Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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

Had meeting with DV woman today.

346 replies

Lemmingswife · 25/11/2005 17:16

Met up with her at my HV's house.
Session was tough & I had to go through everything that went on at home.
DV officer was shocked & terms it as serious emotional abuse.
Told me a little about my rights regarding the house & has advised me to make photocopies of all personal stuff, like childrens birth certificates, mortgage details, marraige certificate etc.
HV is really starting to get other bits moving.
Very scary.

OP posts:
essbee · 27/11/2005 17:43

Message withdrawn

Lemmingswife · 27/11/2005 17:52

Thankyou essbee.
It is very kind of you to offer to be my contact.
I was talking to dinosaur last night & she told me that you had gone through something similar.
It is so hard, as my H can suddenly turn on the nice side (like today) & make you feel really guilty.
This woman told me that this is still a way of him controlling me & messing with my head.
I have to remind myself that he will more than likely never change & that I am doing the right thing for the boy's.
Glad everything has turned out well for you now.

OP posts:
Lemmingswife · 27/11/2005 18:06

Was your ex physically violent, essbee?

OP posts:
essbee · 27/11/2005 18:13

Message withdrawn

essbee · 27/11/2005 18:14

Message withdrawn

Lemmingswife · 27/11/2005 19:16

Thankyou for the offer, essbee. I may well take you up on it, if you don't mind.
Your situation sounds like it ended up getting really scary & you did well to get out.
My H has never been physically violent to me & swears he never would, unless I hit him.
It is very much emotional stuff & I have only recognised his behaviour as being abusive in the last 6 months or so.
I know I will find it really hard to make the big move, as we have been together 10 years now. But I know it may be the only option & I must put my boys first.
Yes I was at the meet up last night. I said hello to you, but didn't really have a chance to talk to you properly.
Did your ex only turn violent towards the end of your relationship?

OP posts:
essbee · 27/11/2005 22:50

Message withdrawn

Lemmingswife · 28/11/2005 07:51

What you said about not wanting to admit how bad things were & wanting others to think you had a good relationship, has rung bells with me.
I find it really hard to talk to people in RL about it & one of the reasons is that everyone else seems to have normal, healthy relationships and I don't want to have to admit how bad mine is.
Obviously I also have to keep a lot of stuff confidential as well, especially now all this serious stuff is going on.
H has never laid a finger on me, but he has punched & kicked objects when angry, one of which was a pillow next to me in bed.
The bit you said about being scared of doing/saying the wrong thing leading to you being scared of a blow up, also described a lot of how I feel.
You just don't know what will lead to a temper outburst.
In my house it is often over the house not being immaculate enough. But at the same time it could be over there not being cold drink in the fridge, or me forgetting something when ordering the shopping.
Only last night I found myself apologising in advance after doing my internet shopping, just incase I had forgotten something important.
I am aware that this is not a healthy way to live.
Terrible that your EX hit you while you were pregnant.
My H was horribly unsupportive when I was pregnant with ds2, as he didn't want another child (ds2 was very much un-planned) & he was also pretty horrible straight after I had given birth & described the day he brought me & ds2 home as the second worse day of his life.
I ended up losing it when ds2 was tiny & was diagnosed with PND.
How did you cope after your ex left?
Was it really hard coping on your own, or was it a relief?
My H is very good at kind of getting my family on his side & I am not sure that they would be that supportive.
I wouldn't worry about last night. I didn't get round to talking to masses of people that were at the meet up & would probably felt a little anxious if I thought people there knew I was the one with the relationship problems!
Only dinosaur & soapbox knew I was this person and I could cope with that!
Must get ready for work now, but thankyou for your support. I will CAT you later.

OP posts:
dinosaur · 28/11/2005 09:51

Hello there, me again.

Essbee I'm so so glad that you've found this thread and that you and lw are in touch now.

