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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

pregnant, shocked and a bit lost.

328 replies

sugarcoatedthorns · 24/05/2014 15:37

I don't know what to do!

I have just found out I am pregnant and am so confused about what to do. My DH wants an abortion and I'm horrified that he doesn't want the DB. It wasn't planned and was despite precautions. So i know he doesn't have to want a baby, but he always refuses to talk to me about anything, anything.
The trouble is I feel scared of having a baby with him! He seems to keep setting traps for me to walk into and sits back and laughs at me, he takes the piss out of me a lot and I feel reaaly down about everything now.

One thing I do know is how much I want to keep this baby and cannot bear to think about going throygh the abortion he wants me to have. I would hate to feel that he had stayed with me because of a baby, but I cannot have an abortion and I told him this, but now he is telling people and making me look stupid about it.

He is telling people as a joke that we are having a baby when we are both out of work (I have just given my notice at a very well paid job because of constructive dismissal so yes it is the worst situation) and he had already decided to leave work to start as s/employed. but hes using this i think to ridicule me. When Ive been upset abouut the terrible work situation and try to talk about it he calls me boring and negative. I kind offeel that all the time I am happy and doing absolutely everything he is ok, but he gets very angry if I am having a bad day or anything. like i'm not allowed to worry or be upset.

I have got so down about it all and when I told a friend that i was starting to worry and feel a bit scared about him getting angry she told me that I probably need to get onto some antidepressants fro m the doctor. I think i am going mad, and i feel like a bad person for having any negative emotions.

Am i just scared because of being pregant? should I have antidepressants to help me cope with him because I don't think i am coping with him and don't feel allowed to be unhappy for fear of being accusedof being negative and him getting in a mood and shouting at me.

The only thing I do know is that I want this baby. because he won't talk to me how will i know whether hes still with me only because he will look bad to others if we did separate? He is very fo the do the right thing in front of others, but hes so differrent indoors, but he jjust keeps making me look stupid in front of other people and then saying its just a joke.

OP posts:
oikopolis · 03/06/2014 00:57

Op, am just concerned re your DP being an IT bod. Worried he may be reading here and that any advice I (or others) may give here may be read by him and used against you (e.g. someone may advise that you tell him xyz and he knows to expect it).

Thinking of you hourly and hoping all is well with you and baby. X

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 03/06/2014 02:02

You're doing so amazingly well. I've only just come back to MN after a break, but I've read your thread right though now. Can I just say, you sound like a lovely person, even in the middle of all this trouble and sadness, and you also have a great writing style? I have a feeling that when you escape (and it is an escape) you will discover so many skills and abilities that you never knew you had. You will be sitting up with your beautiful baby, somewhere safe for just the two of you, telling him or her stories in a few months time.

MexicanSpringtime · 03/06/2014 04:01

Oh sugar, my daughter's father was like that, telling me how other people complained about me and didn't like me. Like you I asked some of them and they thoroughly denied it, then a year later some other friends, whom he had quoted as saying that "they couldn't understand what he saw in me", told me that they never could understand what I was doing with him, I mean totally the opposite of his nasty lies.

My daughter too had a boyfriend who used to point out all the faults of her friends until she ended up a completely changed person and without any friends. It was so lovely when she finally split up from him to see her real personality come back, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud.

BadgerB · 03/06/2014 06:07

And you don't "constantly misunderstand and misremember what was agreed and said.".
He changes it so subtly that you think your mind must be going. I got to the stage where I wanted to record all conversations. It's another control ploy, to convince you that you are going mad

magoria · 03/06/2014 06:20

What was he doing while you pregnant ran around like an idiot doing 4 loads of washing and other stuff which made you late?

Did he help do any of it so you could as a partnership get through it faster? Or did he just leave it to you and then berate you like a naughty child?

How much of that washing etc was his stuff that made you late?

Pobblewhohasnotoes · 03/06/2014 06:58

OP he'll be trying to isolate you from your friends by 'telling' you things they've said, when actually they won't have said it at all. That way it cuts you off from them so you have no support. Again, it's on purpose.

sugarcoatedthorns · 03/06/2014 07:58

thank you for all the encouraging words. Its very soothing for the soul, and i have to force my mind to believe that its real. Then I feel stupid for not seeing it. Its so much round and round.

Well yes exactly, why am i doing all that washing, why , really why! He doesn't do anything. it doesn't matter that i'm tired, he blames that on me being up too late, which i am because I am so bloody upset, or strung out over doubts, or heart pounding from fear. There's no let up. I go to bed and get up. I'm sofa sleeping now (since Sunday night's joy) and it s a lot more relaxing. it seems that pregnancy comes with broken sleep to though as i have been uncomfortable lying down, like everything feels all tight and crampy and wakes me frequently, maybe this is preparation for being awke all night with a baby! seems a bit mean to start this early on,ha!

