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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Mine didn't come home either

64 replies

daisystone · 10/04/2011 14:11

Further to the post entitled "he's not home", I have been sitting here thinking about my own situation and I honestly don't know what to do anymore. Advice from strangers seems to be my only option right now.
It has always been up and down with DH and I but we stay together because ultimately we love each other.
I had a baby a few months ago and it was stressful even before she arrived as our house was being converted by DH and everything was last minute and I had to go and stay with family. I was upset by the whole thing and felt unsettled and it was far from an ideal way to finish my pregnancy. House still isn't finished now actually....
DH always made out that i was putting pressure on him to get things done when he had a company to run and was under time constraints and was forking out a lot of money to get it done and take time off from work. I felt as though I had to apologise to him as if I was putting him out.
The birth was traumatic and afterwards the baby went back in to hospital for a couple of days while i was still very emotional and sore. He was good with the baby but once we were home again he was very thoughtless at times. Yes I was very tearful and emotional and probably irrational but I cannot get over him calling me pathetic while I was crying and holding my tiny baby while arguing about God knows what.
Anyway we have had some massive arguements over the last few weeks and he has been working away on occasion. We had a large arguement before one of the times he was due to go away and he left without saying goodbye to me or to our baby as far as i know and he didn't call or text me for 4 days. He didn't check up to see if things were OK and if I was coping or anything at all.
He does work long hours and I am used to him coming in late or even pulling all nighters but this mattered less to me when I didn't have a baby. I could cope on my own and am self-sufficient. With a baby I feel he should check in more.
Anyway he said he was taking today (Sunday) off work and yesterday I was quite excited as I thought we could go out in the sunshine as a family which we never get to do as he works practically every weekend. So yesterday I had cooked supper and got the baby down and called him at 7pm to check where he was as he had been home before 7pm each night this week which is great and really early for him. He said he wouldn't be leaving site for half an hour and then had to drive home. I said I would try to stagger supper so it was ready when he got back but told him I was pissed off that he hadn't called to let me know and he said sorry. Thought he would be back around 8.30pm but nothing. Waited and waited and eventually had my supper as I couldn't wait anymore and I need to get to bed early as am up with baby in the night. I left his supper out for him.
He didn't call to say where he was and I didn't call him as I felt i should not be the one having to chase him up. He still wasn't in when I got up at midnight to feed babe. Still wasn't in when I got up at 2am and then 3.30am to shush babe back to sleep. I finally heard him come in but don't know what time it was and he slept on the sofa downstairs so as not to wake me and have a confrontation. I had kept checking my mobile all night to see if there were any texts from him. Was half worried and half upset that he hadn't contacted me. He seems to think it is fine to not communicate and leave me wondering.
This morning after feeding baby at about 6am I pulled the duvet off him and asked if he was going to explain to me where he had been until after 3.30am. He just muttered that he wasn't or something like that. I demanded an explanation and he gave me some story about falling asleep at the little chef. What??! Why would he even be there when he was driving straight home from the site he was on to have supper at home? I said I didn't believe him and he just pulled the duvet back over his head.
I am afraid that I then picked up the tv remote and smacked him with it several times and then I pushed his beloved laptop to the floor. Childish I know but I was at a loss and he refused to acknowledge me or that anything wrong. He went out about an hour later not talking to me or baby and I have heard nothing since. I left a message on his voicemail asking if he thought he should apologise and saying I thought we had real problems but have heard nothing back.

I feel so upset and abandoned. He does what he wants and then says not to have a go as he is working so hard. He always knows where I am but I cannot say the same of him. This will get turned around to be an issue about me hitting him with the remote control rather than the real issue of him not doing what he says he will or being where he says he will and not feeling the need to keep me informed. I feel he does not respect me and thinks my time is invaluable. I just don't know what to do as this has happened before and I keep saying to myself, how many times will I allow this to happen?

This is such a long post and of course I have ommitted so much as you can't write your whole relationship history down, but I just wanted some objective advice/support. If anyone can even get to the end of it without tuning out. I feel like I am at the end of the road and not sure what I can do or what my options are anymore.

OP posts:
MikeRotch · 10/04/2011 14:16

hes having an affair
you need to give up.

daisystone · 10/04/2011 14:27

But how do I know that? I have no proof of that? I can accuse him but have no proof as to that kind of thing.

OP posts:
Earlybird · 10/04/2011 14:31

How long have you been together
Has he always been this way
Was the baby planned
Was he in favour of having a child

Finally - if you checked his emails/texts/phone, do you think you'd find anything suspicious?

daisystone · 10/04/2011 14:37

We have been together for nearly 7 years and married for 2 and a half. Yes the baby was planned and we waited quite a while to have one.
It seems to me that he has always been like this but that I have tried to explain that he needs to communicate more and go into his shell less. I obviously haven't done a very good job at that.
Maybe because I have never been as needy and constantly on the phone as some wives he feels that he doesn't need to constantly call? That sounds so lame even to me...

OP posts:
hairylights · 10/04/2011 14:45

He's behaving like a child and you're dealing with it like a parent. You need to either separate or find some way to communicate and put things right.

Earlybird · 10/04/2011 14:47

How old is the baby? Do you think he is struggling to accept/adjust to the changes in your family life/relationship?