I meant to ask you, are there direct train services from the town in which you live to London? If so, then maybe you could also regard my place/Blu's place as a bolthole if you need somewhere in a hurry. I'd be only to happy to pay taxi-driver if you got taxi from station to our house.

Just a thought, anyway.

Regarding emails - tell me what's best for you - I've been assuming that it's okay to send emails that are primarily about your DS1 and mine - but if you'd rather let me know in advance that it's okay to send an email, then obviously I would wait for you to email or post the "all-clear".

Xannie · 28/11/2005 11:37

Good luck and I'm glad things are looking up for you.

Know what you mean about you thinking everyone else has normal relationships - not everyone does - there'll be other people in the same boat as you who also feel embarrassed talking about themselves - the thing is you're doing something about it with good support. It's hard but you'll get there.

Things will get better for you. Take care.

Blu · 28/11/2005 11:44

LW - yes, of course I am happy to be on an emergency support network...let me know when I can e mail you about it {smile}

Lemmingswife · 28/11/2005 12:22

Yes there is a direct train from my house to London, dinosaur.
It is very kind of you & Blu to offer to be an emergency stop, but I wouldn't want to do that to you!
It is okay to mail me about whatever ATM, as not only is H not home until 3pm, but even when he is around, he does not know my password, so cannot get into my mail!!
I still always delete your mails after I have read them & replied, just to be extra careful.
Thanks for your message xannie.

OP posts:
Lemmingswife · 28/11/2005 13:05

Essbee, I have sent you a CAT.

OP posts:
essbee · 28/11/2005 13:06

Message withdrawn

essbee · 28/11/2005 13:07

Message withdrawn

Lemmingswife · 28/11/2005 13:28

The state of my relationship was a lot to do with my PND.
I also suffered depression during the pregnancy & was in a kind of denial state that it was all happening.
H was very negative throughout the pregnancy & would make horrible comments. The only way I could get through it was to push it all out of my mind like it wasn't happening & would go out of my way to cover the bump.
My parents know quite a bit about what he can be like & the birth of ds2 concerned them at the time.
My Mum was with me when I had ds2 & H stayed out of the way. When he was born, he showed no emotion & when I told him how painful the birth was he said it served me right for having the baby.
He wanted me & ds2 transferred to a birthing unit after the birth, so that I could stay in hospital longer & didn't pick ds2 up until he was around 4 days old.
All of this resulted in me not coping after the birth & I ended up confiding in my HV, who arranged for my first session of counselling.
I am having more counselling now!
I think my parents like H because he is handy & helps them decorate their house etc.
He gets on pretty well with my Dad.
My self esteem is awful too & my HV and counsellor think it is due to a combination of H & my parents.
I also shop to make myself feel better, but normally for clothes in a vain attempt to make me feel better about myself!
It is scary how similar our situations sound, other than the physical violence.
Glad to hear you are now leading a happier life though.

OP posts:
Lemmingswife · 28/11/2005 14:26

Blu, I sent you an e-mail.

OP posts:
bourneville · 28/11/2005 22:01

Oh God LW it really is awful the stuff you've had to go through I can't believe how awful your H was with 2nd baby.

I am the person who got her boss sacked btw, I have changed my name because now I'm online at home I'm sure I'll be on here a lot more often and my old name is similar to my name in real life so didn't want to risk anyone in rl picking up on me! - esp as I've told quite a few people about this site!

LoveMyGirls · 28/11/2005 22:05

good on you LW so glad you're getting help, you will do this and you will be happier in the long run (hug)

Lemmingswife · 28/11/2005 22:21

Right, I know who you are, bourneville! Very sensible to change your name.
LMG, I am assuming you have worked out who I am!
Been thinking about everything a lot tonight, but am finding it hard to take it all in.

