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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

OH sleeping with another woman.

171 replies

blackcoffeeinbed · 02/06/2019 20:05

So last year me and my OH had a break for a few weeks due to us both arguing a lot. I admit that at the time I did shut down towards him after having a miscarriage and things were strained. This from my perspective was a break, a breather from being on top of each other while we both had space to think. It never was discussed as being the end of our relationship, we still spoke daily and he was seeing our children most days. (I know it sounds very Ross and Rachel!!)

So after the 3 and a half weeks we both said that we weren't wanting to end our relationship and he came back home. We haven't argued since and definitely seem to be working off of the same page as each other compared to before so I would say that the break was successful for us. I'm very much in love with him, and I believe he does love me.

A couple of months ago, he sat going through his photos on his phone and went past one which looked like a screenshot of an email to do with a hotel booking for said place which was a considerable way away from where we live. It was amongst photos he was looking at from the time we were separated so this really got to me wondering what it was about. I questioned him and he said he went for a night out with some old friends and he'd booked a hotel to stay. Named the friends and swore he had stayed alone. He hadn't mentioned this at all at the time, as far as I knew he was at his mums.

I believed him at the time and put it to the back of my mind. A few weeks ago, he left his FB open on our laptop and when he was at work I did snoop basically with the thought of just finding something to clarify that he had been where he said he had been. I came across a msg from his ex gf he was with before we got together nearly 12 years ago... it was quite an emotional msg along the lines of how hurt she feels and how she doesn't understand why he's done what he's done and she still wants to be friends etc, she had sent it earlier this year, a long while after he had come home.

I questioned him about it and he said they had spoken and he just cut her off because he didn't want to continue speaking behind my back. Just to add while looking on his FB I found nothing to suggest he had been with these friends like he told me, no tags no pics nothing. After discovering the msg, things started to feel tense between us again we weren't arguing but there was distance. Last week the torment of it all really got to me and I msg'd this woman to ask why she had sent him that message.

She was brutally honest with me, that they had met at this hotel and had slept together. He apparently had discussed potentially having a relationship with her.

When I spoke with him about this he did admit it, he said he regretted it and it wasn't worth his time. He didn't really know why he went other than he was hurting and thought why not?! He said he instantly knew he had done the wrong thing and stopped having contact with her. With the situation at the time I don't really know if it is considered cheating or not, but either way it really hurts. I can't stop picturing him with this woman, and him touching me makes me feel sick. I'm trying to let it go but in my head it's consuming me that he has done this. I don't think I fully understand but I don't want to keep questioning him and picking at it, I don't want to drive him away so he could do it again. I am currently 23 weeks pregnant, all I want is for my family to be together and for us to be happy, I want to forgive him and move on.

Anyone else been through this and forgiven there OH? Is it possible? Will the torment ever stop? I can't stop crying, I've barely eaten, my children are picking up on how emotional I am too. I thought at the time we had done the best thing for us and our family but now it feels like the worst decision I ever made.

OP posts:
blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 21:58

Thank you for the supportive responses, The STI conversation we had today has really got to me. His response to the situation so far he has seemed quite upfront and honest about things, he's come across as though he knows he's made a massive mistake and regrets it. But today I feel like he's just avoiding the fact he has potentially put me at risk. I said to him if he had of been honest in the first place I could of gotten checked before I fell pregnant!! Part of me wonders if he's even thought about it until I've brought it up today, he was so dismissive of the idea like I was just being stupid. Since that conversation he has been pretty quiet.

I have to go to our local sexual health clinic in the morning. I think it's going to be the most embarrassing moment of my life. It's wound me up a lot thinking about it today, I've been feeling pretty angry, though I have managed to keep a cap on that.

I know why some of you think that I should be asking for passwords and log ins for all of his things but I feel like doing that will just give me the means to keep looking at everything and I won't let it go. I don't want to torment myself looking for nothing, I hope that would be the case anyway. I feel if we have any way of getting back to where we were a few weeks ago then we should be trying to carry on as normal.

I'm still constantly thinking about him with her, i keep looking at her fb and her photos asking why? Trying to see what was so good about her to make it worth the heartache he's caused me. I keep thinking about what a previous post on here said about the sex would of been motivating, and now can't help but feel like if he was hot it was probably because he was really going for it. It makes me feel sick. I've not cried today though, which is something.

I hope that time will be a healer for us but there's a doubt in me right now that il ever be able to just forget about it. I think that I'm going to concentrate on getting through the next couple of days and see what comes of these tests. If all is well then I will just take it day by day. If it isn't then I don't think il be able to look at him.

OP posts:
AnotherEmma · 04/06/2019 22:09

"you had a mental breakdown, he couldnt be arsed with it (too much like hard work) and cleared out to shag about a bit."

This

"Have you thought about why you take on his perspective automatically as your own?"

And this

RiversDisguise · 04/06/2019 22:12

Please don't view it as a competition with this woman... was she sexier, and so on. You'll make yourself sick and it's the wrong type of question.

He is not a prize.

His reaction to the STI question is dismissive because he is keen to minimise what he has done.

blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 22:13

Without sounding completely stupid, saying about taking on his perspective as my own?! What does that mean? As in me knowing I was at fault in the first place treating him the way I did?

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blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 22:15

I just can't stop thinking about those things though, it's driving me mad.

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AnotherEmma · 04/06/2019 22:17

It wasn't your fault he stuck his dick in another woman while you were looking after the children

HTH

AnotherEmma · 04/06/2019 22:21

To put it less bluntly

You were wrong to take it out on him when you were suffering. But it wasn't your fault you were suffering.

