, she has asked for my
personal information, has spoken off-the-scales unnaceptably about me, gotten the wrong end of the stick when our relationship issues arise in their conversations and has painted me as a toxic monster and has labeled me controlling for not wanting her in his life anymore. She has used what she knows about him to her advantage, convinced him that I am no good for him and somehow manipulated him into leaving me. On top of that, she hacked into his phone and
social medias by bypassing the google security questions linked to his accounts from knowing him so well, accessed my personal information and revealed it to her friends in a groupchat. I lost my shit, told her I wish for her to get very hurt and die for all I care. she said if she knew where I lived (we were living seperately at this time) she'd have the police at my door and make me loose my job and any chance of getting a better one in the future. Eventually he came back, I was very hurt still, he said he missed me, and he said if we were to
be together I had to allow them to stay friends and talk. I said no, layed it all out, to try and get him to see her for what she is, He said he doesnt see it but realised what he was losing and agreed not to talk to her to be with me, but said that he still wanted her as his friend. He swore two different times they weren't talking anymore, he was each time behind my back. The first time, he could feel me getting emotionally distant, the second time, I had almost completely emotionally disconnected. I wasn't being nearly as affectionate as usual, he doubted that I even loved him anymore, and honestly, I was doubting that I loved him anymore. He has sworn a 3rd time he has removed her from his life to stand a chance at making things normal again. I don't believe that he has, he doesn't let me have his passwords or access to his social medias or phone, and he still wants her (has openly admitted to it) and talks fondly of her when we try and talk about why I'm disconnected from him. I've felt angry and sick for a long time, but I've sort of accepted that this is the situation that I'm in and don't feel such heated overwhelming emotions. If I do start to feel like that again I remind myself of how ill it makes me and start to find ways to calm down. Then I feel numb towards him again.
I feel as though, so long as he still wants her, I'm not safe to allow myself feel anything towards him. He said he doesn't see what's wrong with their relationship, and said he doesn't know right from wrong because of his bad upbringing. It's important to him that he has a close relationship with his children, he has said that when our other child is born he wants to be present at the birth or the child would grow up thinking that their father didn't want them if he wasn't
there when they were born. I resent him on a deep level, If I try to connect to him on an intimate level it makes me feel sick so I don't bother putting myself through that anymore. I would feel too vulnerable to have him there but I don't want him to resent me for it which he would, it would make our situation overall worse. So I'm not sure what I'm asking, I feel torn.

OP posts:
OldLang · 19/01/2021 16:44

Absolutely batshit.
The poor kids. You can guarantee they will already have been impacted by this. Attachment, boundaries and relationship issues abound.

I am with him for the childrens sake, how could anyone think otherwise. And even if we didn't live together, he'd still be involved in our lives. He can watch over them whilst I get stuff done

Yes, definitely for the sake of the kids. That's why the first justificationfor it is how it benefits you Hmm

hammeringinmyhead · 19/01/2021 16:47

Yours is the one they see 24 hours a day. If you class yourself as "in a relationship" with a man who is clearly shagging his "friend", a man you resent and can barely make yourself be civil to, that's their model. Do you not think they'll comparing you to all the model relationships you mention and asking themselves why you didn't respect yourself enough to aim for that instead of whatever the hell this situation is?

optimisticpessimist01 · 19/01/2021 16:47

I cannot possibly be so irresponsible and naive to actually believe this won't impact your children?! You want your children to RESEARCH what a functional relationship should look like?! You're deluded!

I feel so sorry for your children having to deal with parents like you.

optimisticpessimist01 · 19/01/2021 16:48

You must be on a wind up? Nobody is this fucking stupid.

NonagonInfinityOpensTheDoor · 19/01/2021 16:55

Why would they only consider our broken relationship?
Because they’re surrounded by it 24/7. Because it’s their main exposure to romantic relationships. Because you’re their parents! This will psychologically destroy them. If your happy for your children to have broken boundaries and be hurt by partners and possibly do the hurting to their partners when they’re older then fine. But please don’t pretend this awful situation won’t affect them.

1950s1 · 19/01/2021 16:57

To everyone saying derogatory things directed at me, I want you to know that you are trying to feel good about yourselves at the expensive of my wellbeing. That's one of the reasons that I'm not taking your opinion into account, you have little if any concern for me, and I have no respect for you.

Yes, definitely for the sake of the kids. That's why the first justificationfor it is how it benefits you
It benefits everyone

OP posts:
cherrypie111 · 19/01/2021 16:58

@1950s1

I like to make informed decisions. So instead of unhelpfully labelling me stupid when no one is born knowing everything, sympathise that different life experiences and factors go into making us who we are, that we aren't all wired to think the same, and tell me exactly why staying with him is going to effect them badly, instead of just telling me that it will. I don't see how it will, when there are other influences in their lives to take examples from. They can learn what a healthy relationship looks like as they get older through research and obersevation. Why would they only consider our broken relationship?
If you don't see how your bat shit relationship will negatively impact your children you're thick as mince
hammeringinmyhead · 19/01/2021 17:00

@1950s1

To everyone saying derogatory things directed at me, I want you to know that you are trying to feel good about yourselves at the expensive of my wellbeing. That's one of the reasons that I'm not taking your opinion into account, you have little if any concern for me, and I have no respect for you.

