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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

I'm always 'conveniently' ill, apparently.

41 replies

contemptdaily · 02/09/2022 08:16

I lost a baby at 4 months pregnant at the start of the year and I'm now nearly 5 months pregnant again. I was signed off with HG with the baby I lost, signed off after the miscarriage for obvious reasons. I went back to work in between and was signed off again during some of the first trimester with sickness and anxiety. I've struggled with pelvic pain and migraines in the second trimester so have missed a bit of work and done more than usual from home. For months my husband has become nastier to me, more cold and just showing contempt towards me and this morning I said I'm working from home again as my pelvic pain is really bad and I didn't sleep well, he went off on one. My wheat pack was in the microwave to ease the pain and he turned it off at the wall and I asked why he did that and he said to spite you. I asked why do you want to spite your pregnant wife who is saying she's in pain? And he just went off on one. "You're always in pain, you're always ill, but you're not are you? You're lazy and can't be bothered to work and just want to sit on your phone. Funnily enough you're never too ill to sit their and scroll on your phone"

Yes I've missed a lot of work, and yes I've been ill a lot in the past 12 months but I've also been pregnant for 9 of them! I'm so upset. I cried my eyes out and he accused me of putting on a show and whisked our toddler away from nasty crying mum who is scaring him and started playing dad of the year. There's no coming back from this is there? I feel so disrespected to be accused of lying rather than him being slightly compassionate about everything I've been through this year.

OP posts:
contemptdaily · 02/09/2022 10:47

It just feels like he's shown me so clearly that he doesn't see me as an actual human being with feelings. After the miscarriage he had a massive career change, he took some time off and then started fresh in a new career path that he is so much happier in. I went back to the same desk I'd sat at when my miscarriage started, surrounded by the same people I'd been excitedly talking about the baby with. He had darts and golf and his things that he did for him, that got him out the house and out of his head, I don't really have any hobbies. That's not his fault no, but I just don't. My main friends are my mum friends I made after my son being born and I was due just after or similar time to them all, they all had their newborns or pregnancy and I suddenly didn't. It was hard as I felt I had to hide from them. I didn't think I'd be ok again until I was pregnant, and I fell pregnant again very quickly and it didn't magically fix everything. I feel a lot of guilt that I'm replacing the baby I lost, I feel terrified that I could lose this one too, and I just generally feel lost in myself, I hate going to my office, I hate feeling like I'm this boring person with no outside interests. I hate when the house becomes a mess because I spend too many hours a day escaping into my phone to get out of my head. Rather than looking at me with any compassion and thinking that maybe I've been through a lot and need a bit of understanding he gets angry and sees me as this lazy woman who can't be bothered to work or clean the house and uses pregnancy and illness as an excuse. There's just no love or empathy in that thought process. That's what makes me think there's no coming back from it, it's such a cold way to look at someone.

OP posts:
AgentJohnson · 02/09/2022 10:47

Some men really don’t like the ‘limelight’ being on anyone else other than them. His behaviour was beyond spiteful but was it really out of character for him? It may have been shocking but were you completely surprised by it?

Where do you go from here? I really don’t know but I would advise against giving him a pass because I doubt this ‘side’ of him isn’t going away anytime soon.

Call out bad behaviour and if it persists, get out. Your relationship with this man will be your child’s relationship role model, so don’t let it be example of the way they should treat people or expect to be treated by people.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and I’m sorry that you are being treated like this at your most vulnerable.

AgentJohnson · 02/09/2022 10:55

Sorry, I’ve just seen your last post. Please, please get some counselling! You have been through a lot and you do need to have your feelings heard but before that can happen you really do need to first articulate those feelings.

I hope that situation has arisen because neither of you have dealt with what’s happened and is happening to you both and have developed some unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Again, congratulations on your pregnancy and be kind to yourself.

Agapornis · 02/09/2022 10:57

He is a dick, but please contact Sands to get support - www.sands.org.uk/

Mariposista · 02/09/2022 11:25

Phone scrollers piss me right off too, but his behaviour over the microwave and his nasty words are just abhorrent. Get rid.

User34352515 · 02/09/2022 11:30

Being irrationally annoyed or inconvenienced by a partner's health issues is a typical trait of narcissism. There are some good videos on Youtube (eg Dr Ramani) which can further profile narcissists. Obviously it could also be that he's an arsehole, and either way doesn't sound very good.

Sunnytwobridges · 02/09/2022 11:37

Backtoblack1 · 02/09/2022 10:13

Does he also work from home? I’m not condoning what he said to you at all but my partner has been off work for all of the summer holidays and just before it. I can’t wait for him to go back to work but then I will be as well. I’ve found it stressful spending everyday together at home - hopefully this was a one off and he will apologise

I was wondering this as well . I know if I worked from home and my dp was constantly calling in sick I’d get very annoyed and irritable as I enjoy being home alone when I work. Another presence in the house constantly would send me over the edge lol

EmmaH2022 · 02/09/2022 11:41

confusednewbie · 02/09/2022 08:39

Gosh everyone here is so LTB all the time! Yes he said soma things wrong but he is also grieving and as someone who has been in a relationship with someone with similar issues as yourself gosh I’ve felt his frustration. It can be so difficult at times when it appears your partner is choosing to be unwell and often it can be born out of concern but it comes out as frustration. It is incredibly difficult to watch the person you love constantly being unwell and sympathy can run out especially when you’re watching and seeing them crumble away into a shell of their former-self.

