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

I don't know if I love my DH

65 replies

Reastie · 09/01/2014 15:41

I know that's a weird thing to say. I've been wondering over recent months if I actually love DH anymore. Over the past 2 years at least I'd say most months I think about divorce and whether I genuinely love him but not in an I'm going to actually do it way, just in a it goes through my mind as I'm not sure how the relationship is going way.

We have been married nearly 4 years and together about 8/9 years. I'm 32. We have a 2 yo DD. We are both the first partner each other has ever had so nothing to compare it to.

He has anger management issues which upset me (nothing physical towards me but his behaviour bothers me when it does happen. I have posted on here previously about it) but these outbursts are rare. He has IMO a rude way of talking in his tone - it often sounds like he's talking to me like a piece of dirt (he doesn't mean it to come out like this) and doesn't have much sympathy about stuff in general.

Having said that, he is generally wonderful with our DD. When he's in a good mood (he's an old grump alot of the time) he can be good company, but we don't really talk a huge amount as he isn't a big talker. He rarely asks me how my day has been, or remembered appointments/anything going on with me to ask about how it went etc. He's quite almost disabled socially (maybe I'm being harsh...). He was really lovely and caring towards me when we first went out, but now it can be hard to get much physical contact from it unless I initiate it or he wants sex.

He has always said to me that I would leave him rather than the other way around as he thinks I may want more than he is (he's been upfront with this since the beginning actually) and seems happy with things. He doesn't like/want to talk about emotional stuff ever. We also both come from very different backgrounds (me = middle class and him working class) which has lead to an interesting balance of ideas/expectations from life since DD. I find PIL very difficult and this is a pressure on the relationship.

He is fabulous in that he baths DD every evening and looks after her so I can get a bath. He helps put her to bed and gets up with her in the night. He also often gets up with her at week ends so I can have a lie in. I feel in this paragraph that I'm a lazy old woman! He is laid back in general whereas I am uptight and get anxious easily and need down time or I break emotionally.

He works just over 4 days a week and me just under 3. I do all the cooking and 90% of the cleaning/chores/organising of everything etc.

Just now, we went to have a walk in the garden and I pointed out my Great Grandfathers bench we have in the garden might be getting damaged due to lots of rainfall and no guttering on the shed (it's a work in progress). He got disproportionately annoyed and rude and said it felt like I was personally attacking him for not moving it. Now, this is the type of thing HE gets annoyed with ME about getting upset by (ie reading between the lines and taking things as a personal insult when they aren't). Went really huffy and sweary (he knows I hate swearing and does it to upset me when in these moods). I just went back inside and left him to it outside as I don't want to spend time with someone in a mood like that. It upset me though, the way he spoke to me over something so little that I hadn't even meant like how he interpreted, and the fact that he gets annoyed and angry with me when I do such things yet he does it himself. Also when he comes in he will expect everything to be normal, will refuse to talk about it and get annoyed if I do.

I've been thinking since. Do I actually love him. I read a thread about people saying they know their DHs love them because they do this and that and think about this or that and my DH does none of these things. It feels like we are 2 people who are comfortable together and have a child together and can work well together and have sex together but do I love him. I don't know. I would certainly miss an adult in the house to help bring up DD if he didn't live with us. And I would miss his head massages and having someone to talk to when I need to at home. I would miss not having to get up in the night with DD. These are the things I think about when I think of life without him living with us yet the initial thoughts don't include me missing his character or personality or him. Is this normal for a marriage?

OP posts:
AngelinaK · 09/01/2014 20:56

Same here... We go through rough patch, hell and I want to leave... Just cant take it anymore... And then things get better, normal and I have a normal family. Happy DD.
I'm just going round in circles in my mind.
If we split, who would move out? would he be difficult? how would I cope financially as a sahm. Its just hard....

I dont think that having nobody to compare it to is important here... U do feel in your heart that something is not right.

Emski76 · 09/01/2014 21:20

Hi Reastie. I often wonder the same about my dh. But I partly blame it on being our first serious relationship, romantic movies and ideas and having kids! In books, magazines, movies etc men are romantic, kind, great in bed etc and the wives are smiley, thin and always up for it. Real life is nothing like that for most of us and things can slip. I remember asking my days if her husband ever annoyed, and when she said I was amazed. I honestly thought I was the only one. I'm not madly and passionately in love with dh anymore but I know I love him, we're just a bit like passing ships at times.
Is it worth making more effort to spend time together both with A and as a couple. Almost rekindle it all. My dh can also come across as rude and I often feel he's lecturing me but that is just his way and I always call him up on it.
You are not the first and will not be the last person to go through this. Just don't make any rash decisions. X

Reastie · 10/01/2014 06:33

Thanks ems , yes, maybe I want the perfect marriage which isn't out there and so the fact I haven't got it makes me question more and more what I do have and make it seem worse than it is.

I must say, I'm not pleased for the people that are in the same situ, but it's heartening to know this isn't just me going through this.

OP posts:
CailinDana · 10/01/2014 06:52

How was your relationship at the beginning?

Lagoonablue · 10/01/2014 07:12

Some people have happy problem free relationships or seem to. Good luck to them but really I think most of us have messier long term relationships with our partners. There are peaks and troughs, long periods when things are great, times when we are fed up or annoyed etc. relationships are complex and can't be the same all of the time. Unless there is abuse or one partner is continually fed up then my view is to take the rough with the smooth.

I wouldn't know if your partner is abusive and wouldn't try to guess, only you know how it feels. What I would say is that I don't always behave well towards my DH or vice versa. However most of the time I do but everyday cannot be a bed of roses. Life gets in the way a lot.

