Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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

Lost myself aftera traumatic few years

5 replies

alf1983 · 17/04/2022 11:38

Hi all... I want to keep it as brief as possible as it is quite long.
I met my OH November 2012 through Match and we lived 85 miles apart. Spent every weekend and holidays together and by the following July I fell pregnant. OH moved here and we built a life together, eventually buying a house in 2017 where we still live.

My pregnancy left me developing SPD and I struggled towards the end, barely walking and in alot of pain. Ended up on crutches and eventually a wheelchair which luckily I no longer need both of but I still get hip pain. We decided in 2018 to try for another but as soon as I fell pregnant the pain started. I was told it was hormonal and the pain would be worse than 1st time. We heartbreakingly decided to terminate the pregnancy because we weighed up how it would affect us and I didn't want to be left with permanent hip damage.

Naturally I was devastated and my OH went into a shell. He does not deal with any kind of emotion and gets overwhelmed making any choice even if it is a supermarket decision what to have for tea. A year after the termination I found two cards and wrapping paper, labels and a gift card in his work bag from a woman I'd never heard of. The Christmas card was addressed to my OH and son. I confronted OH and he was in shock. It transpired some kind of emotional thing had come off the back of the lost baby trauma and he had been texting someone he worked with and admitted he was confused about his feelings for her. He told her we were not together but lived together.

She was upset when she found out (I emailed her work address that I found online) and my OH was moved to another job by their boss. It feels as though he still has feelings for her although he doesn't say so. He says it happened because he felt guilty. They went on several dates but nothing physical happened.

We tried to fix things but nothing has been the same nearly 3 years after I found out. We haven't slept together for 2 years. He went to a counsellor as I thought and still think he is depressed and he had 4 sessions and left. He seems as though he loves me but doesn't have any confidence or desire to be intimate. He won't talk in depth about this and I always instigate the talks.

I'm lonely. Confused. Sad. I've gained 2 stone since the termination and I don't think I've even fully dealt with it yet. He doesn't want to adopt or marry and I feel I am living a relationship on his terms. We don't have inspiring jobs nor do we go on holiday or explore the world. It is a job to get him to book time off work and be as a family or couple. He does little things for me like cook nice dinners and he hugs, but there is something huge missing from our relationship and I feel as though I am sinking into a put of depression. I don't recognise myself anymore.

He likes to run but I don't really get the time although he insists I can if I want. I don't know what to do or think anymore. I wonder if anyone had any words of wisdom..

OP posts:
PriestessofPing · 17/04/2022 11:50

I’m so sorry you’ve had such a rough few years. Do you want to be with him anymore? It doesn’t sound like he has done much to heal the wound he caused by having an affair. Not being intimate for so long and not continuing with counselling but doing nice things for you around the house - sorry to suggest it but it sounds like he sees you as more of a friend or co-parent now and not a partner. Could he still be seeing her or have unresolved feelings for her?

alf1983 · 17/04/2022 14:13

Thanks for your reply. I do want to. I think. Sometimes you know when something just feels tainted? I feels though I'm living a life that's all on his terms. I'd have quite like to have discussed adoption but he wouldn't even discuss it. We aren't married either, and the intimacy he says is his confidence and of course the more time goes on the less of it I have. He says he has no feelings for her and to my knowledge she found someone else a few months after i found out and is living with him. I agree though - it seems he just no longer loves me the way I would have hoped. Its hard as I battle low self esteem as it is since all this, and it just makes me feel as though I am just not worthy of being happy.

OP posts:
TortugaRumCakeQueen · 17/04/2022 14:31

If finances allow, could you book a mini break or a holiday? A change of scene might shake things up a bit.

alf1983 · 17/04/2022 14:45

Hi. I try to ask him to book time off and he doesn't really book any unless I keep on and it usually results in an argument. He loves work. And my thought is that he sees her still every day and I link the two. He doesn't make alot of time for me or ever instigate a holiday or break away in fact we have never had a mini break together in the 8 years our son has been with us. I suggest alot but nothing ever comes to fruition. I guess I could be proactive and book something but part of me just doesn't want to because I feel its always me. It sounds petty I know.

OP posts:
GeneLovesJezebel · 17/04/2022 14:48

I’d suggest you’re both just coasting, and one of you needs to make the move to leave, or you’ll still be here in 10 years time. Still not having sex, still wondering what he’s up to.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page