My laptop never leaves my side, on the safety front, thank you so much for concerns and advice. It literally stays with me 247 because i am so paranoid now. What worries me more is the other snooping stuff, from the wifi, or mobile phone, or bugs in emails/around the house! This is how paranoid I have become Sad

OP posts:
sugarcoatedthorns · 03/06/2014 08:01

the friends thing!!!! Nasty nasty. What worries me more is what i know people must be believing, and I'm shocked to think of it. I wonder at their friendship really if they believe it, and thinking of it now I do think there are two camps forming, those that are my friends and wouldn't believe him or change their opinion of me as a result, and those who frankly are not friends and I should have seen that for myself. Another learning for me.

OP posts:
tipsytrifle · 03/06/2014 08:23

The thing is that this fog you describe so well has two distinct sources though its unified aim is to protect you, shield you from any further harm or intrusion. It is protecting you from him but also from your own negativity. Negativity in your case is the shock and and fear, the darkest thoughts you have of yourself and your worth. It is also your exhaustion and despair.

In some ways this is a good thing. Your mind does not want you to go crazy so it is trying to put you into isolation, to save you. Unfortunately, since this is an instinctive response rather than a conscious decision and it may also be taking the edge off your urge and need to Act. Remember when a child you hide under duvets so the monster goes away? You make yourself invisible so the baddies never find you. This is very much a victim response and absolutely has wisdom. But it also freezes you up and, dear lady, you need to make a move.

Befriend the fog, tame it a little, but you would do well to reach through it as soon as you can to change the need for it to be there - by ridding yourself of the monster. Even this vague mention of him makes me shudder ...

Willing you to find the inner strength that is at your core. Empty is good btw .... you can build YOU from there! Before you start building I think you need to Run. Did you get through to WA yet? Is there anywhere else at all you could de-camp to?

MintyCoolMojito · 03/06/2014 17:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IAmNotAMindReader · 03/06/2014 19:39

The friends thing is really an eye opener for many OP. People you thought you could count on turn out to believe him and you gain allies from some very unexpected sources it seems to be all part of the process.

PacificDogwood · 03/06/2014 22:57

Read this and reassure me that you don't recognise what your H is doing with you Sad - I'd love to be told it's not so.

Isolating women from their friends by undermining their relationship with others and isolating them is classic abuser behaviour.
Your friends might be wondering where 'you' have disappeared to because he might well be spinning them a line too.

Your memory is likely much better than you think - 'gas lighting' is a technique designed to make people doubt themselves and their own judgment by constantly subtly changing reality (named after a movie in which the H kept turning down the gas lights and then denied to his wife that anything was wrong with the light in order to make her believe that she was going mad).

He has done good job on you and undermined you for a long time. It will take time and effort to recover from this, but recover you can.
Contact Women's Aid, really, please do.
They have a wealth of experience in this and will offer practical and psychological help and support.

kalidanger · 03/06/2014 23:02

Don't right off your friends yet, sugar. You've believed a load of his crap so can you blame them for doing the same? :(

And don't right off your memory either. Please read about gaslighting en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

sugarcoatedthorns · 04/06/2014 00:35

i have put a password on my laptop, and I have phoned WA tonight after he left. he has gone for two nights on work. it was a long call and they were very supportive, although I didn't really know what to say. I was quiet for quite a lot of it. The lady was really helpful though and kind. Its a lot easier to speak here when you seemed to know what I'm talking about, but to say it from scratch to anyone else has me doubting myself.

I did look at the link, thank you, and i read in disbelief really that he could be being so sinister, but i think he is actually. He says very little, and does abandon all the time, and is very cuttin gwith sarcasm but Mr Funny to others, and calls himself easy-going but I can do something wrong and not find out till it all comes out in a hurling temper way. He is like that, and i'm sure he lies but I can never ever get to the bottom of anything because he shuts me down and/or gets really angry.

You women here will never know how much your support has meant to me, the most you can know is by me writing this. I can't cope with him shouting in my face. I am really fed up with it.

I am concerned about my friends, and I do spend so much time worrying about what everyone thinks and scared that they think I am so horrible. I know that I have felt truly unhinged for a long time now, and been erratic, but yes, very 'dangled' as it says in the link. I remember my big birthday a few years ago, where he literally just disappeared taking no notice of me whatsoever, and another time where he actually left me with a complete bunch of strangers miles from home and went drinking and drug taking with his best mate.

I seem to think so little of myself that I go back for more, and yes, he knows it. He gaslights me. I have round and round conversatiosn with him where he accuses me of just not understanding what he's saying. I know I have misunderstandings with others, but I wouldn't say any more than anyone else, but I have misunderstandings with him all the time, but there always seems to be a key bit of information missing that would make things clear. Then theres the arrangemetns and agreemetns that are made and denied later, that he's agreed something with me and it turns out to be all different to what I 'd expected and I look stupid and unnecessarily upset. I feel a dope and useless. He has told me that noone will ever make him do anything he doesn't want to do! it says that on that link. Noone else sees any of it, they just see the mad overpossesive or selfish emotional wreck of a wife that can't seem to keep herself in check anymore. I'mvery unhappy.

oh and WA told me to get to a freedom programme if i had one near enough to go to, and i do have time on the day that one is running near me so im going to go to see if it helps me makes sense of this horrible scrambled mess in my head.

