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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

Am I at fault or is OH being totally unreasonable??

97 replies

Dunnowotshappened · 28/05/2012 14:13

I need some advice please, I've got no one to talk to in rl & talking to myself only gets me so far! Sorry this might be long!

I have been with dp for 7.5yrs & we have 2 ds, 23 mo & 12 wo. Over the past few weeks dp has become increasingly distant & even hostile towards me. I have also noticed he has started to guard his phone & is on it a lot more. It comes across that he has little regard for me & while I have approached the subject to him, he has dismissed my attempts to talk.

There were various instances while I was pregnant. One in particular upsets me still. 2 days before I was due for my c-sec we arranged that after our son was in bed (we live with my parents) we would go to get him a present from the new baby. As I was putting ds1 to bed dp announced that he wanted to go to his mums (she lives 10 min drive away) as well, I wasn't up for this as being 38 weeks preg I just wanted to get home and go to bed. So I told him I didn't want to go & he said he didn't care that I didn't want to go, he was going so we argued & he refused to see my reasoning & kept saying he didn't care what I thought he's going to see his mum. So he went & I didn't. He came back with some toy car that I wouldn't have chosen for ds1 & while I was awake most of the night upset at the total lack of empathy from him he went to sleep.

Fast forward to one Sunday he was cleaning out the house rabbit on the top landing, I was below looking after the bunny who wasn't interested in me & just lied down. Both ds were napping & I had left my phone on with ds2. So asked dp if I could use his phone to have a look on the Internet (I had seen dp with his phone minutes earlier). He said he hasn't got it, I said I just saw u with it, he says I haven't got it, must be downstairs. So I go downstairs & it's not there. I tell him & he says I don't know where it is, its not on me, I haven't got any pockets. I l knew he was blatantly lying but why? Anyhow I caught him out, while I could hear he'd stopped 'cleaning' I quietly went up the stairs & there he was on the phone quickly stuffing it into his shorts. I confronted him, he said yeah so, I can do what I want with my phone, I'm using it. It's not that he was using his phone, it's that he lied to me. Still don't know why he lied.

Now 6 weeks & things between us are rapidly going down hill. He hardly talks to me, is still being secretive with his phone & taking it everywhere with him, not showing any interest in me or our boys - never asks about our day, no phone calls during the day (when he has always called before), no texts, coming home late, being snappy & angry towards me, not wanting to spend time with me & kids, he's hardly formed any relationship with our 12 week old son, which I find heartbreaking & he keeps putting off talking about our relationship. I dunno if I'm going nuts but somethings wrong & it all points to one thing to me!!!!

I know the 2 instances aren't that bigger deal but they were hurtful. I practically begged him one night to tell me what's wrong & he says he's not talking bullshit relationship stuff cos he's got nothing to say. Every weekend he wants to do nothing but at lunch time (b4 naptime) says he's going out for something i.e. Pet shop & he goes for hours. Today he left at 1 & came back at 4! Said he was driving around. The atmosphere is awful, my poor boy (2.5) has hardly seen his daddy & we often argue when he does.

Last night he refused to kiss our 12 wo son goodnight & I got really angry. So later I said why this change in your behaviour, he's adamant he's not changed. He responds with back chat you'd expect from a teenager. He said maybe you've changed. He went to walk off, I begged him to talk, tried to reason with him that we have to sort this our for our boys, but he carried on walking, saying he's not listening to this bullshit. I was so angry that I told him to go to his mums if he's not gonna talk to me. And he did, he left & didn't talk to me. I called him last night and he cancelled my call & again this morning. Am I imagining all this or is he being totally unreasonable to me??

Sorry for length but I need to hear other opinions.

OP posts:
KatieScarlett2833 · 28/05/2012 19:40

I just made catsbum face and deleted my snippy reply to lapis post.

My May MN resolution is to be naicer like my mummy says I should AF

AnyFucker · 28/05/2012 19:41

nah, katie

stay just as you are Smile

LapisBlue · 28/05/2012 19:41

AnyFucker - as a fairly radical feminist (of which you don't know the half) I take exception to your comments...and yes, my point is being willfully missed indeed.

babylann · 28/05/2012 19:41

You definitely said that there was a possibility the OP had been neglecting her DP in favour of her children. (There was an implication that this neglect would cause him to look elsewhere, or at least start behaving horribly.)

I do that, by the way, and he isn't a lying cheating shithead. He does it too. Our baby is more important that we are to each other and we both accepted that a few weeks after she was born.

AnyFucker · 28/05/2012 19:43

I don't know the half of what, lapis ?

Your comments on this thread don't point to radical feminism, unless our definitions of what that means are diametrically opposed

I guess that could happen

MustControlFistOfDeath · 28/05/2012 19:46

Refused to let you use his phone.

Carrying the phone around like an iron lung.

Disappearing for hours.

Not actually denying when questioned outright about an OW.

Disengaging and distancing from you and the DCs.

I'm sorry lovely but he is having an affair, I would put money on it.

