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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

Don't Know what to do

40 replies

Sonicgirl · 08/03/2016 13:08

Really sorry if this is a rambling message but I'm at my wits end. I have a son who is nearly two and my relationship with my dh is driving me insane and its very difficult to put it all down. In essence - our son was planned. However apart from 2 scans and booking appt i went to all other appts and scans alone - i had a complicated pregnancy. He drive me to work in the mornings but public transport took over an hour and there was no parking for me. I brought all the baby kit and organised everything for our arrival.
As for the birth - i had in induction, hyperstim and shoulder dystocia - he brought a coffee on the way when i called him even though i was 7cm and vomiting whilst on the phone. My ds when to the neonatal unit after but he only stayed with me one night as he moaned that he was tired and the reclining chair was uncomfortable. After I couldn't breast feed but he couldn't understand why this upset me so much. He got annoyed when I had to get him to run me to the docs to get antibiotics for a UTI.
During mat leave he worked late every night, I paid for practically everything for my ds and he gave me no money. I often got asked what I had done all day. He would shout at me if I was grumpy about the lack of support (he has never got up in the night for my son), he would shout and wake my ds up so i tried really hard to just put up with it.
We had decided when I was pregnant that he would be a SAH dad was i earn more and i've nearly finished my training as a junior doc. However the lack of support and lack of sleep (I was only getting 3-4 hours a night when my ds was 14 months old despite help from sleep consultants) meant i took a period of sick leave. A psych diagnosed me with depression - mainly secondary to my domestic situation. My dh said I was skiving and did more freelance work. When I eventually went back to work his work took precedence and I took days off if my ds was sick. My DH refuses relationship counselling.
I have no social life apart from play dates. I did go out for a soft drink for an hour when my ds was 6 wks old and I came back to find him secretly drinking in the connecting garage drinking and fixing his bike whilst my ds was left in a hot room without any monitor on. I have been to the gym once and he drank whilst i was there and shouted because i got back late because i walked home slowly with my friend and chatted and forgot to let him know.
He works mainly from home. Drinks over 10 unit of alcohol a night and I often have to come and fetch him because he was fallen asleep at his deal watching a film. He hasn't touched me since our ds was born.
He shouts if i get grumpy and has smashed by belongings in the past when cross.
I stay because I think of our wedding day and how things used to be, because like today he is doing the washing for once and got my son dressed and to nursery whilst I am writing reports because i was ill in the night. He cooks - albeit what he wants and really late. My ds adores him and he adores my son. Plus really stupidly I want another baby - desperately but realise the situation is not right at the moment. Plus I feel guilty because many years ago when I used to get back from work in dangerous places he couldn't care less - he gave me little attention. I used to find gay porn on our computer if I got back early. so I did have a few minor dalliances years before my DS was conceived (kisses with colleagues). this probably makes little sense and really is a snippet of what's going on and of course I know there are two sides to every story.

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 08/03/2016 16:28

He is an abusive man and you need to remove him from your life. Do not do joint Relate counselling with an abuser.

Find a way to end it. This dynamic is damaging your child.

NameChange30 · 08/03/2016 16:36

I think your psych was terrible Confused You're in an abusive relationship, you had bad enough depression to be signed off work, you have a history of being abused as a child... And the psych just told you to go to fucking Relate?! Angry You need proper therapy and support from WA or local equivalent.

Please call Women's Aid, OP.

springydaffs · 08/03/2016 18:11

The excellent and appropriate official line is to not go to relationship counselling with an abuser. I did and I'm still traumatised by it and probably will be for the rest of my life.

Anyway, sorry to be dramatic. What concerns me is he could apply for full custody as he had previously been a SAHD.

He is a vile little toad, a nasty abuser. Do take the blinkers off - your wedding day was him on his best behaviour (a cover?). I'm sorry to be blunt but I wonder if that's what it will take to get you to see there is no hope for this relationship. You also want to get your son out before he learns too much from his dad.

Do the Freedom Programme - it is better to attend the sessions (please don't think the women there are from a lower class who are being beaten senseless, you will meet women just like you: domestic abuse is no respecter of class).

As a doctor you can get work anywhere and i'd consider a move - perhaps wait for the tenancy to end. It's not fair to have to be the one to move but perhaps this is what it's going to take. I'd be very concerned about your H having a lot of access to your son.

