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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

There has been a terrible misunderstanding with DH, but do I really deserve to be treated like this?

164 replies

NotBurpeesAgain · 20/06/2018 07:32

In September last year I unexpectedly fell pregnant. I dreaded telling DH (he had always been adamant that 3 DCs were more than enough), but he was positive about it, saying that it would "at last bring some joy in this family".
I lost the baby in January, at 18 weeks. At the time, DH said a few horrible things that I try to forget (such as "how long do you think it is going to take for you to move on to something else?")

A couple of weeks later I told DH that I wanted to try for another baby, because I did not want our family story to end with a tiny coffin.
When we started having sex again, he did not use condoms a single time, so I though we were letting nature take its course and he wanted another child too. I got pregnant in late March.
In May, DH called me at work. He was incensed because he had been through my Amazon buying history and discovered I had bought pregnancy tests in February. He told me he never wanted another child, that I had tricked him.
He has not spoken to me since.
He refused to come to the scans.
I am not allowed to tell anyone, even my family, about the pregnancy.

I have been thinking a lot and I have recently realised that I cannot remember the last time he said something nice to me, smiled at me, or kissed me or even touched me except when he wanted sex.

I admit I should have talked to him more about having a fourth child, but can he really absolve himself from all responsibility in this pregnancy when he had sex without any form of birth control for several months?

OP posts:
AngelsSins · 20/06/2018 14:24

He’s a weak, pathetic little man and you must get free of him. Marriage isn’t a slavery contract, you aren’t made his possession to torture and hurt. He’s broken his vows by treating you this way, and you are under no obligation at all to stay with him. In fact, I’d argue that you have a duty of care to your children to get away from him. This will not get better, don’t fool yourself in order to avoid what’s ahead. It will be hard, it will be painful, but you CAN do this.

Tambien · 20/06/2018 14:38

I would also advise to talk to work colleagues.
Yes it will allow you to get some support. But also it will give you a ‘trace’ that things have been bad and your H totally unreasonable.

French people like paperwork and proofs. I suspect he knows that too.

CaMePlaitPas · 20/06/2018 14:47

I should say that if you are close to Paris please message me, you are not alone and you can get out of this abusive marriage.

AsleepAllDay · 20/06/2018 14:54

Can we make a list in one post of French people on this thread with usernames and location, so that OP can see them in one place and know who to contact depending on where she is?

So: xx - Paris

And so on

AsleepAllDay · 20/06/2018 15:02

@CaMePlaitPas - Paris
Jebbs - near Tours
@TheMonkeyMummy -Haute Savoir
@Holrosea - ile de France
@Frustratedfrenchie -France (unspecified)
@AuldAlliance - France (unspecified)
@LuMarie - Paris

ALL of these people have said to message them & that they will talk to you, help in ways they can

AsleepAllDay · 20/06/2018 15:02

@Jebbs - sorry didn't add the at

TheMythOfFingerprints · 20/06/2018 15:12

As tempting as it is to stop cooking for this utter bastard, I don't think it's advisable tbh.
Women are so much more at risk when the man realises or suspects that their wife/partner has had enough.

hididdlyhoneighborino · 20/06/2018 15:20

Agree with TheMyth and thought this earlier in the thread- dont stop cooking or do anything to rouse suspicion

Friendlyoldwasp · 20/06/2018 15:20

Oh my goodness OP this is the saddest post I’ve read on here in a long time. You must leave the utter pig, don’t let him suspect what you are doing, be brave, do it for your children. You can do this.

Frustratedfrenchie · 20/06/2018 15:23

I am 30 mins from Angouleme.

AuldAlliance · 20/06/2018 15:26

@CaMePlaitPas - Paris
@Jebbs - near Tours
@TheMonkeyMummy -Haute Savoie
@Holrosea - ile de France
@Frustratedfrenchie -France (unspecified)
@AuldAlliance - Provence
@LuMarie - Paris

I thought OP said she was in Paris, but I am a bit out of it...

AuldAlliance · 20/06/2018 15:28

@CaMePlaitPas - Paris
@Jebbs - near Tours
@TheMonkeyMummy -Haute Savoie
@Holrosea - ÃŽle de France
@Frustratedfrenchie - nr Angoulême
@AuldAlliance - Provence
@LuMarie - Paris

animaginativeusername · 20/06/2018 15:34

Please leave the home as soon as possible, but not the country. Awaiting your update

animaginativeusername · 20/06/2018 15:35

I absolutely love and appreciate how mumsnetters are their to help each other. This is truly why this space is so valuable

SandyY2K · 20/06/2018 15:58

It's great to see how all the MN ladies in France are offering help/support. OP .... please please reach out to them for the sake of your children if nothing else.

