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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

I don't know what to do

981 replies

lollipop7 · 25/07/2017 23:34

I gave up a career and a good life miles away when I feel pregnant with a man I thought I was in love with.
He asked me to marry him, told me he would always ta,e care upon us, encouraged me to take redundancy and plough it into our life together.
I'm now pregnant with our third child and si trapped and unhappy.

I have no job, no money and apart from my mum nowhere to go.
He has decided I'm good enough to have children with but not in his exact words "good enough to marry"
My credit rating has been ruined by a case of mistaken identity delisted notes of satisfaction. He's had all my money as I believed him all these years.
Last year when out second child was six months old I left before we moved house. I discovered a series of message to his drinking friends and parents that I had PND and was mentally ill. None of which is true.
He begged Me for a final chance, promised me he'd get therapy and set up a Trust Deed to acknowledge my contribution,
A year on and nothing. He is worse than ever and thanks to being pressured for sex one night I am six months pregnant.
He was out mountain biking with a friend tonight and our son managed to open two safety gates and fall halfway down the stairs. When he Came back home he was sulking and said he was obviously fine. Then two hours later he accused me of actually throwing himself down the stairs to get him home early because I am unwell and jealous of him having a life.
There are so many things I could write here but I can't face committing them all to paper, suffice to say they revolve around emotional abuse such as disdain, lies, provocation, undermining and general nastiness. He is a control freak, he cuts of my housekeeping to pay for holidays he wants. He says there is no money for luxuries but buys himself cds and booze and clothes all the time. His family are blind to his faults and I frequently come across nasty little message so where I am described as grumpy and arrogant. He is disningeous and provocative in front of my friends and family. In short he is a total bastard.
It has got so bad now that I am actually prepared to leave with nothing apart from my children in my car. The only asset I have left. He has said he holds all the cards and that he now wants to contact my midwife to tell, her I am unfit. This is because I slapped his face tonight when he accused me of injuring our son.

I just need to get something down as it is let and I don't want him to hear me on the phone to friends or my mother or sister.

I have thought about women's aid but I don't know.
I have left four times and always have to come back for immunisations, antenatal appointments, school terms etc. I feel as though all the pressure is on me. I am brimming out resentment at the uphheaval and turmoil in mine and especially my children's lives and on top of it have to get ready to give birth in three months.

He hasn't been interviewed under caution for assaulting me one night, but acts as though I think never happened and told the police commiserated with him and laughed about my desperate behaviour.
I feel as though he is trying to drive me to suicide or madness.

Just some words of advice or reassurance or comfort would be appreciated.

I feel incredibly stupid, vulnerable and lost right now.

OP posts:
Neverknowing · 17/09/2017 09:46

Well done you're being so strong !
It seems to be getting slowly better for you and will continue to do so. I hope you're okay Flowers

Gemini69 · 17/09/2017 16:37

lolli... your doing the right thing.. it's hard exhausting days and nights your living.. but the light is at the end of this tunnel.. you're getting closer to the peace you so deserve Flowers

Apileofballyhoo · 17/09/2017 23:55

Lollipop you are doing so so well. You come across as so strong and determined. Your DS sounds like such a lovely loving boy with great emotional intelligence for such a small child, so you have obviously done a fantastic job of mothering him despite such terrible circumstances. Flowers

lollipop7 · 19/09/2017 14:03

So during yesterday's contact he demanded to know whether our son was still in nappies or pants and asked him to take his trousers down so he could see online. I put a stop to it but managed to record most of it and so it's fine to my solicitor who is horrorstruck.
The lengths to which he is prepared to go seem to know no bounds.

OP posts:
SonicBoomBoom · 19/09/2017 14:19

Even trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, I think that's quite inappropriate.

lollipop7 · 19/09/2017 14:46

@SonicBoomBoom I totally understand your benefit of the doubt angle, the way he demanded was so cruel and high handed. Our son looked very uneasy.
He treats the children like objects, and tbh I suspect the only reason for it was to try and paint me as failing in my parenting. Considering he rubbed a shitty nappy in his face in a blind rage when potty training was annoying him.

OP posts:
Idontmeanto · 19/09/2017 15:11

Keep going, lovely!

SonicBoomBoom · 19/09/2017 15:38

Considering he rubbed a shitty nappy in his face in a blind rage when potty training was annoying him.