When you're straight (ie you've got rid of the loser) get into counselling to resolve your childhood experiences. It's surprising how that shit carries forward - as you have seen Sad

See a lawyer asap and get the ball rolling. You have enough documented evidence that your H is a leech.

springydaffs · 08/03/2016 18:14

A leech as well as an abuser.

springydaffs · 08/03/2016 18:15

Aren't all the junior doctors heading off to Oz for a better deal...

Sonicgirl · 08/03/2016 19:12

Springydaffs - he never actually did much sahd duties - a few days max then it all went wrong. So I don't actually think he will have much to go on there and has been working fairly consistently since. I have consulted a lawyer a couple of times - the first was very much that we would have to have equal access. The second (a man) seemed to think I had a real case for being the main care giver. I've also made sure what little savings I have are in my name or my son's. In terms of going to the group I'm looking into that now - there is one fairly close by that has a crèche. I do really appreciate everybody's advice

OP posts:
Marchate · 08/03/2016 19:46

In your career as a doctor you will meet far too many women who have been abused, physically and psychologically

Whether you work in general practice or in hospital, your sad personal experience means you will notice the signs. Not all healthcare professionals do, even if they have attended a training course

Sonicgirl · 08/03/2016 19:51

Marchate - unforunately it seems it is very difficult to recognise the signs when it is happening to you. Even now I feel doubtful like maybe I'm just a cow to live with. The shouting over me is just because I'm annoying. That maybe I'm going made when he says I got it all wrong

OP posts:
Marchate · 08/03/2016 20:37

I agree, it's ridiculously difficult to notice the signs in your own relationship. But you quickly realise those men are not as clever as they think. They follow the instruction book to the letter. Consequently you see the signs in other relationships because you acquire spidey sense

Marchate · 08/03/2016 20:43

In The Archers this evening Helen burned the dinner, despite setting the timer correctly. Because (we assume) her gaslighting husband changed it

You think you are going mad because he is following the script. Retrospectively it's obvious. In the throes of it, you feel stupid, forgetful, confused.... You must be mad because he's planting seeds of doubt in your mind. He has to make you think you'd never manage without him

Read the Lundy Bancroft book. It's an eye opener

iyamehooru · 08/03/2016 20:48

Maybe he won't go to relate because he is gay and doesn't want to admit it and that's why he's drinking.

Please don't have another baby with him.

I hope,you find the strength to build a life without him.

Sonicgirl · 08/03/2016 20:59

He's definitely following his manual tonight - after saying he could look after our beautiful boy tomorrow he denied saying he could at 5pm - left me trying to find cover as I have a presentation tomorrow at work and then denied ever saying he couldn't look after ds!!!??? He then got angry when I explained that wasn't what he said and started shouting. He's now done his usual by going down the pub without saying he was going out! Tbh - it's getting boring!

OP posts:
Sonicgirl · 08/03/2016 21:07

And no iyamehooru I won't be having another baby with him. But I am so desperate to have another child, my ds is my everything.

OP posts:
NameChange30 · 08/03/2016 21:50

In that case you need to focus on getting the support you need to get this poisonous man out of your life, for your son's sake if not your own. He needs his mother to be ok. And his awful excuse for a father not to be around.

springydaffs · 08/03/2016 22:34

That's why the Freedom Programme is so good - it cuts through the brainwashing and in record time you get the clarity to see clearly what is going on. And, crucially, it's not your fault ; that you are being abused. I'm so glad to hear you're planning to go - I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

Also so glad to hear he only did a few days sahd duties - phew! I think you need to build a case to prove he should only have supervised access (he'll soon lose interest in that - IF he turns up to supervised access at all). So, keep a (retrospective and ongoing) diary to document events like today ; leave nothing out.

And hunt around for a lawyer you feel gets this and will adequately fight your corner. Many lawyers offer a free first half hour (so you can get a feel for them) - and, as an aside, he will not be able to get representation from any firm you have seen so visit as many as possible .

Be brave: needs must in all this. You are doing the best for your boy in the long run even though it's hard to see that now. H is a nasty piece of work - easy for us to see with our spidey senses! Bcs we've been there and come through all the doubt and brainwashing to see it for what it is: abuse.

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