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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

Terrible situation, I'm not blameless, but advice please

124 replies

Jamesrsl · 07/10/2017 23:38

Hello

I no longer love my wife, though I have enormous affection, respect, & concern for her. We've become more distant over the last 2 years, argue endlessly over petty things. We're both apologetic, but I think we're at the end.

Separately, I met someone earlier this year. We worked together very closely for one project that's now over. We had an EA, and kissed, once. We then stopped. Every so often we've spoken, but it's been over for several months. We stopped, because I felt terribly guilty, and I wanted to make my marriage work. Also, within days of our kissing, I discovered my wife was pregnant. She's due in February.

I have tried. I think I have been patient & supportive. But I continue to have feelings for the person I had an affair with, & the marriage has continued to slide. The moments of respite have gone from rare to almost nonexistent, and deep down I know it's over.

But obviously, it's not just us now. So the question is timing. I still care for my wife enormously. I know the baby is vulnerable to stress during pregnancy, & will need A LOT of care at first. Do I make a clean, honest break now? Or do I wait, help through pregnancy, and get say a year down the road, knowing my wife is as set up as she can be? I want her to be happy. I want to provide for her & our child as much as I can & I'll do that either way. In short, is it better to live a lie for a bit, to help her & our baby through the next stage?

For completeness: I would want to be with the person I had an affair with, but would hold back until I left, and - despite what I want - would make clear I wouldn't expect them to wait if they couldn't.

OP posts:
Teddy7878 · 08/10/2017 07:05

I very much doubt the OW is going to want you when you leave your wife and new baby. She might say now that she'll want you, but when cold hard reality hits she'll probably run a mile from what she'll see as too much baggage.
Don't leave your wife while she's pregnant. Wait a few months until after the baby arrives and then tell her the truth. You really should have been wearing a condom if you were continuing to use her for sex

mathanxiety · 08/10/2017 07:10

You need to be honest with her right now, and give her the option of making her own decisions.

Do not taint the experience of birth for her by being present, participating in those very intimate hours and the early days of parenthood. Discovering that you were hedging your bets at that time would devastate her.

You need to give her back her dignity. You owe her that. Dignity involves having the information she needs to make the choice that is right for her.

If she chooses to let you go, make sure you give a truly fair and generous maintenance amount to your child and do not even think about the minimum. Pay on time and do not jerk her around.

I say 'if she chooses to let you go' because she might ask you to go to counselling. Are you willing to go?

I agree with those who say you need to assess what you mean by 'love'.

"I'm not blameless" gets the boiled sweet for Understatement of the Year.

The baby "will need A LOT of care at first" is comedy gold.
The baby will need a LOT of care until he or she is in school full time, and after that will need substantial help getting through each day until he or she is a teenager.

Ploppie4 · 08/10/2017 07:15

Leave her now. Tomorrow. She is entitled to get on with her life. How selfish of you to keep her in limbo and not allow her time to adjust. Leaving now means she has 5 months to get to terms with things before needing to mother and care for her child. Pregnancy is generally much much much easier then having a new born. You would be an even bigger dick leaving her when she has a new born baby in her hands and is sleep deprived. Leaving someone when they are in the thick of having a new born is the worst thing you could do. In theory she should be concentrating on the newborn but if you leave next year she will instead be in complete emotional turmoil while worrying about finances.

supersop60 · 08/10/2017 07:19

Leave her now and give her chance to rebuild her life. Don't stay and make her live a lie - that's a shit idea.
Are you sure the baby is yours?........

Dsmummy · 08/10/2017 07:19

Pushing the extremely low opinion I have of you to one side....which is hard....
When that baby comes you are going to feel a kind of love you can’t imagine yet. And you’re already planning a broken home.
The only decent thing to do now is strap on a pair. Be straight up with your wife (poor poor woman) and tell her what you’ve done. She deserves a life not tainted by pathetic lies. You speak like you’re doing her a favour by staying for a bit Hmm
If the other woman is co tent to wait the duration of a pregnancy followed by another year where you would presumably still be intimate with your wife then she’s an absolute moron anyway.
She won’t wait that long with nothing from you anyway so I guess you’d have to be planning an affair.

Just grow up. Forget your willy and be honest with the woman that trusts you and is growing your child.

famousfour · 08/10/2017 07:23

Well now clearly 😒 What kind of person could spent the next year pretending to be part of a future that doesn't exist. I very much doubt she will be grateful when she realises after the fact.

Pengggwn · 08/10/2017 07:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pengggwn · 08/10/2017 07:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IrianOfW · 08/10/2017 07:54

Could I ask you some questions?