I am hanging onto the fact that I am so worried about what everyone thinks of me, and wanting to make things right in the home, and the one thats crying and trying to understand, and he just isn't, and thats what makes the difference? He knows what s going on and is, yes, in control, although he says I make HIM miserable, but he doesn't put any effort into 'us' and i do, always trying to do stuff together.

I am going to ttry to catch my tenant early in the morning before work tomorrow for an update. the constructive dismissal thing i really can't face. I know what they're doing is wrong, its been blatant in front of colleagues too, but i cannot face it its a bridge too far for me. I was also forced into signing my pension across regardless of me resisting all the way and never having attended any of the meetings, but i've doneit under duress because there is too much other stress going on and i'm passed caring or having the energy for it all. They are umming and aaahing about how long I have to serve notice, because of my position its supposed to be 3 months, but they want me on gardening leave as another company way up country has tried to poach me, but i can't go there now and do that travelling job with a baby on the way. this is more informaiton that you need. Basically, its meant that they want me out, on gardening leave for the remainder of my 'notice', which at least gives me time to try to sort things out whiilst im being paid so thats good.

you will never know how much your support means to me really so much.

OP posts:
sugarcoatedthorns · 04/06/2014 00:40

Tell me oh wise ones. Will it stop and be over once I leave. It feels like he has never been bothered about me anyway which really hurts to face, but then i think about the tears and remorse when i've got close to leaving before.

I say this because I wonder seriously about the thing in the link and there's a lot on this thread about him being dangerous?! surely once we are apart and i'm not making him angry/miserable there's nothing to get angry about. Hes not going to turn into a stalker or something worse is he?

OP posts:
MexicanSpringtime · 04/06/2014 03:51

If you moved, would you be able to take the job up country?

You are doing brilliantly, lady, and I really admire you. You know on average it takes the victims of domestic abuse 11 years to get free.

I doubt that your STBXP is capable of loving anyone, actually. And as I said above, you should definitely not take anything he has told you about your friends as true. I'm sure there have been a lot of lies in there, so you might as well discount it all. Time will tell who your good friends are, but nothing your torturer has said can be believed.

BadgerB · 04/06/2014 05:52

Yes, when he knows you are leaving expect tears, remorse, you are "selfish, breaking up the marriage, ruining his life" etc etc. IGNORE, accept the bad words. It is a ploy to get you to change your mind. He doesn't want to lose his victim. If you give in the abuse will get worse after a short 'honeymoon' period. If you stick to your plan to leave he will tell everyone that you are mentally ill, he is worried about you. Stay strong. Some may believe him, many won't.

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 04/06/2014 06:47

I think you have to expect leaving and having just left to be difficult. He's not likely to accept it and behave like a grown up. If you lose friends over it, then they weren't really your friends. The Freedom programme is likely to make you feel reassured and supported at this time.

WhereTheWildlingsAre · 04/06/2014 06:57

Just dropping in to say I am still here and reading every post you write. You are doing so well. Keep strong x

dramajustfollowsme · 04/06/2014 07:13

You are doing so well. I completely understand you not having head space for work problems too but make sure a union or someone has your back for constructive dismissal. You will need money once you have left and the baby is here.
You will find something suitable for you. If you have already been head hunted then something else is bound to come up.

jaynebxl · 04/06/2014 07:24

I just read the whole thread. Awful. But sp glad you are coming out of this horrid relationship.

sugarcoatedthorns · 04/06/2014 19:51

Thank you so much for the encouragement and inside track on all this. I feel like i will never stop reeling from it. Sick of hating myself for everything. He's not here tonight, but i realise with him away i live with his shadow here. Like i do things in the way i have spent years getting used to, worried about sitting on the couch too long, or spending time out chatting at the park and then thinking oh crap, he's gonna be mad at me for being kept awaiting. his pet hate, that i don't respect him.

wondering how it ever turned around, and keep realising things anew. I do think its my fault that i stayed, i know you say average is 11 years and so i'm a it under average with that, but it was there at the start, the things i gave him the benefit of the doubt for and already starting to doubt myself.

Thank you all

OP posts:
sugarcoatedthorns · 04/06/2014 20:32

badger said about mentally ill.. because I do very smart all week, very smart, i like to slob, i like my slouchies and thick socks, baggy jumpers and so on, you get the picture. He called me 'care in the community', he thought it was very funny -again (ho hum)

He IS so funny Hmm

OP posts:
FantasticButtocks · 04/06/2014 20:33

Have you got a plan taking shape?

MintyCoolMojito · 04/06/2014 20:46

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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