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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

Past experiences of child abuse - may be triggering for some people

27 replies

bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 09:12

Just checking if I can post details? I need to sort out a few things in my head, I have never spoken about this and I have no on in RL to turn to.

If it's too much I won't post, can someone let me know if it's ok to continue?

OP posts:
Theoldhag · 12/12/2013 10:02

You already have a warning in your title so feel free to post your issue. You may find it easier to post a brief overview and see what responses you receive and go from there. Just say what you feel comfortable with, but it is worth keeping in mind that this is a public forum and can be found in a google search so keep identifying information out in order to protect your self.

The folk that frequent this area of mn tend to be very supportive and offer good advise.

SoleSorceress · 12/12/2013 11:11

I agree with hag :)

This is your thread.

bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 12:03

Ok, thank you.

If this contains too much info please can some one report it to be deleted. I am not sure how much I am allowed to say on a forum.

Sorry if this is a bit jumbled and long. I am 24 weeks pregnant with a baby girl, so this has brought a lot of things to a head.

I think my dad abused me in a sexual way from when I was small. I say think, because I am not sure really, but the things he did certainly made me feel uncomfortable about myself and my body.

There are home videos of me naked, aged 2 to 3 (when we first got a video recorder), and those videos zoom in very closely between my legs. My dad apparently thinks these are normal. He brought some family videos to show us a year or do ago, dh was shocked. He didn't say much to me, but he said they obviously made him feel uncomfortable, seeing a baby like that. He left the room while they were on. Each of those sciences last a few mins, I was naked and jumping round on the bed, like a normal toddler, but I would never dream of filming my child's intimate areas in such detail.

My dad was always touching and kissing me as a child. Not in intimate areas but I often felt uncomfortable.

I slept in my parents bed until I was 8. They said it was because I was too scared to sleep in my own room, but I don't remember feeling that way at all. The had sex while I was in their bed and I sent many nights laying there petrified, pretending to be asleep and praying I would fall back to sleep, trying to control my panicked breathing so they wouldn't know I was awake. It was only a normal double, and my mother was quite a large lady, so I was in very close proximity. It wasn't quiet or discrete sex either, I found it utterly traumatising.

My dad also insisted on bathing me until I was 12 years old. He used to make me get on my hands and knees so he could was me from behind and it look ages, I felt increasingly uncomfortable especially as I aged. He also had a 'game' where he would ask id I wanted my private parts washed 'yes or no' I'd say no, I was obviously uncomfortable with it, he would laugh and it would be the more I protested, the funnier he found it. The washing would be quite rough and a lot more intimate and 'further up' than it needed to be. I also started to develop early, I had breasts and pubic hair at 10 and there was no hiding. It made me so uncomfortable.

As I said I am pregnant with a girl. I know DH wouldn't harm her, he's a good man. But last night I was looking at baby bath seats etc, and DH said 'she can come in with me when she's tiny, it will be easier for us to wash her if she's being held, won't it?' and I froze. It scared the life out of me. I know its perfectly innocent, I know of many mothers/fathers who bathe small babies with them as it's easier (I have an older ds from a previous marriage, I bathed with him as a small baby).

My ex was a lazy shit, he never did a thing for ds so I never had the worry, it was always me bathing/changing so I never had the worry with him.

Dh doesn't know any of this. He thinks my dad is great and I am horrible to him. He thinks I am fucked up because I am very cold towards my father (my mother is dead) and uncaring. He has a lovely relationship with his parents, hugs, kisses, telling them he loves etc. I can't even sit on the same sofa with my father or I feel physically sick, let alone hug him.

I can't tell dh. I've been with him for three years. It's not the sort of thing you tell someone on a first date and there is never a right time.

I had horrendous PDN after the birth of ds, as well as having depression since i was a child i told him about a year ago. He stated shouting at me, saying he didn't know who I was, when was I going to tell him I was a 'nutter'. It's the same with everything, my first marriage was abusive, when I have told him things its always the same, "I don't know you at all, do I, what else have you hidden/are you lying about".

OP posts:
bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 12:09

When I say dh said she can come in the bath with me, he actually said he'd get in and hold her while I washed her so we didn't have to worry about dropping her (my ds is 12, it's been a long time since i bathed a baby, I am scared) , not on his own with her. But it still shook me.

OP posts:
SoleSorceress · 12/12/2013 12:21

This is was sexual abuse. I think you need to see a therapist. I feel you should show your DH this thread This was nothing to do with anything you did as a child. This was NOT your fault. Start by taking care of you and let go of this damage. It will go and some of it might stay but you need to learn to manage it so it doesn't continue to make you as though you are still there in your past.

Horrific and disturbing abuse.

You are not to blame.

Your DH and your marriage shall eventually benefit greatly by you self referring for therapy.

Please talk to a therapist.

You deserve to get rid of your parents poison.

Please keep talking to us, please as you are safe here x

SoleSorceress · 12/12/2013 12:22

Your parents are to blame 100%

Not you in anyway shape or form!

bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 12:28

Thank you.

I was never sure if it was sexual abuse or not.

I can't tell dh. He wouldn't understand. This is so out of the realms as what he sees as a normal family. He's quite a detached person, e.g. when I had a MMC, he expected me to get back to normal right away, even when I was waiting to actually miscarry, to him it was dead, it was over IYSWIM.

I am cold towards my father. I know it wasn't my fault at all. It sounds horrendous, but sometimes I can't wait until he dies. He's 77 now, recently he had a cancer scare, I was upset that tests were negative. I know that makes me sound evil.

OP posts:
bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 12:29

He also has a daughter from his first marriage. She is much older than me. I think she was 20 when I was born, she's been no contact with him since she was 18. I have never met her. I often wonder if he abused her and that is why?