I would see a solicitor ASAP, even if it's just to find out your rights and give you a sense of control about that side of things.

Really sorry Sad

LapisBlue · 28/05/2012 19:49

AnyFucker, please try not to insult me nor be sarcastic, I've done neither to you. This is not about us. Thanks.

GurlwiththeFrothyCurl · 28/05/2012 20:08

The idea that women, during the early days with young children, not only have to deal with sleepless nights, feeding, behaviour, etc., etc., but also have to make sure they don't neglect their child-partners is totally ridiculous.

If a man can't deal with being put slightly behind his babies in the family dynamic for a short while, then he is pathetic! If either of my sons behaved like this, I would be ashamed of them and so would DH.

It's about time we stopped treating men like children and expected them to be partners and equals - as most decent men are. Stop making excuses for shitty behaviour. The OP here is not at fault, her partner is.

LaMeuf · 28/05/2012 20:10

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

AnyFucker · 28/05/2012 20:14

when women stop blaming other women when men cheat, I will shut up

until then...

GurlwiththeFrothyCurl · 28/05/2012 20:16

LaMeuf & AF - agree totally!

NotSureICanCarryOn · 28/05/2012 20:17

Well whatever lapis point, I think a man who ignores his 12 weeks old dc like this isn't a good husband or dad.
Whatever the situation, the media say etc....
Whether there is an OW or not, his behaviour isn't acceptable.

RandomAdams · 28/05/2012 21:31

OP. I am very sorry. Do not try and bottle it all up though. You need support in RL, legal as mentioned by others but family and friends too. Do talk with everyone you can. By not doing so, you are making it harder for yourself. They may well have noticed anyway.

babylann · 29/05/2012 10:08

Does radical feminism involve making sweeping generalisations like ' blokes find it really hard when they have young children'?

AnyFucker · 29/05/2012 15:10

babylann, nope Smile

LapisBlue · 29/05/2012 15:20

How hilarious even with a big smiley face: let's gang up on someone we don't agree with, ha ha ha, how funny. Enough, please.

Finallygotaroundtoit · 29/05/2012 15:37

Lapis, just putting aside your suggestion that OP puts her DP first - how on earth does she ensure that he does the same for her?

LapisBlue · 29/05/2012 15:44

By not being a total arse and all that goes with it, asking her what she needs, bringing her flowers, doing good things for her (not for us to decide what that would be, could be anything), talking to her, holding her hand, telling her he loves her, complimenting her, deciding with her what needs to be done to share responsibility for child care, making her the centre of his world.

You did ask. It's what many men do - not this one, obviously.

MissFaversham · 29/05/2012 15:54

making her the centre of his world

How about making their children the centre of their world? This would work for me.

Finallygotaroundtoit · 29/05/2012 15:57

Thats great Lapis - but how does she make him do those things?

AnyFucker · 29/05/2012 15:58

my children come before my husband

and vice versa

come the lifeboat/3 lifejackets scenario my H is well aware they are going to me and my 2 kids Wink

it is how it should be, and neither of us expect anything different

grown men can look after themselves for a start, and are not dependent on other people to validate/look after their ego them (or they shouldn't be...or that's when the problems start)

NapaCab · 29/05/2012 16:02

Why isn't the onus on the DP here, LapisBlue, to talk to the OP and tell her that he's struggling then? If he is having a hard time with the new baby thing, then he could just communicate that to her and have a proper talk about the situation and how to cope. That's what an honest, decent man would do.

Instead he's just callously checked out of the relationship and sneakily tried to blame the OP for that by saying she's kicked him out. He is clearly not being honest with her. If he were just a decent guy who's having a hard time with the whole baby thing, he wouldn't be lying and avoiding her, would he?

I think your point is irrelevant and unhelpful and you should apologize to the OP for derailing this thread with an irrelevant remark that has offended many.

LapisBlue · 29/05/2012 16:06

Yep, the OP's OH is a total tool, or so it seems from what we know. He's not being honest with her, he's blaming her for what's going on, he's not a decent guy, to quote your post. He's not making enough effort. It takes TWO to tango.

EldritchCleavage · 29/05/2012 16:07

Where your approach fails for me, Lapis, is that it does not acknowledge the DH is surely perfectly capable of raising such problems with OP and talking them through with her. It absolves him of responsibility for communicating with her as an adult (not sure you meant it like that, but that is how it comes across to me from your posts).

As it is, if lack of attention from her and baby stress are issues for him then he has decided to deal with them by checking out of family life and being very unkind to his wife. Now that he has done this, no amount of concentrating on him from the OP is magically going to fix this. For starters, he's not even around.

OP, please look after yourself. I hope you get to the bottom of this soon.

AnyFucker · 29/05/2012 16:09

sometimes one person is clearly at fault

it isn't always 50/50 when a relationship goes tits-up, quite often one of the pair has been selfish, lazy, entitled, sleazy and wotnot

that mindset lets tools like this guy off the hook