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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

Live abroad and feel resentful of husband since baby was born

17 replies

Lonelymumabroad · 11/09/2017 05:58

I'm posting here because I feel like I have no one I can turn to. I can't tell my mum because she will worry so much.

I live abroad in an Asian country, and am married to a man native to this country. We've been together 7years and our first baby is four months old. I have a few friends where we live but they are not especially close. They all have families and I have known them all maximum of a year. (High expat turnover rate).

I suppose I want to know if I'm an unreasonable wife. I'd love advice. I feel so sad and alone. Every day I get up and see to the baby. He's a very good baby, eats sleeps well, has a great nature. I'm not sleep deprived. But I find the daily grind exhausting. My husband has recently finished his job and he's not working or looking for work. We are financially well off but that's due entirely to his family money.

He's thinking of starting a business but makes no strides towards it.

He stays up late playing computer games and drinking often, going to bed In the early hours. He wakes at midday every day, when I've been up for hours entertaining the baby and doing chores. He has to be asked over and over to do anything. He never offers. Even feeding the baby in the evening I have to suggest he does it. He will never refuse but he often says no if I phrase it like 'do you want to' instead of 'it's your Turn'. He loves the baby and plays with him well enough but it's always when I've nudged him to do it.

I have spoken to him countless times about how I feel alone,that I do everything, that he never takes initiative. I've cried and he always says sorry and says he will change. He does for a few days. And then it's back to square one.

I miss my mum and family so much it physically hurts and sometimes I fantasize about leaving him and going back home. I'm scared I'm falling out of love with him. We hardly ever have sex. This makes me feel awful too, because I'd like to.

I get so frustrated I shout and swear at him which makes him angry at me. I hate myself for using abusive language. I've told him before his business will never amount to anything because he's too lazy. He retaliated by saying my hobby - something I adore and have worked very hard at - will also fail. This hurt me so deeply. I said what I said about his business 'plan' b cause it doesn't exist. He just talks vaguely about his ideas he has never tried to apply himself to it. I have spent years on my hobby and I know I'll likely never been successful with it. But at least I try?

I feel like our marriage is Bringing out the worst in me. I keep reading relationship advice but what's the point when only one of us seems to care or think it's bad? I want to love him and make it work. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be so bad if we weren't so far from my family and so close to his, who can be very suffocating at times.

I'm sorry this is so long. I wish I had someone that to confide in. I often think of leaving him with the baby for the day but I feel so guilty for my baby. Husband just leaves him to scream while he's playing his game. I don't know what to do. I'm crying as I type it because it all sounds so awful.

OP posts:
Nowifi · 11/09/2017 06:13

Go home to your family. You sound lonely and depressed and your husband isn't showing any interest in your child. I would be out of there! Xx

annandale · 11/09/2017 06:20

I would arrange a long visit to your mum (as long as she will have you - three months?) Don't make any huge decisions until you see what it's like in different circumstances. Though I would get legal advice.

It sounds like your hobby is actually a job/business? Start calling it that.

Sukitakeitoff · 11/09/2017 06:22

You poor thing Sad

FWIW I felt very lonely during my first maternity leave and that was in the UK! Small babies aren't much company but it does get better.

Unfortunately I don't think you can just leave and return to the UK with your baby without your husband's agreement. Does he know how unhappy you are? Might he agree to move back to the UK with you for a while to see if things improve?

StevieNicksMirage · 11/09/2017 06:24

You need to book a holiday back home with your family to give yourself time and space to work things out. Being a new mum can be so isolating and, speaking from personal experience, it doesn't improve with time unless you have the support system you need

needtimewithwineandlesswhine · 11/09/2017 06:34

I think the advice above is sound - go home for an extended holiday - you sound miserable and you are NBU by doing this as he's well aware that your miserable and not doing anything about it - this may give you both the space you need to refocus in what the future holds - you will have support and friendship again, he will have time out to miss you and appreciate what he has perhaps?

Having a small baby tests even the strongest of relationships (personal experience - now have 2 dc and a happy marriage whereas before I was visualising being a single mum) and men in general can be very frustrating with their lack of awareness that shit needs done.

Isetan · 11/09/2017 07:43

I think posters are using 'extended holiday' as code for go home permanently which to be clear, if the Asian country you are living in is a signatory to The Hague Convention, then you'd need your H's consent to permanently stay in the U.K. The process for returning an abducted child (a child permanently removed from their habitual residence without permission from the other parent or the courts), to the country of their habitual residence is relatively straightforward.

What was your H like before the pregnancy and if he was just as unmotivated now as he was then why did you expect him to change?

I think you need to think about the viability of your relationship long term (I doubt he turned into a lazy selfish man overnight) and therefore you need to be honest with yourself as to the likelihood of him and your relationship being different. Resentment kills relationship and it rarely goes away of it's own accord.

Lonelymumabroad · 11/09/2017 08:02

Thanks for the responses. To be clear I would never just take my child and leave him unless I was in danger and it's nothing like that. I wouldn't do that to him as it would be cruel and would cause huge amounts of trouble. I do love him.

I would say his behaviour started on this track during the pregnancy. I had a lot of trouble sleeping at night and so he started sleeping in the spare room, ostensibly to allow me a better nights sleep. I used to sleep with a large body pillow. On those nights he stayed up late playing games and drinking quite often.