OP posts:
SoleSorceress · 12/12/2013 12:45

If you can't tell your DH then that is not good I guess those of us who have been brought up by abusive Father's are at a disadvantage when choosing a man as a partner, sometimes. You need support. He is your Husband you should feel he will at least try to listen and support you. :( Your Husband holds that opinion of you wrt your attitude towards your Father because he doesn't know the true extent of what you went through as a child. Your Husband was also very uncomfortable when he watched the video. He is on your side in this it sounds to me and the miscarriage is a different matter.

Could you afford to see a therapist? The good therapists offer the first session free.

No way are you evil for having those wishes about your Father's negative test results. Makes you human and you are at least feeling something, not numb and blocking it out and how you feel you cannot sit next to him on the sofa when you visit.

You have made the first big step to ask for help here and I applaud you for it. Good o you. You know it isn't your fault now you need to shit the damage and memories and realise it wasn't YOU.

The other Daughter may well have also been sexually abused too.

Do you want to go no contact with your Father? Is this something you too have considered?

bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 12:58

No, I can't. he's old and on his own. I'd love to though, sometimes I hate him.

Another thing is that my eventual inheritance from him is what keeps me going, I feel that I am 'owed' for a shitty childhood.

OP posts:
unobtanium · 12/12/2013 13:52

I don't understand how your DH thinks your Dad is great after viewing those family videos which he found so distasteful he had to walk out half way through

I am very sorry for the abuse

bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 13:57

Like I said, it goes over his head as he only knows his family and their view on the world.

He's the same with my depression. I can feel myself slipping again, I tried to talk to him and he just asked what the hell I had to be depressed about. i tried to explain that there are millionaires who have everything who suffer with depression and he said ' well either get over it or shut up about it'.

I've given up trying to explain things to him now, telling him about my dad would be too big a hurdle.

OP posts:
bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 14:01

Does what I have said sound like sexual abuse though?

OP posts:
amverytired · 12/12/2013 14:02

Yes, it absolutely does.

amverytired · 12/12/2013 14:03

Your husband doesn't sound kind at all.

bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 14:07

Ok, thankyou.

I was never sure if it counted. When you hear about sexual abuse on the news etc, it always seems so much worse than what happened to me. There are more snippets I remember as a young child, but I have the most appalling memory, it's so bad. My mum was emotionally and sometimes physically abusive too, so that didn't help things.

I am 34 and I have never spoken about this before, to anyone.

OP posts:
bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 14:08

He's not. He has his moments. He is very loving to me and my ds. I know he loves me, he's just so black and white that it's unbearable sometimes.

OP posts:
AvonCallingBarksdale · 12/12/2013 14:10

OP. This absolutely was sexual abuse. I would recommend that you get in touch with rape crisis. Not sure where you are, but there national number is 0808 802 9999 (not manned 24 hours). They should put you in touch with your local branch. We see people who are survivors of sexual abuse and offer long-term counselling amongst other services. There are people who can help you with this at your own pace.

AvonCallingBarksdale · 12/12/2013 14:10

their, not there Blush

bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 14:14

I am scared of getting counselling because of my son and the baby I am carrying.

I have studied social care and aspects of parents who had been abused came up. I have had social workers do talks in college about how parents who were abused are more likely to abuse children, I couldn't believe the attitude tbh, that they should always be viewed with suspicion. All of my peers agreed, most have gone on to be sw themselves.

I am 100% not a danger to my children, in anyway. It would kill me to have anyone think that I was.

OP posts:
SoleSorceress · 12/12/2013 14:15

Are you suspicious of you Husband's true motives for wanting being in the bath with your baby?

AvonCallingBarksdale · 12/12/2013 14:16

I can understand that, but the counselling you would receive is non-judgemental and no-one would be looking to "trip you up" IYSWIM. Smile

bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 14:18

No, I'm not. Like I said, he's a good man. I know many mothers/fathers who do the same thing. I know he's not any danger to a child at all.

It just shook me because of the whole bath thing with my dad. The feeling I had took me by surprise.

OP posts:
ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight · 12/12/2013 14:27

Hi, if this helps (I can come back later to talk about in greater detail) I was abused, my daughter was too by a family member I trusted, it's been really hard and I was petrified when I has both DS and DD, BUT I tried to trust and DS had showers with his dad and myself separately and co slept till about three months ago (he's four btw) it's awful what you've said about your parents actions, I am so sorry Sad but there is light of sorts at the end of the tunnel.. Little DD although I hang around like a helicopter mum, p knows what happened to me when I was little and knows my concerns even though he knows I don't mean him iykwim .. So he's happy to let me keep my mind at rest by hovering.. But he bathes her and takes her in the shower with him and tbh I've stopped the mental handwringing and now only really hover ready to wash her or wrap her in a warm towel.
You don't need to make it obvious (you tell him only if you feel able to IMO) but 'hover' to wash and get her out of the bath, when she's older you can teach her to wash herself (DS been doing so since he was a toddler) and teach about good and bad touching at the same time.
DS knows not even mummy or daddy touch him in certain areas unless he asks them to if it's 'poorly' and mummy/daddy will be there if he has to see the doctor.
I hope this helps you x

bigBum1 · 12/12/2013 14:33

Thank you things that does help.

I have always made my ds very aware about people touching him, that no one ever is allowed to touch you (unless he is sick and a dr needs to but that I will be there at all times).

My ds has never been alone with my father, nor will this baby be. I am over protective of ds, and I know I will be with this baby too, but I'd rather be over protective than have something happen to them.

OP posts:
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