At the end of the day though I know I love him, don't always like him and we have rows, upsets like anyone else. But there are tons of plus points too. My own personal measurement tool for the health of my relationship is 70/30. If 70% of the time all is well the I am content. Won't work for all and am not talking about abusive relationships.

I doubt any of this us much help but just wanted to offer a counter to people who seem to enjoy constantly blissful relationships.

ContentedSidewinder · 10/01/2014 07:21

Dh is my best friend. We chew the fat together at the end of each day, we laugh, tickle each other, nerf gun the children together (we treat them as moving targets) make each other a cup of tea in bed. I like to open the bedroom blinds once I am awake, Dh pretends (for the children) that he is a vampire so I open the blinds he pretends to be burning up in the sun. I close them, he pretends to be asleep, I open them he is burning again.

He lies on the floor of the lounge working on his laptop, if I walk past him I will kneel down and kiss my favourite part of his back, not for anything more than just loving that spot.

He does crazy dances in front of the children to make out that people do that sort of thing in a club (they certainly do not!) We share the same views on money and raising the boys and house decor. I am a little too crazy he reigns me in.

We have been together 17 years, married for 14 and our boys are 10 and 7. We are not alone with this sort of relationship and it breaks my heart when I read people having anger management issues. I did have previous relationships to compare Dh to where I couldn't be myself for fear of being laughed at, shouted at or put down. Thank God I met Dh.

I think all relationships go through some form of hell when children come along as the focus shifts from each other to another human who is more demanding than you ever thought possible. Now that your daughter is 2 you have time to breathe and assess.

What was your relationship like before your daughter came along? How has that changed? Could you get that back? I am all for working your arse off to save a marriage, but when it is dead it is dead.

I don't think yours is dead though, you still have sex, you clearly still desire him which is a huge plus in my book. He needs to work on his anger though, bottom line.

MoJangled · 10/01/2014 07:25

Hi OP, just wondering if your DH could possibly have mild undiagnosed Aspergers? Impossible to tell from the thread, of course, but several of the things you've mentioned might also happen in relationships with people with Aspergers. Either way, since you feel he stonewalls which blocks a rich emotional relationship, and it sounds like you're having trouble resolving it on your own, perhaps a bit of counselling would be a good idea. If he won't come with you, which from what you've said sounds likely, you could go on your own to explore your feelings and your options for getting things onto a better footing. Good luck with what you decide.

Reastie · 10/01/2014 14:18

Mo I work with some teenagers with aspergers and really don't think he has this, but there is aspects of his personality to do with emotions he is useless with. I wonder if it's as he doesn't understand as he is socially inexperienced (didn't seem to have many friends even at school but enjoyed playing with family). Maybe I should see my role as gently educating him in how to behave and what is acceptable as he may need it obviously pointing out?

My DH made me a cup of tea in bed the other morning on my day off so I could have a drink and a lie in whilst he looked after DD. That was a really nice thing. Maybe he's not as bad as I think Hmm

OP posts:
AngelinaK · 10/01/2014 16:29

U r really confused arent u?
Its like we spoke before, when its bad - u want to leave, when it gets better - u think he's not That bad...

I'm in the same boat... Also its hard to brake up when u have small children...

brusslesprout · 10/01/2014 17:05

Another in the same boat.. how do you know if it's just a normal relationship if you have nothing to compare it to? Sad

Twinklestein · 10/01/2014 17:30

My husband brings me tea every morning, I consider that standard...

Maybe I should see my role as gently educating him in how to behave and what is acceptable as he may need it obviously pointing out?

No, definitely not. That's the role of a mother/teacher/etiquette coach, not a wife. He will take it as you criticising/belittling him, & will resent it horribly. I'm not convinced that he'd be interest in learning what you want to teach him anyway...

Zalen · 10/01/2014 18:27

I don't love my husband. We were happy for over 20 years, then he had issues with stress and ultimately depression which mean that he has barely worked in the last 3 years. He was on anti-depressants for a while but didn't like how they made him feel and stopped cold turkey. That was when his behaviour changed and all the love I had felt for him died.

I told him a little over two years ago that I wanted a divorce, his response was that I had no grounds. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the fact that I couldn't stand to be in the same room with him was all the grounds I needed.

I decided not to push it and months cried every day over something or other that he had done, but got by on the thought that if he didn't buck up his ideas I could always leave later, now I'm very happy with my life. I go out when I want to, an MMA class 4 times a week and the cinema when something I want to watch is on. If he decides he's had enough and is ready to leave that will be fine, otherwise I'm happy with a live in baby-sitter and his contribution to the household expenses. If either of those things change then I'll reconsider my position.

Back2Two · 10/01/2014 20:14

This reply has been withdrawn

This post has been withdrawn due to privacy concerns

AngelinaK · 11/01/2014 12:56

Back2Two and ContentedSidewinder - so jaleous of u guys just knowing that u love your partners ...
I just dont know what to think anymore...

Joysmum · 11/01/2014 17:37

I proposed to my hubby after we'd just had an all out blazing row. I was fucking fuming and we were sat seething at opposite sides if the room trying ignore each other.

I looked over at him and thought, 'you're an absolute wanker but I never want to be without you' so I shuffled over, got down in one knee and told him how much I lived him and would he marry me.

He did the hugest smile and said yes. It wasn't the romantic proposal I'd have wanted but no matter how bad things get in life, he is the one constant and the thing that makes my life worth living (along with DD of course). Despite all of that, I look at his behaviour sometimes and hate it, he does the same with me too. Truth is, despite lapses in our manners from both if us, we know we are good people at heart and life gets in the way. If I'm being a shit, he knows it's temporary and that if I knew how I'd made him feel I'd be devastated and work hard to improve. Same for him.

Life is hard, relationships aren't perfect.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page