Yes what you have been through is horrendous op and I can feel the sadness in your post but I can also see depression and that you are wanting justification for how you are feeling. It is fine to feel how you do and feel unwell but as I’ve said it is incredibly hard as a partner to watch your partner become a shell of their former self even if this is through legitimate health issues. Cut him some slack - lose the drama between you and talk would be my advice

You think it's fine to do stuff to spite your partner?

OP there is no coming back from this, sorry. Flowers

PipinwasAuntieMabelsdog · 02/09/2022 13:04

His behaviour is despicable OP. However, could it be that you are 'choosing' not to go to work because of how unhappy you feel there (understandably) and he feels he is taking all the financial responsibility in the current, worrying climate. Have you spoken to your GP about what help you can access, beyond being signed off?

JennyForeigner · 02/09/2022 13:07

No, I don't think there is any coming back from that.

How awful. So sorry OP.

Dalaidramailama · 02/09/2022 13:43

OP that is so awful. I had HG and pelvic pain and my husband didn’t dream of doing anything like that.

God what a bastard!!!!!

Mummyofbananas · 04/09/2022 19:14

I get what you’re saying but if I was I’ll years ago I’d have read a book, nowadays I’m as likely to read a book on my phone or read about other things, it’s something that’s easy to do while you’re unwell, work takes focus.

TwilightSkies · 04/09/2022 19:20

I know if I worked from home and my dp was constantly calling in sick I’d get very annoyed and irritable as I enjoy being home alone when I work.

You’d be annoyed when your partner is sick? One who lost a baby at 4 months pregnant?

He sounds vile OP. How does he normally treat you?

ilyx · 04/09/2022 19:26

OnTheBrinkOfChange · 02/09/2022 08:46

Of course scrolling on your phone is completely different from those things! I find it really really irritating when someone can't leave their phone alone. I know people who the minute you start talking the eyes go to the phone and they can't resist picking it up and scrolling through it rather than having a proper conversation.

What does you finding people going on their phone annoying have to do with anything?! He’s telling her she can’t possibly be ill as she can go on her phone which is ridiculous, that’s why he’s annoyed by it, not because he thinks it’s “rude”

ilyx · 04/09/2022 19:28

Sunnytwobridges · 02/09/2022 11:37

I was wondering this as well . I know if I worked from home and my dp was constantly calling in sick I’d get very annoyed and irritable as I enjoy being home alone when I work. Another presence in the house constantly would send me over the edge lol

You both sound lovely 😳 if my partner made me feel unwelcome in my own home and resented me being there I’d LTB to be honest.

FoofOfTheWalkingDead · 04/09/2022 19:42

contemptdaily · 02/09/2022 10:47

It just feels like he's shown me so clearly that he doesn't see me as an actual human being with feelings. After the miscarriage he had a massive career change, he took some time off and then started fresh in a new career path that he is so much happier in. I went back to the same desk I'd sat at when my miscarriage started, surrounded by the same people I'd been excitedly talking about the baby with. He had darts and golf and his things that he did for him, that got him out the house and out of his head, I don't really have any hobbies. That's not his fault no, but I just don't. My main friends are my mum friends I made after my son being born and I was due just after or similar time to them all, they all had their newborns or pregnancy and I suddenly didn't. It was hard as I felt I had to hide from them. I didn't think I'd be ok again until I was pregnant, and I fell pregnant again very quickly and it didn't magically fix everything. I feel a lot of guilt that I'm replacing the baby I lost, I feel terrified that I could lose this one too, and I just generally feel lost in myself, I hate going to my office, I hate feeling like I'm this boring person with no outside interests. I hate when the house becomes a mess because I spend too many hours a day escaping into my phone to get out of my head. Rather than looking at me with any compassion and thinking that maybe I've been through a lot and need a bit of understanding he gets angry and sees me as this lazy woman who can't be bothered to work or clean the house and uses pregnancy and illness as an excuse. There's just no love or empathy in that thought process. That's what makes me think there's no coming back from it, it's such a cold way to look at someone.

Oh OP, I'm so sorry for your loss. You sound like you're probably depressed and getting over the trauma of losing a much wanted baby while pregnant again, all while parenting a toddler. It's absolutely understandable that you try to escape. It's a very common coping mechanism. I second another poster here who recommended counselling. Maybe don't throw in the towel on your relationship yet, it might work out. Instead, focus on healing and strengthening yourself until you're in a better place. It will probably become clear either way whether the relationship will work out.
In the meantime, be kind to yourself. You don't need hobbies and you don't need a super clean house. You're enough just as you are.

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