Yes, definitely for the sake of the kids. That's why the first justificationfor it is how it benefits you
It benefits everyone

I think you'll find it's frustration. In my case, I have had friends in situations like yours. Friend's mums who were also. It never ended well.
1950s1 · 19/01/2021 17:02

I can see that we are in a dysfunctional relationship, I just thought that considering that we are not the childrens only influence, that they wouldn't just consider us. I can also see that NonagonInfinityOpensTheDoor has a point.

OP posts:
daisyjgrey · 19/01/2021 17:03

@1950s1

Would it be better if we remained living together (it's practical) but stopped being 'together', tell the children that and explain to them how relationships are meant to be
No. Live separately. Nothing about any of this is prioritising the children.
NonagonInfinityOpensTheDoor · 19/01/2021 17:04

To everyone saying derogatory things directed at me, I want you to know that you are trying to feel good about yourselves at the expensive of my wellbeing.
People are trying to make you see you should be putting your CHILDRENS well-being first. You are unwilling to see that your actions are directly impacting your children, if you don’t like that, tough!

Yes, definitely for the sake of the kids. That's why the first justificationfor it is how it benefits you
It benefits everyone
Nope. It is 100% negatively affecting your children. Just because you can’t see it, you will in the future. You have a duty of care to your children and you are failing them.

Summersun2020 · 19/01/2021 17:14

He’s having an affair literally under your nose and you’re letting him. You don’t love him and will start to love him again when it’s safe? Pull the other one. Put your children first and prioritise them over this fucked up dysfunctional relationship, for gods sake. They deserve better.

1950s1 · 19/01/2021 17:14

It's not that I was unwilling to see how this is effecting the children, it's that I didn't. Someone on this thread even confessed that they ddin't realise either and I wont be the only one. It's not that I'm stupid , I just didn't know enough, there will be many things that you don't know much about, by that way of thinking that makes you stupid too. You'll have learnt what you know somehow at some point. I learnt something later than you did. You learnt right and wrong from social constructs.

OP posts:
ancientgran · 19/01/2021 17:20

Don't have him there if you aren't happy with it. I think you need to be able to focus on your needs and be as selfish as possible, you are the one who needs to be there. I believe that having someone there who you aren't comfortable with can affect the birth, I think Michael Odent talked about it in his books but I might have the wrong author. He believes the mother's inhibitions will hinder the birth. It is along time since I read him so I might have something.

I was a young and pregnant in 1970 and joined in with the demands for men to be allowed to stay for the birth, it wasn't that common then but was becoming more accepted. When I hear of men demanding to be there, women upset about men on maternity wards and particularly men saying, "we want a natural birth, no pain relief" I feel we did you all a great disservice. We meant well, honest.

1950s1 · 19/01/2021 17:24

t's not that I'm not listening, but for one reason or another I haven't been enforcing certain opinions. Since I see now that this could effect them I suppose I will have to make him live elsewhere and consider that this is likely to effect the children and accept that there is no chance of repair. I needed time to think about this, I didn't want to leave until I have made an informed decision, I wanted to take everything into consideration.

OP posts:
OldLang · 19/01/2021 17:35

@1950s1

Hm, quite. Respect me or don't but you are behaving as if you are the singular centre of the universe. Being wilfully blind to the wellbeing of your own children does not indicate someone who would have respect for people attempting to help anyway. I do not feel good about myself reading this thread, I feel deeply sorry for your children and hope they have a caring adult in their lives to give them an experience of healthy relationships and nurture.

I wonder if you would respect the knowledge of someone who works with families and supports the recovery of children who have experienced the desperately poor behaviour and relationship modelling your children are (sometimes even less dysfunctional actually but still needing intensive support).

Just because you refuse to see it (and you are refusing) does not mean your children are not having adverse experiences because of the deliberate decisions of their parents. But what do I know, I'm only an experienced professional?

LilMidge01 · 19/01/2021 17:36

The majority of your post is pointless to the question, to which my opinion is no YANBU for not wanting someone present at the birth. It is up to you, regardless of how good or bad the relationship is. If it makes you uncomfortable, dont have him there. The stuff about it affecting the child is bullshit

Not gonna get into all the other stuff

1950s1 · 19/01/2021 17:39

I can defend against every negative comment that anyone has made about me on this thread, but at this point, I just can't be arsed. I don't need to prove anything to any of you

OP posts:
OldLang · 19/01/2021 17:48

@1950s1

No need to prove anything to us but at least attempt to prove it to your children.

tara66 · 19/01/2021 18:01

Why did you decide to have another child with this man if you are disconnected from him; he has another woman in his life and is only there for the children? Yet you are having another one?

1950s1 · 19/01/2021 18:05

@tara66

I wanted sex, and didn't want an abortion.

OP posts:
CounsellorTroi · 19/01/2021 18:06

Why are you having his baby if you are emotionally disconnected from him?

CounsellorTroi · 19/01/2021 18:07

Sorry OP ignore my question I see you have just answered it.

Diverseduvet · 19/01/2021 18:15

Hi OP, your relationship will affect your children, as parents are our primary educators and role models. They may see examples of healthy relationships else where, which will just help them to realise their parents relationship is not what it should be.

BadNomad · 19/01/2021 18:27

You don't trust him and he has proven he can't be trusted. No trust, no love, no emotions, no sex. Your relationship is over even if you both can't accept that yet. If you insist on living together for the sake of the children then it's best you talk and lay down some ground rules. But he can be friends with whoever he wants and you don't have to have him at the birth.

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