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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

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Is my DH is a selfish bastard?

395 replies

Confused74 · 28/08/2012 19:53

6 Months ago i asked DH is he wanted to be with family and friends for his birthday as he shares the same birthday with my MIL and i wanted to book a weekend away for the both of us as a suprise but i know that if i just went and booked it he would tell me that he has planned to spend it with his DM/family/friends.

He said that he thinks that a weekend away just me and him would be a great idea and a lovely suprise (We havent been away together just the two of us every since we met!)

So i went and booked a really expensive hotel, Theatre trip and a meal out the first night and a day out the second day (2 nights).

Well its MIL's 50th birthday and she rang him yesterday to tell him of the plans (On the dates that we were going to be away) that she was thinking/to ask if we can make it.

DH has come home and dropped this on me (He knew what dates i booked the weekend away as we talked about it for a couple of weeks/I was hinting ideas) He said that he cannot miss his DM's 50th so i would have to cancel everything so we could attend, I asked him if she is able to change the dates for the weekend before/after as nothing is booked yet and he said "No way, Don't be selfish".

She hasn't booked anything i have had this booked for 6 months and i asked him beforehand if these dates were okay because i knew MIL would kick up a fuss if i just booked it without talking about dates etc.

I have looked into changing the dates of our weekend but the hotel has no rooms avaliable.

So he said that i have to cancel everything i had booked as he wants to go to MIL's "Do".

It has cost me well over £1000 for everything.

This has REALLY upset me but he said "Its my DM's 50th so im going".

I asked him if he told her that i had a weekend planned for him and me for his birthday weekend and he just said "I forgot to".

AIBU to be VERY upset about this?

OP posts:
clam · 29/08/2012 20:02

But, in answer to your original question, yes, your dh is a selfish bastard.

discrete · 29/08/2012 20:04

claireabella1 (somewhat delayed)

I have been happily married for over 20 years.

MrsTerryPratchett thank you. At least she didn't call me discreet...

MrsTerryPratchett · 29/08/2012 20:12

That would have been awful discrete.

I agree clam but I hope seeds are being sown. Confused please just make sure that you keep a relationship with your DM going. Keep some money back, keep your ducks in a row. Read about relationships and keep yourself safe.

discrete · 29/08/2012 20:29

OMG, I have just read the rest of the thread and am so :(

Confused, I say this from the bottom of my heart, please get some counselling for yourself.

In a way, this has nothing to do with your dh. It has everything to do with your incredibly severe lack of self esteem. What is it about you that you think makes you so worthless that you do not expect even the minimum human respect that it would be normal to give to anyone, let alone ones you are supposed to love?

Find the answer to that question and then work on it. Until you do, you will not be able to deal with anything else in any positive and constructive way.

YellowTulips · 29/08/2012 20:37

You might be in relationship with your "D"H - but it's not a healthy one.

A good relationship is all about a fair balance of respect, love and trust.

The nearest analagy I can think of is two children in a playground playing on a see saw. You both have fun when you are the same size and can share the ups and downs of the ride.

In your case he is behaving like the school bully pinning down his end and leaving you dangling at his whim. Whilst you might survive up there for a while it's going to get increasing uncomfortable and at some point you are going to come to the realisation that if/when he jumps off (just because he has the power to do that), you are going to come crashing.

You need to find a way to re-balance you relationship and that starts by YOU starting to realise that he is neither as "big or heavy" (i.e. not as great a catch) as you thought and you might have to be the one "jump off" to bring him back down to earth.

I don't think from your posts you are ready to to that yet - but the fact you posted at all perhaps means that you are at the start of the journey. Good luck xxx

CuriousMama · 29/08/2012 20:39

I really feel sorry for your mother op. I know women who'd dds are in abusive relationships and it tears their hearts out Sad

You are young by the sounds of it? I hope you can get out before your dc is much older? He/she will end up very screwed up in this sort of environment.

It's all rather sick imo. Turns my stomach.

RabidAnchovy · 29/08/2012 21:00

Take how you are feeling now and know that what you feel right now is what you will feel every day that you waste with this wanker and his scumbag family.

If you really want to have any chance of happiness and raising a child that is not going to be a total fuck up, WALK AWAY

Viewofthehills · 29/08/2012 21:06

confused
Your DH is my Dad. He married my Mum, from a different country. My Nan was most resentful that he should marry a 'foreigner'. The agreement was that we should grow up there. My Nan feigned illness, he moved back to England. She is now over 90. My Mum is 60+. My Mum is now her carer. Still nothing is good enough for her, especially my Dad. My Dad resents her, but still does as she says.
He wanted to own my Mum as his possession and he has always dictated to the whole family. He never came to my school events, Uni, graduation, nothing.
He is still jealous of my Mum and I having a relationship and although he is proud of his grandchildren (continuing the genetic line) he doesn't really want them to have a relationship with her either. He is very critical of everyone and I rarely enjoy spending time with him. However, if I want to see my Mum I have no choice.
This is your future OP and that of your kids and I think you deserve better.

froggies · 29/08/2012 21:29

Confused, my heart goes out to you.