OP posts:
essbee · 28/11/2005 22:28

Message withdrawn

Lemmingswife · 29/11/2005 07:55

Essbee - you could be me!!!
I have low self essteem which is a result of a mixture of my parents & my H, with a few other factors thrown in.
I don't like confrontation & go out of my way to avoid it & keep everyone happy. Infact only the other week a friend told me that when she first met me she thought I was really confident, but reaslises now that I am not & described me as one of lifes pleasers!
I can also be made to think everything is all my fault, especially where H is concerned, as he is very good at twisting things.
I have taken a break from clothes shopping, as I really can't afford it ATM & must try & get my brain in gear for Christmas!
I am guilty of drinking a little more alcohol than I should though!
My HV is superb & has gone out of her way to help me through both my period of depression and all this with H.
My counsellor is also very good & I am seeing the same one that I saw following ds2's birth.
I was going once a week at first (first 6 sessions), but am now spreading my visits out to once a month.
She has helped me a lot & made me look at both myself & my relationship in a different way.
She is very aware of my self esteem issue, as is my HV & my counsellor can see where it all stems from. They are both very much trying to work on this.
I can talk to my counsellor easily, but there are a couple of things that happened in the past that I don't yet feel I am ready to talk about. One if these things involved H.
I am sorry to hear you are still getting hassle from your ex.
Is he causing you grief when he visits the children?
The CAT may arrive today, as they can take around 24 hours sometimes.
If you don't recieve it today, I will send you another when I return from work.
Must get on now! Speak later.

OP posts:
Lemmingswife · 29/11/2005 16:34

Blu, I received your mail & have replied.
Dinosaur, I will mail you as soon as I have un-packed my Tesco shopping!
Essbee - have you received my CAT yet?

OP posts:
bourneville · 29/11/2005 19:31

LW, I've been thinking, I know having an emotionally abusive boss was in no way anything like having an emotionally abusive H, but I was thinking about what kept me going when i blew the whistle on him. It was pure revenge tbh, and the catalyst was when one night he came over to mine and I can't remember the details of what was going on,I think he was actually accusing me of already telling somebody something & he looked into my eyes (he was drunk at the time too) and I looked into his and all I could see was black holes of nothingness, and I realised for the first time that he did not love me and that everything he said was for his own gain/manipulation etc. I think I really turned the emotional stuff back onto him that night, to test whether or not he cared, and did he hell. (sorry that's not clear - I mean I broke down in tears etc etc to try & get an emotional response from him). All of a sudden after that I was able to tell myself I hated him and all I wanted was revenge and for him out of my life. Not a healthy way to continue being of course, I worked through it & eventually forgave him (in my head of course) and recognised the parts i had played myself, but it took some time.

I say all this because you are still saying "he can be really nice and it messes with your head" . After that night I was just talking about, even the times he was being "nice" I could see right through, everything he said to me was for a manipulative reason, and I couldn't believe anything he said. Even when I read through my diaries a while afterwards I kept reading things and going "Oh right!" and seeing tons of stuff in a different way - as is already happening to you of course!
I don't even know if any of this will help because a H is different from a boss (though I was pretty heavily involved with my boss), and probably on some (weird) level your H does love you...perhaps my boss had feelings for me too in a twisted way. But it helped me to believe he didn't, because it meant...i don't know, it meant I wasn't hurting him as much. iykwim? I felt less bound to him. I had to believe he was heartless.

Of course it was several months before he was sacked and I spent all that time continuing to pretend to be a supportive friend, it stuck in my throat but it felt dangerous not to.

Also, sudden afterthought. A lot of other people's well being was at stake, we worked with people with learning difficulties, and also he had begun going for drinks with a friend of mine (i got to her quick sharp and told her the truth about him!!). So that motivated me too. If not for myself, for others. Of course you have your boys, focus on them if thoughts of self-centred revenge doesn't help!!

sorry if waffling & if all very useless...

marthamoo · 29/11/2005 19:35

LW - you are who I think you are, aren't you? I'm proud of you, you're doing the right thing - very best of luck.