His behaviour has gotten worse since he stopped working a month ago. At least he had a reason to get up in the mornings then. I didn't feel resentful of dealing with daily life and chores as I was the SAHM. now he's at home I expected him to help out as he always said he would.

We are going home for a vacation later this year but we are going together. I sort of wish I was going alone with the baby. I worry the trip will cause me to miss home even more and make us argue. I know my parents are a bit Concerned about how lazy he is. He's not a self starter and before I met him I was hugely self motivated. I still can be. I feel sad when I see people saying their husband makes them a better person. I know I can't blame him for my own failings. But I feel like I'm not the same person I was since we got married and had a baby.

OP posts:
welshweasel · 11/09/2017 08:06

Are you able to work in the country where you live? If he's not going to get off his arse and get another job then maybe you could? I found looking after a newborn insufferably dull and that was in the UK with a helpful husband and plenty of friends.

Lonelymumabroad · 11/09/2017 08:10

Yes I have worked here many years. I'm thinking of going back to it soon if I'm able to get childcare. It's not looking after baby so much, I actually love that. He's a total pleasure to me. It's more the never ending saga of me asking him to something over and over and over again and it often not getting done so I have to do it myself anyway. I have very little time for myself which I couldn't accept much better if he didn't seem to do what he wants all the time. We'd both have more hobby time if he helped out more.

OP posts:
splendidisolation · 11/09/2017 08:45

What's your hobby OP? Are you putting yourself down by calling it that?

SandyY2K · 11/09/2017 09:12

I know you want him to do more, but could you hire some help to give you a break, as money isn't an issue?

Perhaps letting him know that you're worried about the future of your marriage with the way things are.

Do you try and initiate sex?

Another thing is that there may be a cultural element to this. In some African and Asian countries, looking after the kids is still seen as the woman's role.

The man is seen as the provider

MissEliza · 11/09/2017 09:24

You poor thing. I also married my dh in his home country and had my first two children there. We now live in the UK. Those years were awful. I had no family or friends to give me support. I was really isolated and lonely. My dh was unsupportive of my feelings. We fought a lot and I think it did permanent damage to the relationship. We ended up back here due to dh's job thank god.
I hated dh's home country. I liked it when I was young and single but when I became a mum I appreciated how poor the quality of life was. Do you like the country you're living in? Is it just the marriage that makes you unhappy?
I think you really need either your parents to come for a nice long visit or you need to go home. However you may feel you don't want to go home and you need to have a think about what you'll do then.
While I see a lot of similarities between my feelings when ds1 was a baby and yours, at least I can say some of the pressures came because dh was trying to be a responsible father. He was trying to set up a business and had a major problem the week after ds was born. However your dh is behaving like a man child. He's living off his family and sits up playing computer games? WTAF. This concerns me.
Are you living in a very conservative country? Would it be conceivable for you to seek a divorce?

Windytwigs · 11/09/2017 11:02

I think you're just going to have to work on making him step up as a dad. Can you leave DC with him for an extended period of time with instructions? At the moment he's getting away with being a lazy arse and he's not suddenly going to step up of his own accord. If he's not working you should be doing 50/50.

Lonelymumabroad · 12/09/2017 06:39

To answer a few questions - he's weird about money. Like today he is going to pick up a new phone that costs over 600 pounds but he's funny about buying new suitcases which we need.

I do initiate sex - not that often - I still feel bad about my body and I'm tired a lot but it's always me who initiates.

My hobby is writing. I have two degrees related to writing, one of which I worked on while holding down a job and which has since allowed me to get further and better employment. For this reason I see it as something a bit more than his business dream, to be honest. I haven't had much time to devote to it for a long while.

He always said I would come first but increasingly I find myself coming second to his family. I do love him but I can feel myself falling out of love with every disappointment and broken promise. I feel like I'm fighting for it while He just doesn't seem to think it's that bad. His approach is to stick his head in The sand, wait for me To calm down after a row and then resume as normal. It's grinding away at me.

I think often of getting up early and going out leaving him with he baby but then I just think where will I go? And likely I'll just come home to a big pile of stuff that needs doing.

I'm embarrassed because it feels like such a cliche and I used to sit in smug judgement of other foreign wives in our community who were so unhappy because they had shit marriages. I never thought I'd end up being one of them. I'm ashamed and frustrated with it all.

OP posts:
CPtart · 12/09/2017 06:57

Will you be expected to care for his parents too as they become old and frail? Not wishing to generalise or be doom and gloom but IME of Asian families the wifes did all the 'caring' of young and old whist the men did...well not a lot sometimes. It may be very difficult to overcome cultural attitudes and expectations, especially living in his home country.
He doesn't sound great tbh. You sound like an intelligent woman. I would make sure your contraception is watertight for the time being and take some of the suggestions above.

Gindingaling · 12/09/2017 16:05

You sound very familiar. Have you posted two threads recently under two different names?

But that aside - your baby is still young enough for you to go. Once they are older you will never get away. More and more countries are signing up to the Hague Convention.

Have you heard of the Lacey Plato? Perhaps you should have a read up on her situation.

Gindingaling · 12/09/2017 16:07

Sorry just to add Im very happy in the country I came to with my local husband 40 years ago even though Im now on my own after a lifetime together.

things will get harder the older your child gets. You need to go now if you're going.

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