I am a year and a half out of a relationship with a controlling and emotionally abusive man. We were together for 12 years, he was the 'father' to my son, and i also have 2 daughters from that relationship. The amount of emotional damage this caused to my son was/is horrific.

When I met him I was not long out of a physically abusive marriage, and thought I had made a good choice (as did all of my friends) I thought I was lucky to have him, I thought he was a brilliant catch. At the time I was just starting a new career, having finished my PGCE, I had a good circle of friends, I was an active member of a club, I saw my family regularly. By the end of the relationship I lived miles away from all of my friends, no longer went to the club, no longer went to meetings of the club he was a member of, even though I introduced him to the people in it, no longer went to work, rarely saw my family, and only phoned people when he wasn't at home, and I thought I had made all of these decisions for myself!

I so understand how hard it is to see, I so understand how hard it is to make that decision to end it.

In the end I stopped laughing at his 'jokes' (put downs), stopped jumping to his every wish, stopped apologising for everything, stopped responding to his sulks and his strops, after a friend lent me the Lundy book. It took 5 weeks for HIM to leave ME.

You can find that strength within you, you don't sound ready just now, but you will be, keep in touch with your mum, try to widen your social contact, go to toddler groups with your DS, take him to the library, to the park, put yourself in a position to meet other people and make friends, accept offers of popping in for coffee, extend offers of the same, this is will absolutly help you find your strength. Absolutly contact Women's Aid, they have been and still are a huge support to me and my children and i wholeheartedly recommend them. If you can, see a councillor, and keep posting here, you will get the support.

It may be that your H is willing to put in the effort to make your marriage work, mine only was until i disagreed with him, but I suspect he won't. I suspect if you call his bluff, he will try really hard until you are hooked again (he must really love me, look how nice he is being when he realsied how upset i was) and then it will slide back to the way it is now, and that may happen several times before you decide that enough is enough. I hope I am wrong, for your sake.

But for now, all I can do is give you a most unmumset like

BerylStreep · 30/08/2012 00:48

Oh god Op. Sad

Thumbwitch · 30/08/2012 01:12

Point 1 - yes your H is a selfish bastard.
Point 2 - yes he is being a complete twat over the birthday weekend and why the fuckety fuck is it your money that is being lost over it? Do you not have family money?
Point 3 - he doesn't love you AT ALL.
Point 4 - anyone who says the shit he says to you DOESN'T DESERVE you.

The only sane person in your scenario is your mother - you should listen to her. Leave the fucking selfish knobend - if he's that fond of his mother, he can have her.

I am very :( that you are so blind to the type of utter wanker that this man is - there really is more to life than love, and in all fairness I don't believe you really love this man in a healthy way at all - I think you just cling onto him because you have low self-esteem and believe that he is the "best" you can do. Sadly he knows this and is using it to keep you "in your place".

Fucking hell, stuff like this makes me cry inside. :(

delilahlilah · 30/08/2012 01:41

First off, if you haven't cancelled the hotel - contact them and explain something urgent has come up and ask if they would be willing to allow you to change dates as you don't want to cancel unless you have to. This may save you losing all your money on it.
If they agree, gift it to your parents or go with a friend at another time.

He shouldn't be telling you who you can or can't visit. It sounds like he is cutting you off from people. You are not lucky to have him, he is lucky you have put up with him this long.
Think about it carefully, and decide if someone who can just say "leave then" is worth giving your whole life to? Only one go at life. Make sure you feel you're doing the right thing with it for you and your DS.

NurseBernard · 30/08/2012 02:42

I'm so sorry you're in this situation, Confused.

I know zippey has come back to say she misunderstood the situation - but - there are plenty of people who think like her. That pretty much short of regularly throwing punches, you shouldn't listen to people urging you to question your situation and potentially leave.

And it's odd to me that such people shout 'man-hater' at people who say 'leave the bastard', and accuse such people or projecting their bad relationship history onto other people's lives.

I mean, I've never been in an abusive relationship; never even come close to being in one. All my exes are lovely, and yet I can see so crystal clearly that the situation you're in, Confused, is an awful one. I can see that because I only know what it is like to be in a happy, healthy, mutually satisfying relationships with a nice, kind, decent men.

