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my DH died last week. what do i do now

240 replies

lickingstars · 12/10/2014 18:23

I am lost, I don't know why I am posting. Probably because I need someone to talk to.

My DH died last week it was a stroke well a few of them and then he was gone. Within 48 hours just gone.
I have two DCs with him Dd2 (4) and DS(6) and my DD1(12) from a previous relationship. But he treated DD1 like his own and she calls him dad because her own dad (my exhusband) is a dick who we haven't seen for 2 years.

I am trying to make life as normal as possible DD2 is still going to school because she wants too and because for her because she is so young it isn't affecting her in the same way yet. DS went to school for two days because he wanted to but broke down on the third day and hasn't been back. DD1 hasn't been to school since and I haven't been to work because the DCs need me but it is so hard keeping it together in front of them. I just want to lie on his side of the bed and cry.

Then today DS came with a conker and he wanted a hole drilled in it to put string in it like DH does and I tried to do it even though I didn't know how and I should have told him to take it to FILs and he would have done it. But I tried and I cocked it up like an idiot and he cried and I said sorry and he said its okay mummy you didn't mean to. But he was still crying then I cried. Then he hugged me wiped my tears and said I will look after you now mummy I promise.

He is six and he shouldn't need to say that to me but he did and it was so sweet it broke my heart.

And DD1 said yesterday that she wishes that her biological father had died instead because DH was her real dad and he was a good dad to her and it wasn't fair.

Then their is the funeral and I don't know if the younger two should go or not and I have no one else to help me make the decision now. Part of me thinks it will be too upsetting for them and we should say goodbye and plant a tree or write letters or something but then I worry that they will hate me because they didn't get to go to the funeral.

I spoke to my friend today and told her how hard it was and she said I should think myself lucky as at least financially speaking I don't have to worry straight away because we payed off the mortgage last year and DH had life insurance. I told her I didn't feel very lucky and she got upset with me and said that she was trying to help.

OP posts:
Muchtoomuchtodo · 15/10/2014 21:44

Thinking of you licking

You and your dc sound lovely. I'm pleased that your family are so supportive and that school are being understanding. Forget the one friend who was so insensitive.

Tomorrow will be unbelievably tough I'm sure. Cry, cuddle, go with the flow. There is no right or wrong.

Lots of love
Xx

lickingstars · 15/10/2014 21:49

Thank you all.
I hope the DCs will be okay. I hope I am doing the right thing.

OP posts:
Singmetosleepzzz · 15/10/2014 21:51

I will be thinking of you all

Muchtoomuchtodo · 15/10/2014 21:53

You're doing what feels right, that's all you can do right now.
Xxxx

spiderlight · 15/10/2014 21:53

I just wanted to say that I'm so very sorry and I will be thinking of you all tomorrow.

EllieFredrickson · 15/10/2014 21:55

Lickingstars

I'll be thinking of you and your family tomorrow. Flowers

Not the same but DS died suddenly when my DD was nearly 7. She went to the funeral at the crematorium and based on my experience 7 years on I believe you are right to take the children to the funeral. DD says that she would have felt resentful now if she hadn't been able to go. I think it takes some of the fear out of the death too.

But be kind to yourself and go with whatever feels OK. I remember lots of last minute anxieties on the day and changes of mind.

Speak often of your DH, remember his sayings, the things he liked to do and he will be remembered and still be a part of who you all are.

Believe me it feels otherwise but you are doing great.

rhetorician · 15/10/2014 22:01

I am so sorry to hear of your DH's death, and for your lovely children too. I think I would have the children at the funeral; my father died suddenly when I was 8 (many years ago) and it was decided (no-one asked me) that I should go to school while the funeral took place. So I came home to a tidied up house that smelled of sherry. I think it would have helped me enormously in the long run if I had been there (and understood how much my father was loved, apart from anything else), and had had a chance to say goodbye, even if I might not have understood it fully at the time. Thinking of you; and yes, it is alright to cry with your children - it gives them permission to grieve too, whereas if you conceal if from them they might think that they are not allowed to be sad. Which will do them no good. Good luck.

wallypops · 15/10/2014 22:08

Hold in there sweetheart. Let the funeral and wake be part of the healing if you can. Remember no make up - because it isn't really that waterproof in my experience, and take a handbag full of tissues.

processedbeats · 15/10/2014 22:09

So sorry for your loss.

lickingstars · 15/10/2014 22:15

Thanks for the tips wallypops
I just hope that there are no major dramas on the day so we can focus on DH.
Big day tomorrow so I am going to bed now.
Thank you

OP posts:
northernlurker · 15/10/2014 22:17

You are absolutely right to take them. It's not just about tomorrow and how they cope then. The loss of their dad will be time that they remember for the rest of their lives. As they grow and look back at this time with adult eyes it needs to make sense to them and they will need to know that they had the opportunity to participate in this ritual. Sometimes people decide not to take dc to funerals and of course that's what seems right at that time and it's probably fine then - but for the adults those children will grow up to be there probably will be questions. It can be a bit of a 'hole' in your story as it sounds like it is for rhetorician. I honestly think you are doing the right thing and you may not feel that tomorrow but in the decades to come the kids will thank you for it.

rhetorician · 15/10/2014 22:47

yes northernlurker your advice is spot on, at least from the adult perspective of someone who was once a child in precisely this situation

exexpat · 15/10/2014 22:48

I'll be thinking of you all tomorrow. I hope it goes well.

ICantFindAFreeNickName · 15/10/2014 22:49

I will be thinking of you and your lovely children tomorrow xx

MaryBerrysLostCherry · 15/10/2014 22:55

My DMs DD died 60 years ago. She was 6. She wasn't allowed to go to the funeral. It still haunts her as her elder brothers were allowed. You are doing the right thing.

rhetorician · 15/10/2014 22:55

thinking of you all

ReallyAIBU · 15/10/2014 22:58

Thinking of you all, and wishing you lots of love and strength for tomorrow

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

3nonblondeboys80 · 15/10/2014 23:39

Thinking of you and your dc tomorrow x

AlfAlf · 16/10/2014 00:58

Thinking of you and your lovely family tomorrow xx
Let us know how it goes

ChishandFips33 · 16/10/2014 01:18

Thinking of you and your family today - your children are amazing and you are doing great in such awful times x

StickyProblem · 16/10/2014 07:04

Thinking of you all today xxxx

processedbeats · 16/10/2014 07:44

Thinking of you and your family today xxx

almapudden · 16/10/2014 07:52

Thinking of you all today, OP.

TheHouseatWhoCorner · 16/10/2014 07:57

Thinking of you today xx Thanks

Meerka · 16/10/2014 07:58

Thinking of you.