Sad

What a horrible bastard. I feel for you OP, you're definitely right to say that there is no benefit of the doubt that should be given to him, and he's just flat out being abusive to him.

lollipop7 · 19/09/2017 17:20

@SonicBoomBoom sorry I wasn't being sarcastic when I said the benefit of the doubt angle. I can see that enquiring is one thing and he is his father so has that right. It was the way he did it; there was no warmth or pride that a little boy of his had done well with something it was humiliation and made him so uncomfortable.

It's such a difficult time 😓

OP posts:
NettleTea · 19/09/2017 20:57

that creature needs to be kept away from all children. he is a nasty nasty fucker

SonicBoomBoom · 19/09/2017 21:12

I know you weren't, lollipop, don't worry. I just meant I was trying to think of it in isolation, and yet it still seemed wrong.

BlossomCat · 19/09/2017 22:44

I've just read the full thread, you've come such a long way since July.

Well done for being a good mum and getting your boy away from a man who thinks that rubbing a toddlers face in a shitty nappy is acceptable behaviour. (I'm utterly gobsmacked at someone doing that)
You are doing so well for you, your children and your new baby. Flowers

lollipop7 · 20/09/2017 19:05

Organised some group sessions for my son today. They are for children who've been in fa jokes where abuse of any kind against themselves or a parent has been occurring. I think it will be good for him.

I've also had the date through for my CAFCASS phone interview which I am dreading. I am trying to stick to the focus being on how I am looking after the children plus the fact he's never had a full day never mind night looking after them on his own. I found a load of his old receipts in the car for shopping and every one of them had booze on. Not just s bottle of wine but litres of spirits and beer even sherry? I'm pregnant obviously he's drinking all this on his own.also bought him some that month as we were on holiday, I am going to raise my massive concerns over his drinking plus the fact when he was looking after our son and there was an incident that rehired a & e he didn't even phone 111. My HV confirmed their week they're not very impressed. I took him to hospital and he told me he'd called them it was a total lie.

I don't know if anyone has any specific advice about how to deal with this sort of thing. I know it's best to avoid slagging off your ex - that will be hard - but I have a lot to show in terms of inroads I've made into things and trying to stay calm. I will have to discuss the police allegations and have crime reference numbers as well as IO now so at least that's something.

It's all so hard though. My therapy starts on Monday and I am actually looking forward to it. Is that strange???

OP posts:
lollipop7 · 20/09/2017 19:06

Families not fa jokes.
Although it does feel like this has all bene one sick joke to him 😓

OP posts:
Winterskye · 21/09/2017 05:27

lolipop7

I am so sorry for what you are going through. If I may he sounds like a man I once knew. So much of what you wrote about sound like one with NPD.
I came across a man who writes about this particular disorder in depth, at first I thought it was my ex the accuracy was so close to what my life was like. I learned many ways in handling different situations and having children makes things even more difficult because it can't be cut and dry. His name is HG Tudor, his information is accurate and he has helped so many in the same situations.
I am only offering information that may help you in your situation.
You are in my thoughts in being able to get into a peaceful environment for yourself and your children, none of you deserve to be treated in the manor you have describe.

wannabestressfree · 21/09/2017 05:53

I think you are Amazing. If you need anything at all just pm. I was brought up with a father like that (there was four of us) and he was a nasty cruel man. I Remember being a teen and my dad hitting my mum whilst eight months pregnant with a wardrobe door. She kept screaming for me and I was so frightened I wet myself.
It never stopped until HE left her after 32 years- oh the irony.
I admire you so much. Brave lady.

micropig · 21/09/2017 07:04

Just read the whole thread and just wanted to say that you're doing amazing OP. You sound like an absolutely wonderful mother and CAFCAS will see that, don't worry.

Hope it all goes well. Flowers

CiderwithBuda · 21/09/2017 09:36

Hi lollipop- you are doing really well.

I would sit and writ down or type up all the instances you can think of where he has been abusive or negligent etc. Keep it factual. If you have all of your thoughts organised and down on paper you will hopefully be able to come across as calm and considered. If you're u have a time line and everything written down in front of you it should be easier.

The sessions for your DS sound good. And I'm sure you are looking forward to your therapy - it's another step forward.

flutterby12 · 21/09/2017 19:41

Keep going lollipop. Document everything. Keep the receipts. It sounds like you're doing so well. I hope you're getting the chance to rest with all this going on

Frouby · 25/09/2017 08:22

Keep going lovely lady. You are amazing and doing the very best for your dcs.