I'm sure there are lots of people like me on this thread. You don't have to have been in an abusive relationship to know one when you see one. In fact, having been in healthy, happy relationships might make your viewpoint even clearer, since there is no doubting in your mind that a bad relationship is bad.

I know you're not ready yet, but I will actually urge you to leave the bastard because not all men are like this. Most men are kind and decent (I seem to be forever banging their drum here on MN) - and you deserve one of those men just as much as the next person.

I hope starting this thread is the beginning of you questioning this man and this relationship, and the beginning of your mind opening up a bit to the possibilities. As I say, you're clearly not ready to leave yet, but stay on MN, name-change if you need to, and come back whenever you need to. There is a wealth of advice and support here day and night. When the times comes for you to pack your bags, there will be people here to help you through it. Un-MN hugs, because I think you really need them.

Dolcelatte · 30/08/2012 03:58

I haven't read the whole thread but I agree that there is no future for the OP in this relationship.

However, I am wondering about the circumstances in which you got married. Had you been together long before you became pregnant? Was it an accident or did you plan it (even subconsciously)? Does DH/his family resent you because they feel you 'trapped' him? Has he ever loved you? How old are you? How old is he? It just strikes me, from what I have read, that this relationship started on very rocky foundations - how long had you been together before you became pregnant?

Do you have any skills/work experience etc which would enable you to get a job (subject to child care etc - could your DM help here?) and make a new life for yourself?

What do you want from life ie apart from your family life? Do you have any plans, dreams, ambitions? Do you think you will ever achieve them with DH in your life?

swooosh · 30/08/2012 04:55

What I want say has already been said, MULTIPLE times. Please see sense OP Sad

LurkingAndLearningLovesCats · 30/08/2012 05:40

OP. :( I actually cried as this thread went on.

givemeaclue · 30/08/2012 08:56

Op I have read this whole thread and am delurking.

you are in an abusive relationship. your DM knows this. she wants to help and support you. Your DH does not care if you stay or go, he controls you, he has said he wouldn't shed a tear if you left. Why are you staying? Have you called your DM and talked this through with her? Please please please do - she will help you. a few days away from him staying with your DM will help you.

you are scared. you need help - please please get it. this is about so much more than the weekend away. please get the help you need. if your DH would really never let you set foot in the house because you go to your DM's - he is a bully, he abuses you and does not respect you. please go to your DM's as soon as possible. you need to start thinking of yourself - not him.

at least call your DM? can you do that?

PooPooOnMars · 30/08/2012 09:00

How are you doing today?

AnnieLobeseder · 30/08/2012 09:02

OP, listen to me very carefully.

YOU DESERVE TO BE TREATED BETTER THAN THIS!!!!

If you don't want to leave him, so be it, but for goodness sake, start to believe in your own worth and STAND UP TO HIM!

Do NOT cancel your weekend away. Go with a friend. So FUCKING WHAT if it causes problems with your DH and his mother, HE CAUSED the problem, not you.

GO TO YOUR MOTHER'S! No adult should ever have to ask permission to go anywhere. Just go if you want to.

Just as he calls your bluff over leaving, you should call his. He knows he's got a sweet deal with a submissive little wife who does whatever he says. It's time you gave him a wakeup call. He doesn't want you to leave any more than you want to leave. Sadly, the reason he wants you to stay seems to be so that he can walk all over you, rather than that he loves you. But he won't chuck you out, really he won't. Then he's have to look for a new doormat and very few women would put up with him.

Long story short, you only have this one short life, live it, do what YOU want to do. He needs to learn that when it comes to what you want to do, only your opinion counts.

differentnameforthis · 30/08/2012 09:11

Perhaps a bit far fetched there

Not necessarily. If he can treat his wife like this, he could certainly treat his kids like it.

Snorbs · 30/08/2012 09:12

This is a very good overview of identifying abusive behaviours in relationships. It's written by a psychologist who specialises in relationship and family counselling. Try seeing how many abusive behaviours your 'D'H is exhibiting. I count at least half a dozen just from what you've posted here.

PooPooOnMars · 30/08/2012 09:20

different

I didn't say it was perhaps far fetched in relation to what he might be like with his kids, but that you suggested that zippey might be a family member of his.

I just think zippey doesn't want to, or is, quite possibly.....a family member?

PooPooOnMars · 30/08/2012 09:28

Snorbs. Both of my exs scored 18!

alienreflux · 30/08/2012 09:39

is now thinkin op isn't coming back, it must be hard to read your whole life should be completely different Sad

PooPooOnMars · 30/08/2012 09:41

Yeah Sad

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