You suggested the break but while you were on the break you looked after the children and reflected on your behaviour and decided you valued the relationship.

He wasn't reflecting on his behaviour and how to improve things, he was fucking another woman!! That is not your fault for "driving him away" it's his fault for being a selfish lying scumbag who thinks with his dick!

AnotherEmma · 04/06/2019 22:21

Ok I went back to blunt at the end Blush

RiversDisguise · 04/06/2019 22:23

OP, it's because you are punishing yourself for what he did.

You are blaming yourself for his wrongdoing- abandoning you when your mental state was at its most fragile, betraying you, endangering your health and that of the baby.

He did all these things. You did not make him do them.

Your grief and suffering may have caused you both to act badly, but YOU did NOT walk out leaving your suffering wife to cope with the children, YOU did NOT engineer a sleazy hotel hookup with an ex, YOU did NOT breezily risk giving an STI to a woman who has already at least two pregnancies that ended in tragedy, YOU did NOT lie and tezt pleasant chitchat to your spouse while you were preparing to fuck someone else, YOU did NOT allow your spouse to blame themselves and torment themselves in the middle of the night with intrusive thoughts of your cheating. Where is he when you are posting at 1am? Snoring probably.

You are taking on far too much blame for what he did.

It's hard to post posts like this because no one wants to upset you further when you are clearly hurting so much already. It feels like putting the boot in.

AnotherEmma · 04/06/2019 22:24

Rivers says it much better than I did.

blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 22:26

I opened up to a friend of mine at work today about it, and she said that it seems I'm shouldering the blame. I don't know why I'm doing it, I suppose because I am aware of my behaviour around the time and am taking responsibility for my part. Obviously I didn't drive him there and lay him on top or behind her however it happened, he chose to do that and I don't think I'm responsible for that. I just know that if I had of been dealing with life better then he wouldn't of gone in the first place.

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AnotherEmma · 04/06/2019 22:30

WTF?!
If you had been dealing with life better?!
Women, be perfect or your men will fuck off and fuck another woman!
We are allowed to struggle sometimes. Our partners are supposed to support us, not leave and shag someone else.

blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 22:31

I know what you're saying Is right. Tbh when I think about the situation as you have put it, and laying the responsibility solely at his feet it scares me because I know I'm not strong enough to act in the way most people would and show him the door. It petrifies me thinking about him leaving again. It's easier to share the blame, I suppose to give myself an excuse to justify continuing our relationship. It sounds pathetic I know.

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AnotherEmma · 04/06/2019 22:35

It's not pathetic, it's understandable Flowers

RiversDisguise · 04/06/2019 22:37

You are anything but pathetic! You soldiered on as a mother while enduring such terrible grief.

But you do, undoubtedly, deserve much, much better.

blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 22:45

This is probably going to sound a bit tmi, but it's something that has been playing on my mind so I'm going to just say it. When I had the 2nd loss, everything came away in the toilet. I was hysterical, he was crying with me, he picked up a hand towel and knelt by the toilet and scooped it all out without a second thought, wrapped it up and handed it to me then sat with me holding me so tight. I don't see how a man capable of showing such love and respect to me can a few months later be in bed with another woman without a second thought. That memory was so fresh in my mind at that time, and still is. How could he of put that to one side to do it? I haven't said it to him, I wish I had now.

OP posts:
RiversDisguise · 04/06/2019 22:57

I'm so sorry. Flowers

blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 22:59

I just don't understand it.

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RiversDisguise · 04/06/2019 23:07

Do you think a counsellor could help you get some of this off your chest?

blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 23:13

I see a bereavement councillor who specialises in miscarriages and stillbirths etc. I don't think she would know what to tell me if I tried to speak to her about this situation though.

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Prtf1345 · 04/06/2019 23:22

Gosh, this sounds like what I went through last year. I had my second miscarriage, relationship broke down completely. Found out partner fancied someone else (mainly Bcos she was there for him when I couldn’t be) nothing happened. relationship broke down even further, resulted in many months of not talking/living in separate bedrooms planning to sell house etc.

During that time I saw other people, I was deeply unhappy and just wanted someone to see me for me again. None of the baggage. anyway we are back together

I understand it was only a few weeks for you but I would forgive him. Tell him it was wrong to, and he knows it was since he wasn’t open with you but I believe he is telling you the truth.

Prtf1345 · 04/06/2019 23:26

As for your post about the second loss and how he was there for you. People react to grief in different ways. You said it yourself in your first post. The loss affected your relationship.

Years ago I’d have judged that and thought surely it would only bring you closer. But I realise now grief is an odd thing and we all react differently.

blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 23:32

Sorry to hear of your loss. It's an awful experience, it changes you as a person and life shifts doesn't it. As has been said many times, it effects us all in different ways. It seems to commonly cause breakdowns in relationships which I think is just heartbreaking for people when they are suffering already. I'm glad that you and your OH are still together, and managed to get through it. I hope that with time we can do too, we share so much I don't want to be without him. This situation has definitely been a massive step back for me, it's not going to be easy to get back where we were but I want to at least try. We have so much to look forward to as a couple and parents.

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blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 23:34

It's that thing that unless you've been through it you just don't know. It's crap that anyone has to experience and learn about these things.

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blackcoffeeinbed · 04/06/2019 23:37

I'm going to try and get some sleep, it's been another exhausting day. I will check back in after my appointment tomorrow, wish me luck. I'm dreading it. Thanks everyone, I appreciate having somewhere I can just say what I need to.

OP posts:
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