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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

Total clusterfuck situation with DH, complicated, anyone in an open /poly relationship please read

262 replies

WhereTheFuck · 10/05/2021 15:05

I've name changed for this awful situation. Been married to DH for 5 years, together 7. We have always had an open relationship with specific parameters including discussing our plans to have sex with others and walking away from any relationship which seemed to be going beyond sex into love. We were both happy with this and I honestly thought we would be married forever. We have a toddler DD and our relationship has suffered a little from the sleepless nights etc, but we always said that it was just a thing that happens with a baby- not a serious issue or so I thought.

We live abroad and can't get back to the UK currently due to covid. So we are far from our family and close friends. We have paid childcare here, which is great but we need it because we both work FT in demanding jobs. It has been difficult lately with all of this going on, but I thought things would get better between us.

On Saturday however, DH dropped the bombshell that he is in love with somebody else. He basically broke the rules of our open relationship by not telling me anything about this woman and continuing to see her for 3 months (they had been talking online for 3 months before that). I was devastated and have hardly eaten or slept since.

The issue is that I really want to stay married to him. I know this sounds weird but because we have an open relationship, i think it might work for us to stay married and for him to still see the OW as well. He is open to this, is keen for the OW and I to meet, which is something we have previously done with other sexual partners, although obviously this time is a bit different!

The thing is that I am not sure if DH really wants to stay married to me even though we have DD together. But I think he just hasn't given our relationship a chance lately. I would like to work on our marriage in the hope that either we will be able to live in a kind of polyamorous situation, or that he will lose interest in the OW and come back to me.

So my question is : how should I proceed? Should we try the unconventional plan i suggested above? Or should I tell DH to leave and go to the OW full time, in the hope that the mundane nature of everyday life will bring him back to earth and he will come back to me and DD?
Thanks in advance!

OP posts:
Dozer · 10/05/2021 17:38

Wouldn’t play the ‘pick me dance’: he’s cheated and broken trust.

Would seek urgent info as to your legal rights etc, then act to end the relationship.

aliloandabanana · 10/05/2021 17:39

You're just enabling him to have his cake and eat it if you persuade him to stay married! What on earth were your marriage vows if you then openly have relationships with other people?! Why get married at all?

SuperLoudPoppingAction · 10/05/2021 17:41

If you left would you hope to relocate with your child? If so, I would get legal advice ASAP.
While things are all chill and he feels slightly guilty he may agree to one thing, but that might wear off and he might suddenly be demanding you move back the minute you get a job/start dating again/whatever sets him off.

I do have experience of a non monogamous relationship and it was no different than any other in this sense. It took about 3 months to go from 'wooh so progressive' to controlling nasty nonsense.

Crockof · 10/05/2021 17:43

I agree with the pp about the long game and waiting until you are on UK soil otherwise you risk being stranded out there because of your dd.

Cleverpolly3 · 10/05/2021 17:46

Surely in the eyes of the law this is adultery ?

How grim and it was always going to end this way because of him or you.
I don’t understand why you bothered getting married let alone having a kid if you can’t not shag other people. It’s bad enough when affairs happen

Perhaps I’m naive and outmoded bit quite happy to be in this instance.
When you can get back here with your child do. And stay. And start divorce proceedings.

Mrgrinch · 10/05/2021 17:48

You're saying people are right. What do you intend to do?

Are you seriously going to allow this man to do whatever he wants and just accept the woman he cheated on you with into your life with open arms?

Tippexy · 10/05/2021 17:50

Gosh I just really feel sorry for your poor daughter in all of this.

KaptainKaveman · 10/05/2021 17:53

Yep, clusterfuck is right. I pity the child.

Cowbells · 10/05/2021 17:54

I despise him. I despise all me n who trot off for loads of love and attention while the woman they impregnated is still recovering from the physical, mental and emotional shock and life-load of giving birth to and raising a child.

How has he had the energy and free time to embark on this affair while your DD is so young? Have you had the energy and time to take lovers recently? If not, the load is unequally shared. First share the load. Take some time for yourself. I'd be very tempted to leave the pair of them to deal with smelly nappies and tantrums while you have a complete break that lasts as long as all the hours he's spent with her. Because I bet he has fallen in love with the get out clause as much as the woman.

