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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To have been upset by DH...

54 replies

Thankyouandgoodnight · 01/02/2009 21:44

2 young kids - 2.1 and 6 months. The baby breast feeds every 2-3 hours at night. I haven't been out much at all since the baby was born.

Some people who we barely know on our street invited us to their party on friday night. I thought it would be good to go but DH said he wasn't bothered so we agreed I would go on my own rather than get a babysitter.

Huge discussion about him saying to go for as long as I liked etc. I walked out of the door at 8:15pm. The baby usually wakes for a feed any time between 10:15 and 11pm. We have ready made formula in the cupboard.

I was so busy trying to 'make friends' and chat to people that I didn't realise the time until 11:30pm and then went home horrified because I knew I'd have to be up loads of times before 6am when i'd have to be up for the day.

Got in to bed. DH still awake but clearly pissed off with me and he turns his back on me.

Baby wakes at 2, 5:30 and up for the day at 6:30am. I get up with both of the kids and leave DH in bed for a lie in (he usually gives me lie-ins but I thought it would be very cheeky to be out at a party and then lie in too). He gets up at 9am. Barely looks at me and then tells me off for not letting him know that I would be missing the evening feed and it was my responsibility and he needed to know to plan his evening and that he had no idea where I was etc. He was completely over the top and I felt like a teenager being told off by my mother. I was gobsmacked. And furious. I told him that he could have texted me if he needed to know anything and that I hadn't noticed the time. He told me it was my responsibility and also basic courtesy.

I was so upset. All the childcare and night feeds without complaining and I go out and am expected to clock watch and decide at time 'x' what I'm doing etc. I totally expected him to assume that he was doing the feed unless I happened to walk through the door.

AIBU?

OP posts:
MaryMotherOfCheeses · 01/02/2009 22:22

xposts re lie ins. That sounds fair enough. Just keep it equal and don't always leap up if you did it the day before as well.

Can you tell I'm slightly obsessional about equality of sleep

moondog · 01/02/2009 22:23

Yes, there are a great many stories of appalling men tonight.

kitkatqueen · 01/02/2009 22:26

Would it be really, really terrible to just show the twat this thread? Or would that just be really bad etiquette?

Bollox show him anyway - and declare no nookie for a month

LOL!!

Thankyouandgoodnight · 01/02/2009 22:27

oh god sleepless - I know that one too! For some reason they think that you can sleep through that and / or get back to sleep after a huge 'good morning' ritual and also talking / running up and down the stairs / talking loudly and banging are all acceptable things to be done during your lie in - and that's him - not the kids!!!.

Mind you - he does seem to be better on that front these days.

OP posts:
sleeplessinstretford · 01/02/2009 22:29

on the whole mine is good-sometimes though i am gob smacked at him-i have my off days too though so can't quibble too much really. He does bath everynight and gets baby ready in the morning as i leave for work first-i do his packed lunch and leave outfits out etc for baby and he drops her to me on his way to work i am self employed and she comes to work with mehe's allowed an off day and wouldn't dream of expecting me to get back if i was on a night out unless he was worried about the baby and wanted a second opinion

pgwithnumber3 · 01/02/2009 22:30

My DH gets the kids up every morning for me whilst I have been pregnant. Even if I only get an extra 10 minutes in bed, it is still nice for him to change DD2's nappy and get their breakfast.

If DD2 wakes at night, he will get up to her. I will be the one breast feeding DD3 when she decides to show up, likewise I did ALL the night feeds with DD1 AND DD2 (BF so had to), he realises that without me having to remind him and does his whack now as he can.

Thankyouandgoodnight · 01/02/2009 22:32

I don't think he was expecting me to get back (suddenly realised that it could have been taken that way) - he expected me to let him know in a timely manner (out of courtesy) that I wouldn't be back for that feed and also whether I was planning to be back for subsequent ones

OP posts:
Thankyouandgoodnight · 01/02/2009 22:34

I was under the impression that I was out to enjoy myself and that he would hold the fort until I got back, knowing that I wouldn't be out stupidly late due to having feeds later in the night.

OP posts:
sleeplessinstretford · 01/02/2009 22:35

you're just making excuses for him now... ;-) i love mine,he's amazing but omfg he's thoughtless and thougtful in equal measures... ;-)

moondog · 01/02/2009 22:36

Spoils an outing when yo feel someone sitting at home with a face like a cat's arse, clock watching.

Thankyouandgoodnight · 01/02/2009 22:36

oh and generally - due to his hours, he's gone to work before they get up so I do every morning with them, all day and 3/7 bedtimes - we do the other 4 together. Because I'm feeding I do all 7.

OP posts:
Thankyouandgoodnight · 01/02/2009 22:37

Moondog - you've hit it on the head. He was in a mood when i left, when I got back and then the next morning - took a right shine off it it did.

OP posts:
pgwithnumber3 · 01/02/2009 22:38

He sounds like your keeper not your partner, typical of a lot of men. Does he think he is doing you a huge favour by looking after his own children? Since when do you have to report back to him when you are socialising and enjoying a rare night out?

moondog · 01/02/2009 22:39

Yes, instead of a cheery 'You go and enjoy yourself, you deserve it' and a 'Glad you had a nice time.We were fine' when you got back.