LuMarie · 20/06/2018 16:47

OP

  • I'm upset over x..... describes abuse..... I don't have support or friends

All females in France reading

  • Hi, you do now
NotBurpeesAgain · 20/06/2018 17:23

I am overwhelmed by all the kindness and support on this thread - thank you so much.
I told my mother about the pregnancy. I asked her not to mention it to DH yet, telling her he is having a hard time adjusting to it. I am not ready yet to give her more details. I will call my father tonight (my parents are divorced).

My exact location would be too outing. We live in a very remote place. The nearest major city is Lyon.

I called the lab to ask about my blood test results. Everything that could affect the baby is perfectly fine, but my file was put aside for extra scrutiny because my white cells are too low. According to the lab technician, it can be a consequence of acute stress...

DCs are 11, 8 and 5.
DC1 is very much aware of the abuse and will sometimes look at me with a "WTF" look on his face when DH says something rude about me.
DC2 worships him but often comes to me and repeats what he tells them when I am not there (I am lazy, I don't do anything around the house, I spent all my time on the computer, the only thing I am good at is eating and I am making the DCs fat).

I am going to log out now in case DH comes home early, but I should be able to come back tomorrow.

OP posts:
NotBurpeesAgain · 20/06/2018 17:25

(oh, and please, can I ask you not to tag me on this thread, because it sends a link to my e-mail)

OP posts:
Singlenotsingle · 20/06/2018 17:31

What happens when the baby's born? Won't you be allowed to tell anyone even then?

TheWitchwithNoName · 20/06/2018 17:39

OP, I’m sure you can turn that option off?

AuldAlliance · 20/06/2018 19:51

OP, depending on where you are in relation to Lyon, I may not be all that far.
I'm a 3hr drive south of Lyon.
And I have a phone and e-mail Wink.
If you want to message me and have a chat, let me know.

This isn't right.
Admitting it is a huge first step.
If I can help with what comes next, whatever that may be, I'd be glad to do so.

I know how hard it is to end a marriage when you're so far away from family and home and your kids are counting on you.
I couldn't have got through the past months and years without an amazing network of friends and it sounds as though you have been deliberately deprived of that.

AsleepAllDay · 21/06/2018 13:17

Sending you all the good wishes and luck in the world OP Thanks

Motoko · 22/06/2018 11:38

Are you ok OP?

Jebbs · 22/06/2018 13:17

Hope things are ok and that you now also have the support of your two parents x

NotBurpeesAgain · 23/06/2018 11:14

Hi everyone.
My parents are very happy for me and I have decided to start wearing pregnancy clothes (I have been squeezing myself in normal trousers for weeks, but this is my fifth pregnancy and of course I am showing already).

DH decided a few days ago to go to Paris to see his estranged father who has a terminal disease.
For days he has been refusing to tell me what time his train was (I was trying to organise the day to be able to drop him off). His answers were that it is "none of my business" and that he "can never rely on me anyway". That is typical of him : he won't give information, refuses offers of help, and then in his mind it becomes my fault for being "unreliable".
I have been reminding him for days to check about the train strikes. He didn't.
At 10 this morning I checked the train website and saw that all the "local" trains for the first part of his journey were cancelled. I managed to discover that his TGV was at 12. I tried to find a solution but he kept telling me to stop talking. In about 30 seconds I managed to find a coach that could take him to Lyon. He got angry at me because I could not explain to him exactly where the coach stop was. Then he flounced off without saying goodbye to me or to the DCs.
I sent him a text to ask him if he made it but he is still to answer.

Sorry about the long story but that is typical. He did not even ask me if I minded looking after the DCs on my own this weekend (I have 82 exam papers to mark). Yet I am the "unreliable" one.
I am never allowed to know about his plans, but yesterday he "grilled" me about my timetable. He never, ever asks me how my days was, except on unusual days like yesterday (I had to go to a distant city to pick my exam papers). He asks me dozens of questions very quickly, often repeating the same questions, because he is trying to "catch" me lying about my whereabouts.
He also wanted my mother to come for the night, because of course I cannot be trusted if he is not at home. Does he really think I am going to throw an orgy as soon as he has his back turned?

I am so tired.

OP posts: