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To be angry at his abortion request?

792 replies

Breevandercamp1750 · 22/08/2011 18:02

I'll keep this brief but a few months ago we discovered that I was pregnant again. We already have 3 DCs, youngest is almost 9 months. He was over the moon about new arrival but in the last few days has changed his mind. I'm 18 weeks now and really don't want an abortion.

I don't understand his issue, we live in a large house with spare bedrooms and can easily afford it.

I just don't understand. I feel so empty.

OP posts:
TheSecondComing · 27/08/2011 08:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LostInTransmogrification · 27/08/2011 09:11

Have lurked since the start of the thread but not posted but just wanted to ask if you thought he was refusing therapy because he is using his PTSD/depression as a reason to abort the baby and if he undertook treatment then he wouldn't have any justification to press for the abortion? I might be completely off the mark but I've seen plenty of 'D'Hs have 'breakdown' on Relationship threads when they want to manipulate their own way.

sjuperwolef · 27/08/2011 09:27

tsc, you have summed up my thoughts perfectly

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 27/08/2011 09:48

LostInTransmogrification That's a very harsh way to look at it! An otherwise loving husband and dad pretending to have a breakdown to manipulate his wife into aborting his baby?! Only the most harderened sociopath would behave like that and the OP has seen no evidence of it previously in their relationship. They've had 3 children already so I think she would have seen it by now!

SheCutOffTheirTails · 27/08/2011 09:59

Well he wouldn't really have had to "pretend" to have a breakdown.

All he had to do was make the abortion request and people were falling all over themselves to diagnose him with mental health problems to explain it.

Going along with other people's assumptions is pretty easy. He might well feel that he is having a breakdown. Just like lots of men whose affairs are found out and feel very sorry for themselves.

The first sign of him being "all over the place" was when his dear old Dad showed up to see what was going on. People tend to be at their most childlike with their parents. It was absolutely predictable that he'd be all upset and beside himself in front of an angry father rather than face his disgust at had been going on.

Maybe he is having a breakdown, but a GP's appointment with his Dad where there was a clear incentive to come out with a diagnosis doesn't entirely convince me.

Anniegetyourgun · 27/08/2011 10:13

TSC, behave yourself, you know the policy.

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 27/08/2011 10:14

Bree So sorry you are going through this. He really does need to have the therapy. It will make a massive difference and he also needs to see a specialist in PTSD. The ADs will help as well as they will start to life his mood which will change his whole outlook on things. I suggest that you tell him the ADs and the therapy are more complusory to you.

My experience . . . My DH suffers depression. He had an episode early this year which nearly finished us off. He just started out a bit down about an illness he had and quickly became very negative. His outlook on everything became negative but he couldn't see that it was his outlook that had changed, he totally and utterly thought the problems were with the things he was feeling negative about. It took me MONTHS to convince him that the problem was his depression (he seems to have generally low seratonine levels) and that he needed to go back on anti-depressants. He was feeling that our sex life in particular was non existant (which wasn't really true although it does get hard to have sex with a depressed person) and that I didn't fancy him or love him. We were discussing him moving out as I just couldn't get through to him and the children were suffering. I ended up spending several days shouting at him and eventually said I was going to inform his family of his depression. For some reason he feels ashamed about it so won't tell anyone. I was on the brink of arranging an intervention (is that what they are called?). With that held over him he agreed to start taking his pills again and he was a different man within 2 weeks! He actually started to feel the difference with a few days! Since then he has been back to normal and no longer has the negative outlook on things. He has realised he probably needs to be on them for the rest of his life but that's a small price to pay. During the time he was ill he was like a different man, I didn't know him.

Sorry if you feel this isn't relevant but I felt that the negative way your DH is looking at the pregnancy rang some bells for me. My DH would also come to decisions about what the problem was and what to do about it (that I didn't want him anymore) and couldn't see the woods for the trees.

In previous episodes he has decided that the problem is his job or his hobby or whatever else his brain focuses on in it's depressed state.

Some people on here seem to be dismissing the idea that depression and PTSD could make your DH behave like this but it's NO small thing!

I would like to add that I have also had problems with depression and possibly PTSD or something like that along with a huge anxiety disorder. Mine also occured after a birth. For me it was because the birth coincided with a death. The time you have a child seems to be a common time to get anxiety and other MH problems, if you mix in a trauma with that it is much more likely. It took over my life and left me ill for about 3/4 years. I had lots of counselling but I didn't get completely better until I went on the antidepressants as I delayed it while I had another child. They give your brain a chance to develop new thinking patterns and really do help.

Some people seem to be saying that these problems alone wouldn't cause him to behave so badly but they really can! I wouldn't say I behaved badly but I found that the anxiety OCD thoughts took over my entire life. It was constant, the whole time I was awake AND asleep as I would dream about it and wake in a panic constantly throughout the night. For me I was convinced that I was going to die and leave my dcs without a mum, my worst fear. It wasn't that rational but brains aren't rational when they are ill.

Just thought I would share my experiences of MH to help you understand what a grip it can get on a person without them even realising.

TheSecondComing · 27/08/2011 14:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WeDONTneedanotherhero · 27/08/2011 14:29

Hi Bree, I've been lurking on here and I keep coming back to check how you are doing. You are doing amazingly.

I just want to say, if you ever need to talk and off load the Samaritans are fantastic for this sort of thing.

Stay strong x

Shriekable · 27/08/2011 14:34

It sounds to me that he was excited, but then started panicking about the possibility of another pre term birth. We've all done that sort of thing - get excited and happy about something, then that little demon in your head starts saying, ooh, but what if ... PLEASE don't write your DH off! Talk to him! He doesn't want to put you through the mill for a third time. I had a dreadful birth with my first DS, and must admit that when I got pregnant with my 2nd, initially was ecstatic, but then panicked about the birth for weeks (as it turned out, the birth went brilliantly). Discuss it with him. Did the 1st pre term put you off having another baby? Apparently not. And of course if you had been given the option of the pre term birth and a healthy baby at the end of it, or no pregnancy at all, no doubt you would pick the children every day of the week. I think he want this baby, he's just scared of what you might have to go through with to get him or her here. Ask him to look at your lovely children, and picture a fourth there. That 4th child is already on his/her way. How lovely is that? I would LOVE 4 kids, but unfortunately I had both my boys late in life (didn't meet DH til I was 36, not a career move!) As soon as he sees that child he will fall in love all over again.

SheCutOffTheirTails · 27/08/2011 14:52

He is putting her through the mill, though.

To have your husband demand you abort your 18 week foetus and imply that he will leave you if you don't must be unbelievably distressing.

This cannot be justified by claims of not wanting to witness Bree's pain. She's in pain now, needless, pointless pain, entirely because of him. He's asking her to do something that would cause her far greater pain than another premature baby.

There is no way to twist this to make it a selfless act of loving concern.

And I have never reacted to anything in this way. Unless he has got PTSD, his reaction is chilling.

LeBJOF · 27/08/2011 15:26

The PTSD thing is complete garbage- it simply doesn't work like that. I can't understand why anybody on this thread is giving it any credence.

SheCutOffTheirTails · 27/08/2011 15:33

I'm giving it credence because I don't know enough about it to rule it out.

Why do you say it is garbage? How does it work?

LineRunner · 27/08/2011 15:35

I presume the DH can't actually be sectioned for something he doesn't have?

UrsulaBuffayHere2Help · 27/08/2011 15:37

Maybe the DH will come on shortly and explain himself...

notlettingthefearshow · 27/08/2011 15:38

It sounds like just panic talking if he has said he wants another child at some point. I can understand he's anxious about possible problems with the new baby, based on what you've been through, but I wonder if something has triggered his sudden panic, since he was previously happy?

I agree it's not reasonable to ask you to have an abortion at this stage. I think you are within your rights to explain you don't consider that an option as you are so far gone and feel bonded with the baby now. He should realise that it's harder for you to feel 'detached' when it's your body the baby is inside. The main aim is to help him come to terms with it.