Men don't get it, even the nice ones.Remember trying to explain to my dh that it was impossible for me to just jump in the car and go (still is) like he could. Like a cjhain around your neck the whole time, hence those illusory periods when you cna prtetend you have some freedom are so important for maintaining one's sanity.

Thankyouandgoodnight · 01/02/2009 22:43

God - I can count the number of times that I've walked down the road without a child or buggy attached to me in the past 6 months.

6 times - and 3 of those was to go and get my hair cut.

OP posts:
Thankyouandgoodnight · 01/02/2009 22:43

YES Moondog - EXACTLY.

OP posts:
moondog · 01/02/2009 22:43

There you go.
Says it all.
Make some changes before your resentment builds.

Thankyouandgoodnight · 01/02/2009 22:45

Well baby has just successfully gone back to sleep after waking for a feed without much grumbling, so I think it's safe to go to bed myself. Thank you SO much everyone for your support - it means a huge amount.

OP posts:
moondog · 01/02/2009 22:46

I remember once when my dd was about that age.It was my birthday, but nothing really planned, then some friends called on their way somewhere great and wanted us to come.We couldn't both go of course, but dh said 'You go, you need a night off (was b/feeding). I didn't in the end but it was so heartening that he was so generous about the whole thing.

mamas12 · 01/02/2009 22:49

From what you have said He doesn't look after the dcs on his own does he, only with you. Maybe he and you all would benefit from more alone bonding time with his kids.
YANBU
You are doing too much.

Thankyouandgoodnight · 02/02/2009 21:30

well what do you know - DH is on a work dinner tonight and said he'd be back about 9pm. It's 9:30pm and he hasn't texted the courtesy text that he demanded from me... not that I was late - I would have had to text him 2 hours after leaving the house which is just crap.

OP posts:
FairLadyRantALot · 02/02/2009 21:38

sorry, my I be very rude...may I call him a wanker, cos really....what was his problem...

how does your partnership normally work?

Thankyouandgoodnight · 02/02/2009 21:44

He has just texted now to say he's on his way back. If I was brave I would bring remind him of what he was demanding from me on friday night but it would cause a huge row and he would insist that I was wrong. Again. It's just not worth it.

OP posts:
FairLadyRantALot · 02/02/2009 21:54

awww...not right though....him getting away with it

CurlyhairedAssassin · 02/02/2009 22:12

Thankyouandgoodnight, YANBU. But......just pondering how his mind may have been working......if he's anything like my DH used to be, then is it possible your DH got himself majorly stressed when he realised the baby had woken up and needed feeding and he hadn't got himself all prepared for it. I can kind of picture him running round like a blue arse fly panicking, trying to sort the bottle out, and the stress of the screaming baby really getting to him. Men are just generally pathetic in situations like that, and I think that deep down, they realise this when the situations arise, hence the reasons why you got all the flack for it. What he REALLY wants to say to you is "I couldn't cope, it all got too much for me and you weren't there to sort it all out and calm things down! I just feel so inadequate" but of course there's no way he'd ever admit to being unable to cope! So instead you get the type of silly treatment that you got.

As I say,DH used to be like your DH. I got wise to this very quickly, and used to give him a little list of what needed doing when if I was going out. Just for the first couple of times I went out, and by the next time, he'd pretty much got the hang of what needed doing but I always reminded him when I walked out the door eg "Don't forget - he'll need his bottle at 11pm if you want him to sleep through!" Cue lots of "Yeah, yeah, whatever....." but at least I'd covered my back!

Also, when DS2 was 1, I started working all day Sundays, with DH being in sole charge of the kids. My god, was that a learning curve for him! Took him quite a while to learn their little routines and exactly how they preferred their sandwiches cut (and fussy crap like that), but as a result of that I can walk out the door now without another thought, knowing that they will be more than fine in his care. It's been good for everyone and I think it has helped DH's confidence in caring for them on his own. I pesonally think you just need to go out more often, but give him a bit more guidance on what needs doing and when (NEVER assume he will remember what to do - he is a man!! They need to be reminded!)

Oh,and I know on this occasion you simply didn't realise the time which is why you were back late. It's fair enough, he shouldn't have given you such a hard time if it was a one-off! Did he text to ask if you were ok? In that situation, my DH's only reason to text would be to check I was still alive! And not because I wasn't back at curfew time!! But again, I'd bet anything that all that behaviour is because he was stressing out trying to cope at home without you.

If that is the case with your DH, then it doesn't excuse his behaviour but gives a reason for his unreasonableness. It needs discussing. And hten you need to start going out more often, giving him lots of reminders, and text updates if need be (eg have decided to stay for one more drink, is that ok?) To me, if whoever is at home is having an ok night with the baby then they should text back saying "Fine with me, enjoy yourself", but if they're having a particularly bad time, eg, baby developing a temp or something and not sleeping, then it's equally reasonable of them to text back saying "Can you make it v quick, LO quite upset and not well".

Sorry, have droned on a bit. It just struck a chord with me because he sounds exactly like how my DH used to be when my boys were tiny. He just found it difficult when they were very little and got stressed v easily. We kind of get used to being stressed, dont' we? My DH is the best dad ever now, he really is. He does MORE than his fair share at home re childcare and cooking etc, I'd say, and really encourages me to go out with my friends. He just needed a bit of training to get there!