Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Baby due soon. Is it me? Or is DH just not getting it?

9 replies

ThisIsARant · 13/04/2023 03:33

NC because I’m going on a bit of a rant about DH. I’m not even sure what I want from this post, but just feeling so upset tonight at DH and wonder if it’s just me. I’m finding him to be an utter idiot atm.

I’m in the last days of my first pregnancy. I worked up to the line to take the most time off for mat leave. My job is very demanding, taking long hours and was very hard during the pregnancy. DH had a career set-back during COVID with redundancy after 15years of service. He’s struggled to find stable employment since. He has been out of work for most of the pregnancy and I’ve been financially supporting our household. It has been a very difficult pregnancy, so in a way, it’s been helpful to have him available to go to the many many hospital appointments I had to attend. He is very intelligent, but so bad at interviews - he just waffles and refuses to practise. So he doesn’t improve. He’s been turned down for so many jobs, I think it’s affected his confidence.

He is kind hearted, he is thoughtful, but often not in a way that is helpful. He gives me a cup of tea every morning and has taken care of meals and laundry while I’ve worked, but he’ll also spend an age doing a non-essential hobby-DIY piece, when we desperately need things like the floors and the nursery done. The cot still isn’t made or the flooring ready and the baby will be here in a matter of days. I’ve given up on the flooring. The thought of the midwife/health visitor seeing it is making me so anxious/embarrassed.

He really wanted to be a dad. I’ve been on the fence about motherhood my whole life, but decided to go for it. We started off excited, but now I just feel so tired and alone. He insisted on going to an NCT course - I was heartened - I paid for it, booked it and he may as well have not gone. He showed very little engagement compared to the other dads. He took nothing away from it. So far, I feel I’ve thought about and bought every single fricken thing for the baby, right from thermometres to prams, cots and back-up formula. I realise he can’t pay, but he can at least research things, make lists and at least share the ‘thinking’ load. I went through the birth plan and hospital bags with him the other day and it was a struggle to get him to tune in and contribute to any of it. He acted like I’d thrown his day off by sitting down with him to go through it. He’s just bloody clueless and doing nothing about it.

Tonight I was showing him how to make a baby’s formula bottle - again he just zoned out and didn’t have a clue by the time I’d finished talking. His excuse was he’d never done it before. Well I haven’t either, but here I am learning and going through the instructions so the baby can be fed if I can’t BF. I’m just so fed up of the mental load and responsibility. I told him I’m fed up of him not tuning in and feeling unappreciated. He told me he’s sick of my complaining and putting down everything he does. It turned to an argument and escalated to shouting. He told me to shut up. I had a mug of tea in my hand and threw it across the hall in temper. I feel so full of sadness rage and am tired of him not being dependable. I wish I hadn’t of got pregnant with him, but I’m here now. I feel to tired to have this baby.

As I said, I don’t know what I want from this other than a rant. Im in tears and stressed out in these latter days of pregnancy. I feel like a horrid person. Am I? I feel like a serial nagger. But also like he is so stupid that it’s driving me crazy.

OP posts:
blubberball · 13/04/2023 03:39

So sorry OP. Have you got other support in your life? He won't change and suddenly step up/click in/get it.

Fucket · 13/04/2023 04:12

I wouldn’t stand for it, and tell him if he didn’t sort out the floor and cot asap you will be speaking to the midwife about stressed you’re making him and considering to Chuck him out.

Ask him bluntly what he thinks is role is in your family, and how he intends to fulfil it. Ask him of how he is currently behaving will make his child proud of him.

I think you are going to struggle in the first few weeks do you have family you can speak to about this? Will they be able to help?

Fucket · 13/04/2023 04:12

stressed he’s making you… sorry

Wavinggoodbyetoo · 13/04/2023 04:16

Is he depressed do you think?

BlackBarbies · 13/04/2023 04:24

So not only is he jobless and can’t contribute towards anything. He also has a lack of interest when you’re trying to show him things and a lack of initiative.

It’s only going to go downhill from here. As other posters have said, I really hope you have family support who can help in the early days because it’ll be all on you. I agree that the rejection of jobs sounds like it’s impacted his confidence but it seems like he now has no interest in anything that has to do with learning. Even the NCT group?

What does he do day to day then? Okay he can make a cup of tea and do the laundry but what else does he do? When’s the last time he applied for a job to take some of the pressure off of you? He sounds shit tbh no wonder you’re stressed

Nosleepforthismum · 13/04/2023 04:26

You poor thing. Rant away. In bed with my two day old and I can completely relate to feeling tired and fed up towards the end of pregnancy. It’s also shit to carry the mental load especially if you feel you have to otherwise no one else would.

You need to apologise for throwing the tea. Really, really not okay but I can absolutely see why you lost your temper.

Baby is on their way regardless of the issues at home so you just need to get practical and tell your DH that the floor/cot needs to be done tomorrow. Literally, wake him up in the morning and send him off to b&q or wherever to pick up the stuff needed and stand over him until it’s done. Yeah, you shouldn’t have to and I’d be raging while doing it but needs must sometimes.

Again, once baby is here you need to force him to be less incompetent by giving him jobs to do and making him think about what baby will need. Tell him if he gets it wrong and don’t care about coming across as a bitch. It’s got to be done and baby has to be looked after properly and safely by both parents.

Being kind to your DH, there are times that men do step up once baby is here. Some people are just much better “learning on the job” as it was. However, most men will allow you to carry them/mental load if you take this on without complaint.

Good luck and I hope you get all sorted.

Murdoch1949 · 13/04/2023 04:36

Blimey, your husband is being such a twat. He has the time but not the inclination or drive to mug up on firstborn essentials, and he's ignoring the practical things around the house that need doing. What is he doing? Unless you think that he is depressed due to his lack of success in job interviews, then he needs to radically change his approach. He's not being supportive of you and is not prepared to be a hands-on father. You've got some serious talking to do together, as if this continues your life with new baby will be very difficult. This could make or break your marriage.

ThisIsARant · 13/04/2023 09:16

Thank you all so much for replying with advice and support. It means a lot. And for the understanding even though my behaviour was not the best approach. You’re right, I should apologise. It was wrong of me. The fury I feel is unreal at the moment.

I do tell him what needs doing, constantly. He never focuses to get it done on time or finished. Constantly distracted by non-essential DIY. He is always busy, but with non-essential bullshit and not the things I’ve asked for help with. Here we are now, days before the baby. I’m so exhausted and moving rn is so hard. I just wish I could do it myself. That’s upsetting me too.

I’m so tired of him calling it in. He wasn’t like this when we met. I think he is depressed, but what can I do for him right now other than tell him to visit his GP (he dismisses that) I’ve asked him to get some counselling about his working. I live far away from a largely unsupportive family. I have friends - but they have their own lives and responsibilities.

I’ll just let it be now and focus on myself. I thought my waters were about to break last night with stress. I’ll give him the list, I’ll ask the questions about what kind of father he wants to be. If he leave the cot and floors, I’m going to tell the midwife in front of him what little support he is when she comes over. Thank for the advice.

OP posts:
cardboardbox24 · 26/01/2024 09:09

@ThisIsARant if you're still on here, just wondering how things worked out for you?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page