DadAManger · 10/05/2021 17:55

We have all been there WhereTheF*ck - literally ALL of us I think. The trouble is that once this lifestyle is introduced, then parameters do get a little blurred? That's the challenge here when confronting. I don't envy you.

AsCoolAsKimDeal · 10/05/2021 17:57

He's got to go. Three months of talking to her beforehand and then three months of sex without mentioning her is a calculated betrayal, you'll never trust him again. You don't say whose idea the open marriage was but if it was yours I think you need to be prepared for the possibility he will settle into a monogamous relationship with this woman.

Cleverpolly3 · 10/05/2021 17:57

@DadAManger

We have all been there WhereTheF*ck - literally ALL of us I think. The trouble is that once this lifestyle is introduced, then parameters do get a little blurred? That's the challenge here when confronting. I don't envy you.
What do you mean “we’ve all been there”?

If you mean in an open relationship aka I can shag who I want because we are too cool for school then no we bloody well haven’t.

Precisely for the reasons you go on to point out!

whycantwegoonasthree · 10/05/2021 18:03

Actively and happily poly for 8 years here… Be prepared for lots of monogamous people who will come here just to say how 'wrong' non-monogamy is/gullible you are/what did you think would happen etc.

In other words, this is not a very non-monogamy friendly environment and you might do better to find a Facebook group (there are a few) where you'll get a more helpful discussion… BUT ANYWAY...

First thing: he has cheated on you, in that he had a relationship that he kept secret from you. Open relationship or not, if your agreement was to be up front and honest with each other about who you were seeing, then not doing so is breaking your trust. So regardless of what happens next you need to think about how you rebuild trust, which starts with him acknowledging that what he did was cheating.

Second thing: banning each other from developing feelings was never going to work out long term, and expecting either of you to walk away from any relationship when you start to develop feelings is neither ethical nor likely to work. It's not ethical because it doesn't consider the feelings of the other person involved and not likely to work because you are humans, and when feelings develop is precisely the time it will be hardst to walk away. So one day it was bound to happen.

(For clarity, my nesting partner was in an open marriage, our relationship was supposed (for both of us) to be just about sex, we fell for each other and it was a lot of work for everyone to renegotiate the terms of all the relationships involved… My partner and his wife had never considered the possibility that either of them might 'catch feelings' either – which is astonishing looking back, but actually a fairly common scenario…)

So what next:

If you want to simply have sex with others without any risk of this happening then you'll need to explore something more like a 'swinging' setup, where it's just sex, nothing more, and usually not with the same person regularly.

If you want to be able to enjoy other aspects of relationship with other people: intimacy, conversation, basically anything that's not just sex, then you're going to have to agree ethical, reasonable and realistic boundaries for each of you.

For clarity: "you're not allowed to fall in love" is a rule, not a boundary, and it's neither reasonable nor realistic.

Reasonable boundaries might be around the amount of time he's away from you and your young child per week, and what kind of interaction you wish to have with other people he's in relationships with.

But all these boundaries can only regarding you and him - you can't make boundaries on her behalf about what she's allowed to do and not do without her involvement and consent, and you must always remember that she's not an addendum to your relationship, but a real person in her own separate relationship with your partner, and with her own feelings and needs.

The backdrop to all of this is that in non-mongamous relationships you all need to work extra hard to ensure that all the people you're with feel valued and loved for who they are. Especially when you're in the throes of New Relationship Energy, and all loved up and excited about a new person - it can be easy for your other partners to feel less cared for when there's a new shiny thing in town which is distracting you.

It seems to me that this is what has happened to you - that your partner has been so immersed in NRE you're feeling like he doesn't appreciate or want to be with you any more. But NRE does settle down – so naming it, and telling him how his behaviour over this time has been making you feel is really important. He likely hasn't noticed he's been treating you differently at all.

Also, as a final note, renegotiating the terms of your relationship when you're tired with young children – which will have already changed a lot of things for the two of you – is really tough.

You can't change what has happened but you do need to take things slowly and carefully, and be honest about what you need and what you're both capable of giving to each other and to other people at this time in your lives.

Above all you need to start communicating openly, honestly and non-violently, and start thinking about the kind of relationship you both want with each other. Have you read any books about polyamory or non-monogamy at all? Because they can really help...

And finally: non-monogamy is not wrong, you're not a mug, there are lots of people doing it, and it can and does work.