Is it timing? Is he having a hard time at work, for example, and feels like he can't face a more complicated homelife.

Was the pregnancy a complete accident? Had you discussed having a fourth - and so soon after your thrid? I wonder if there was any kind of misunderstanding about what he wanted.

honeyandsalt · 27/08/2011 15:40

LeBJOF - yes, what's your reasoning here? Evidence?

Until he's been evaluated by a specialist mental health professional we're all just rubbing our crystal balls here imho, no-one can say for certain what's going on. Apart from Bree's certain awesomeage of course.

LeBJOF · 27/08/2011 15:43

I won't go into it all here- obviously there's a lot of stuff on the web about it- but it doesn't just suddenly come on after no previous signs, and it definitely isn't something a GP would diagnose after one consultation. Are we supposed to believe that he was fine during her last pregnancy, has no problems planning a further pregnancy in twelve months time, and appeared A ok about this one until he gets an attack of the vapours 18 weeks in? Nah, it doesn't stack up.

Lots of women have troublesome births. Lots of women have unreliable husbands. I have never heard of a case of a man having PTSD in these circumstances.

I have worked in the past as a therapist with people with it, so I'm not just pulling this out of my arse. I still reckon it's garbage.

EricNorthmansMistressOfPotions · 27/08/2011 15:43

PTSD is a serious MH condition and requires assessment by a MH professional for diagnosis. The OP's H has seen a GP. The GP may have suggested PTSD but the OP's H would have to be referred to a CMHT, who would carry out a full assessment. This would take some weeks.

Sectioning under the MH act is a massive deal. It's taking away someone's liberty. We tend to need quite a lot of evidence for that to happen in this society. Two psychiatrists need to sign off a section and I believe a MHSW and police officer usually attend when the person is detained. They have to be a clear and significant danger to themself or others to warrant sectioning, and it's initially for 3 days for assessment and emergency treatment (sedation, anti-psychotics etc)

Anyway, that's how the script would go, if that was were to happen. Maybe I shouldn't have posted that....

LineRunner · 27/08/2011 15:46

To be fair, the only 'evidence' any of us have on these threads is what the OP says.

However a number of posters have years of experience dealing with many of the conditions and situations that OPs might describe. Sometimes they are able to add a lot of value and insight to the discussion, especially where the OP might be unsure or ambivalent.

LineRunner · 27/08/2011 15:48

EricNorthman, And I believe that a voluntary section would also require a firm diagnosis?

EricNorthmansMistressOfPotions · 27/08/2011 15:51

I'm not an expert TBH, I work in an area that intersects with MH, not in MH so I don't know the law well. I would assume so. A quick google should give all the answers....

LeBJOF · 27/08/2011 15:51

Well, I think the first mention of PTSD was from AuntiePicklebottom on Monday night, as she suggested it as a possible explanation. If she comes back, perhaps she can tell us if she has psychiatric training and is plausible, or if it was just a stab in the dark which the GP also seems to have made later in the thread.

Anyway, I won't derail this any further, I think I might be getting off-topic a bit.

Breevandercamp1750 · 27/08/2011 16:06

PTSD my arse. Worried about another pre term my arse. Concerned for his wife and DCs my arse. He's fucking someone else. Angry

After being checked out at the hospital (all fine) I rang him. I know it was a dumb thing to do but I put it all out there. That I needed honesty if he wanted us to move forward. I told him I'm not going to kill my baby for him. It's just not an option. I asked him outright if he was seeing anyone else. He said yes, it's been going on for about two months. We used to employ the bint. Taken back my his honesty. Don't know who to rip into first, him or her. Am so angry and so hurt but at least it explains things and he isn't dragging it out. He said he's sorry, it's a mistake but I would think he's still fucking her. So cross feel like I could explode.

OP posts:
puzzlesum · 27/08/2011 16:12

Oh Bree :(