  1. If you were drifting apart why didn't you (either of you) do some paddling? Something is wrong so you just let it get worse. Why? O am wondering if we asked your wife if it wouldn't appear as if she was standing still and you were the only one drifting?

2.did the drift appear an impassable width of water only after you met the other woman?

  1. Why did you end the affair out of guilt if you weren't planning to do anything to fix your marriage. Waste of time!
  1. If you respect and admire your wife why don't you give her the facts and the chance for her to make a choice just like you have been doing. A marriage involves two people . You've been making decisions about its future unilaterally for long enough.

Btw you are not 'not entirely blameless' you are entirely too blame! All the things that have happened are down to your agency. Take responsibility and do something!

TaggieRR · 08/10/2017 07:57

Think OP had gone!

UserThenLotsOfNumbers · 08/10/2017 08:01

No didn’t think so.

SonicBoomBoom · 08/10/2017 08:03

"Terrible situation. I'm not blameless"

Snort.

Foundwantingalways · 08/10/2017 08:05

This makes me feel sick. I recently found out that my ex had been having an affair for nearly all of the two years we had been trying for a baby, and our dd was just a toddler. I cannot imagine how your poor, poor wife will feel. Do something decent for once and tell her yourself, don't string her along, don't minimise and for pitys sake don't try to to blame her in any way for your poor decision making and disgusting actions. She'll thrive without you, and I bet you know that.

AJPTaylor · 08/10/2017 08:09

i know of 3 men who left their wives whilst pregnant and/or with a tiny baby.
without exception their actions and reputation followed them around to this day- 15/20 years on. Bill Smith? oh yes, he was the tosser that left Susan pregnant and fucked off?
i would suggest growing the fuck up and thinking about what sort of man you are.

Justdontknow4321 · 08/10/2017 08:13

Leave now.

Ploppie4 · 08/10/2017 08:16

Don’t string her along what ever you do

Greycat11 · 08/10/2017 08:19

It's very hard when people don't know whether to congratulate you on your pregnancy or commiserate on you having been dumped by your husband.
I've no sympathy for your dilema, you can dress it up all you like and rewrite history to make yourself feel better. But you are despicable. End of.

ILoveMillhousesDad · 08/10/2017 08:20

Oh you poor baby. How terribly noble of you to be need advice from a forum of women about how not to treat your wife like a sack of shit.

Have an affair with that lovely woman om the side. You deserve it after all your heartache.

You must be so distant from your wife that your managing to have a baby together. It is almost unbelievable you managed that from such a distance Confused

Here's your OP retold.

'I fancy someone else. I was going to leave my wife who had no idea there was any issues in our marriage, but I fucked up and now she is having our baby. How can I not look like a fucking twat if I leave'

mogulfield · 08/10/2017 08:26

It’s probably too late for this BUT... marriages take work. You don’t stay in love with someone without lots of effort (I’ve found). Love is a verb and I make the choice every day to be in love and try and show love to my husband (as does he to me). We’ve been through rough patches, but we know we can get through them with effort on both parts and making the choice to stay together.
I see so many threads on here where they say ‘we drifted apart’, well what the hell did you do about it? Does your wife agree? Or do you just feel it?

What’s to say the same won’t just happen again with this new woman? Because I imagine at some point you did love your wife, she did make you happy and you did think you would spend your life with her.

W0rriedMum · 08/10/2017 08:27

If your OW decided she would have nothing to do with you, would you still leave? I think that's the real q here.

Your wife deserves better of course.

BigApple11 · 08/10/2017 08:33

Oh diddums. Poor you. Hmm

daisychain01 · 08/10/2017 08:42

I find it very distasteful posters asking “are you sure the baby is your’s?”

Come on! Not only is this poor woman having this arsewipe’s baby when he’s plotting to tell her he’s buggering off with his OW, but now she’s being accused of sleeping around! Really, give your head a wobble!

And to the PP who said It's the stupidity of getting her pregnant while this was going on!

Getting her pregnancy?? What is she, some inanimate brainless female now who has no ability for decision-making. No, she was probably under the illusion her DH was in it for the duration in that quaint thing called a marriage.

daisychain01 · 08/10/2017 08:43

Getting her pregnant

Mix56 · 08/10/2017 08:49

Despicable behaviour, using your wife for unprotected sex knowing that you have checked out.
I expect you will live a long unhappy life, moving on to the next victim each time you get bored.
Please tell your wife today, let her grieve & move on asap. You are a worthless specimen.

mumoseven · 08/10/2017 08:53

My favourite saying is dusted off and ready to deploy.
Ready?
I'd call you a cunt, but you lack both the warmth and the depth.