Doesn't excuse him though....

daisystone · 10/04/2011 14:51

I don't know how to communicate any other way. I have tried shouting, being very calm, giving ultimatums, asking how he feels and what he feels should change. Everything works short term and then it reverts back again.

OP posts:
atswimtwolengths · 10/04/2011 15:08

Does he make you happy? Do you love him (as a husband, not just as the father of your child)?

Could you afford to live apart from him?

Do you think he could be seeing someone else? My ex's affair started when I was pregnant and looking back there was a distinct difference in the marriage when we planned the pregnancy and when the baby was born.

GypsyMoth · 10/04/2011 15:29

what kind of work does he do?

daisystone · 10/04/2011 15:36

He owns and runs a building company.

I do love him and sometimes I am very happy with him and am glad I met him. He is the only man I have ever truly loved and sometimes thank God he came along and other times I cannot believe how unhappy he makes me and how he treats me as though I barely register in his thoughts.
I know he DOES work long hours but I do sometimes think that he uses that as an excuse for when he is off doing something else - like going to the pub and drinking too much. I cannot imagine that he is in the throes of an affair but maybe I am being naive. I honestly can't imagine it though.
I cannot afford to live apart from him. I was working up until mid way through my pregnancy. It was a contract and came to a natural conclusion. We agreed I wouldn't work while baby was very little.

OP posts:
OliPolly · 10/04/2011 15:45

OP - speak to peopl in RL who know both of you. This will get very ugly soon and you will become confused.

GypsyMoth · 10/04/2011 15:46

is there nobody at all you can talk to?

BigBadMummy · 10/04/2011 15:49

Sorry, builders don't work until 7pm every night, and they certainly do not work at 7pm on Saturdays.

there is a serious communication issue in your relationship if you cannot discuss this with each other.

And if he cannot tell you where he was, he is having an affair.

You need to both sit down and start talking now or you are going to have to be able to afford to live apart as that will be come reality.

OliPolly · 10/04/2011 15:54

He could be at the pub and not having an affair.

Please stop with the serious accusations which will only make the OP more paranoid.

The only advice is for OP to talk to her husband when he eventually turns up.

We have one side of the story here.

madonnawhore · 10/04/2011 15:57

Sorry, but I'm afraid I agree with MikeRotch (feels weird typing that!). Everything about your post screams 'affair' to me.

But it almost doesn't matter that you haven't got any proof because his shitty treatment of you is a good enough reason on its own for you to want to get rid of him.

He sounds absolutely vile.

SkinittingFluffyBunnyBonnets · 10/04/2011 16:09

BigBdMummy builders do quite ofte work until 7.00pm and later.....it sounds like he went to the pub after work.

Daisy it seems to me that nt calling im to see where he was during the evening, you kind of gave him "permission" for want of a better word...o stay out as long as he wanted.

You let yourself stew in private and it all came out via the tv remote...which wasn't healthy.

Why didn't you call him? You say you dont feel as though you should chase him...and I see that too...but it also seems a bit odd....does he hate being chased up?

SkinittingFluffyBunnyBonnets · 10/04/2011 16:10

Also..how old is baby now?

SkinittingFluffyBunnyBonnets · 10/04/2011 16:11

And I agree that there is no need to jump in with talk of affairs....many men will sit in pubs for hours rather than face trouble at home.

brookeslay · 10/04/2011 16:25

how would he like it if you said you would be out a couple of hours and he had the baby and then you strolled in at 3.30 in the morning?? slightly peeved or would it be okay ??

Of course not His behaviour is wrong some men feel pushed out by a baby not matter how loved. I really wanted to stay in a hotel the first couple of weeks with a newborn. Perhaps he needs some paternity leave a hoilday with you to reconnect.

Try to talk on neutral ground sometimes your own four walls seem opressive.

beanlet · 10/04/2011 16:36

It's quite simple: he quite obviously doesn't want to come home anymore. It doesn't really matter why - could be an affair, he could be an alcoholic, or just seriously into pub-going. But the bottom line is he doesn't want to come home to you and your baby.

I think your relationship is in serious trouble and needs drastic action if it's going to be repaired. Do YOU have anywhere you can go for a while, to make him see how serious this is? Have you family or friends nearby who can take you and your baby in for a bit?

SkinittingFluffyBunnyBonnets · 10/04/2011 16:39

beanlet it's NOT "quite simple" how can you come to ny conclusion from what the OP has put here? You cannot.

ilovesooty · 10/04/2011 16:50

I think beanlet is right in that it seems clear that he has no desire to be at home.

It seems distictinctly unhelpful to me to suggest to the OP that he's having an affair though. There could be any number of reasons and if daisystone doesn't know why there's no way we can.

Gooseberrybushes · 10/04/2011 16:58

You hit him and you threw his laptop because he was home late?

He might not be having an affair -- doesn't sound that likely to me, maybe he stayed out late drinking and went to a club. Maybe he's really feeling the pressure, it sounds like he's under a hell of a lot of it.

Gooseberrybushes · 10/04/2011 17:01

It sounds to me like he has too much on to be having an affair.

Gooseberrybushes · 10/04/2011 17:01

In fact I think he might be depressed.

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