Have a hug. x

dottiedodah · 10/05/2021 18:03

I think that these types of arrangements often dont really work out.Being married means being with just one other person, thats the whole point of it! It sounds quite modern to say you can both sleep with other people, but as you have found out Sex often turns into love .The OW may not be happy to "share " him! Once you have DC ,the situation becomes complicated as well .I dont know if there is a way back for you both .Have you had many partners in this arrangement ? Often it is Men saying they want to sleep with others ,and wives are expected to fall in with this .If you do want to stay with him then there have to be clear ground rules or this could happen again .I am sorry but I think it will be very difficult to do that .Sending hugs to you xxxx

daisychain01 · 10/05/2021 18:03

It's amazing how delusional people are about open relationships, friends with benefits etc.

The boundaries in these arrangements are so nebulous, vague, open to change and open to lying about. Ultimately you're giving each other permission to go off with someone else, and the message is that you don't value the exclusivity of a proper marriage/relationship where the rules of the game are very well defined and you both know where you stand. It must be exhausting!

I don't know what you can get from this thread because it's so screwed up and nobody on here is going to be able to untangle it or persuade your husband to stay married to you. He's moved on and is with someone else. You've just become a doormat to him, wiping his feet on you in the way out. You could move forward and get into the same arrangement with someone else. Your life, your choice.

HollowTalk · 10/05/2021 18:06

He's cheated on you and betrayed your trust. The reason he did that is because neither of them wanted you to be involved. So sorry, but they wanted to keep it secret from you.

thenewduchessofhastings · 10/05/2021 18:11

This is the very definition the phrases "give an inch,take a mile" and "having his cake and eating it".

He was given carte blanche to sleep with as many women as he wants and still manages to cheat on you.

He is what's known on Mumsnet as a "cheeky fucker".

Branleuse · 10/05/2021 18:12

Id be pissed off that he had so much freedom and yet still lied, but on the other hand maybe you just need to sit down amd renegotiate your rules. Find out what you both really want.
I think its completely unrealistic to expect no feelings to develop with people youre intimate with and you were both kidding yourself on that one.

OldTurtleNewShell · 10/05/2021 18:15

I've done poly relationships for a number of years. They can work wonderfully but the one thing that you absolutely have to have is open, honest communication, possibly even more so than a monogamous relationship because there are so many more places for misunderstandings or differing wants to come into play.
As other posters have said, the poly is separate. The problem is that he's lied to you and that he doesn't seem that invested in working on your relationship. Those are massive hurdles in both polyamorous and monogamous relationships.
You need to have a long hard think about what you want and then have a talk with your husband about it. If he's not willing to work on your relationship and be honest with you, poly or no, then you're just going to exhaust yourself running after him.

Miasicarisatia · 10/05/2021 18:16

either he's a pisstaker who exploits any situation for his own gain, or it's unrealistic to expect people not to fall in love in situations like this
I have no idea, I'm too old for all that malarkey!

RoSEbuds6 · 10/05/2021 18:30

I agree with PP - he broke the rules and lied by omission for 3 months, and in doing so knew that he could lose you and your child. He still went ahead with it.
That's pretty bloody crappy of him IMO. I think you deserve better tbh.
How does family law work in the country where you are, are you able to leave him and come back to UK?

shrewsigh · 10/05/2021 18:31

I despise him. I despise all me n who trot off for loads of love and attention while the woman they impregnated is still recovering from the physical, mental and emotional shock and life-load of giving birth to and raising a child
Totally agree with this.
@whycantwegoonasthree talks a lot of sense about poly relationships. The problem here is that the H fell in love in old fashioned cheating. And OP did want the Poly set up to control and prevent feelings being developed for other people. Which is impossible. For all sorts of reasons I can't see this situation working out for OP.

powershowerforanhour · 10/05/2021 18:42

When setting the original parameters, what did you discuss about children, in that if he got another woman pregnant and she wanted to keep the baby what would you do? If you accidentally got pregnant by another man what would you do? Who was going to pay the costs in money, time and energy for any potential children that were biologically his or yours but not both?

ViciousJackdaw · 10/05/2021 18:43

What is so good about this man anyway? Does he have a solid gold cock that spunks Dulce du Leche or something?

tommyhoundmum · 10/05/2021 18:44

Let him go. thewreckofthehesperous is right and you deserve better.

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