Your ex sounds like my stepfather. He is a vile, abusive bully as well as a paranoid schizophrenic. I remember in the 80s when I was about 6 or 7 being 'interviewed' by a couple of nice ladies about our mum. They asked what she was like when she had a drink of 'mucky beer'. Did she like the funny smelling cigarettes in a morning or just at night. Did she have many men friends.

She had left stepdad who had gone to ss and told them she was an alcoholic, smoked weed around us and was a prostitute to pay for it all.

I remember her climbing out of a tiny porch window to go to ndn to phone the police. I remember the police showing up while stepdad leant casually on one of those sledgehammers telling the police my mum was pissed again and he was protecting us from her.

I remember him bouncing her off a door repeatedly while she was 8 months pg.

He moved us away several times to isolate her. He financially, sexually and emotionally and physically abused her for years. She only left when he chased my younger sister up the road with a hammer.

The violence is easy to talk about but the insidious hate and abuse that was in that house is more difficult to articulate. I was 17 by the time she finally left him. Alcohol always made things worse and my mum would start shaking when he started drinking.

I am 40 now and can look back at these things as though they happened to someone else. I have never spoken to sd since. And for a lot of years resented my mum for staying for so long. I don't anymore. But it took until my own dd was born to even try and understand. And even now writing some of this down I think she should have left sooner. Or at least stayed gone when she did leave him.

You are doing an amazing thing for your dcs. No matter how hard it gets, how dirty he fights and how difficult he makes it for you don't do what my mum did and go back to him. She was properly left 3 times. Rehoused with me and my 2 sisters. And went back every time and had 3 more dcs. Which made it even harder to leave which is what he wanted.

Stay strong. He won't break you now. Flowers

lollipop7 · 26/09/2017 22:56

Sorry not been on for a while. Lots on my plate as always
@Frouby your story is heartbreaking. Your comment about the things that don't physically hurt being harder to talk about are so true. Thank You and others for as ways taking the time to write words of encouragement and offer such unswerving moral support.

So he's round.y abusing the internet chat intact he's been given, he's also now starting the charm offensive on me. I just shut down, it will never work. I see him on the screen telling our tiny children he loves mummy so much and just wants to hold us all and I try not to throw up. My feelings towards him are the equivalent of the Soviet Dearth policy in WW2.

First therapy session was hugely beneficial . Actually illuminating in terms of the responses of a professional. I cried - quite a lot - but she told me I exhibited enormous courage in the throes of such an ordeal as the one I am experiencing. I left feeling lighter.

The children are doing well. In fact they are thriving. Baby still transverse and a scare with reduced movements but he's wriggling away as I type now. For what felt like a terrifying minute or two at the hospital they couldn't find a heart trace on the monitor. I lay looking at the ceiling with tears rolling down my face but then they found him. The wave of relief is all I needed to feel to know that this baby is still my child, he is my children's sibling. He is our fresh start, for just the four of us. He's not damaged or hurt by any of this and that will help to heal us even more. I don't know if that makes sense I hope I have conveyed it in some way.

From somewhere hidden away inside me I am starting to find an inner strength and peace. Not every day is full of tears and fear anymore. I am starting to sleep at night and I laughed at Doctor Foster on to tonight. Proper laughing like I haven't in a long time. I'm eating a bit more again and cooked a nice meal for Mum and the other evening. I can read a book instead of family law horror stories. Not all is unutterably bleak anymore.

Perhaps someone quietly reading my thread who is where I was three months ago will take some comfort in part of my words. If they are I would only want to tell them that knowing in your heart of hearts you have done the right as well as the only thing will at some point start to carry you through.

OP posts:
Frouby · 27/09/2017 08:15

You are being so strong Flowers.

You will come through all this I promise. My mum did. Remarried eventually when we were all grown up and left home. She is widowed now sadly but has all of us around her and a gaggle of grand kids to keep her busy.

hellsbellsmelons · 27/09/2017 08:42

What a fantastic update.
It brought tears to my eyes.
The light is beginning to appear at the end of that dark tunnel and you and rushing towards it.
So pleased the baby is OK and you and the DC are getting through this.
Keep going.
Keep strong.
You are totally amazing!

CiderwithBuda · 27/09/2017 08:53

You are amazing. And don't forget it. You have done the right thing. And you will still have hard times. But you will get through them.

Frouby Flowers - for you and your mum.

flutterby12 · 27/09/2017 15:56

Lovely to hear from you Lollipop. Do you think you'll have a section for baby if he's transverse? Bless him - he's obviously too comfortable. My son was breech until 37 weeks and the turn was awful!

You are doing so well. You are so strong and you DC are so lucky to have you x

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