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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

Should we separate?

167 replies

Gangle · 03/01/2010 23:09

DH and I have always had a difficult relationship but it's been particularly bad since DS, 21 months was born. Have posted about this separately so won't go into too much detail but basically he is nasty, selfish and emotionally abusive. He is a dr and works long hours which he uses as an excuse to rarely help out with DS. Because of his job, he claims he is constantly exhausted - if not working, he will have at least a 2 or 3 hour nap whilst I'm running around like an idiot, despite being 28 weeks pregnant with DS2. Naturally, he does nothing around the house - I organise everything, pay all the bills, do all the cooking, laundry, plus work full time in a demanding professional job. I could live with him not doing anything if it wasn't for his other behaviour - he oscillates between ignoring me and criticising everything I do, from my appearance to the way I raise DS. DS has an amazing vocab yet the other day DH commented that I should work on improving this asap. He has various obsessive compulsive disorders, for example, throwing my possessions away (have posted separately about this) and takes/uses my possessions without my permission, for example, he runs his car out of petrol then takes mine and drives it until it runs out of petrol. He did this a few weeks ago and also let the back window open so that the rain got in and drenched DS's car seat so when I came to use the car the next day I found it unlocked, emptied of petrol with the backseat and DS's seat soaking wet. He also incurs numerous parking tickets when driving it and doesn't tell me - first time I found out was when I nearly got a CCJ against me (he's binned all the reminders etc). He is horrendously disorganised so going anywhere or doing anything with him is a nightmare as we'll miss the flight/train or he'll forget his keys, or if we do make it I'll nearly have a heart attack from the stress of it. He ignores 99% of what I say so never does anything I ask, refuses to ever get up with DS so I NEVER get a lay in, even if sick, pregnant, whatever, doesn't matter, he won't get up so I have to. If he does then it's after so much naggging and rowing it's such not worth it. I just need a tiny amount of help, one lay in a month would be heaven, but he just can't do it. On the other hand, he finds time to go to football on Tuesdays, the gym on Wednesdays, see a counsellor on THursdays and usually out and gyms at least 2 other nights a week. If I want to go out or do anything then I have to get a babysitter as he cannot be relied upon to turn up or will turn up late. I am basically a single parent. I'm not sure if I still love DH. I think he does love me and I know he loves DS but his behaviour is just unbearable. His mum and a close family friend who has known him all his life agree that he is a bully and think he has a personality disorder but nothing I say or do makes him change. We row all the time and I am getting sadder and sadder and more and more lonely and it breaks my heart to think of raising DS and the new baby in this environment, or taking them away from their father when I know he does love them but who is slowly destroying me. To complicate things further, DH is supposed to bed taking a job in Nashville, US, in June. DS2 will be 3 months. He is insisting that we all go but I am refusing as I cannot move 2000 miles away with the relationship the way it is, nor do I want to move whilst DSs are so young with no support network etc. Seems like a natural time to separate but still very sad that he can just up and leave and not care about not seeing his children. He is putting on the onus on me, saying I should move to ensure the children see their father but I don't want to leave my home and my support network and a well paid job which could be my only means of support in future to move there. I just spent a week alone with DS as he went away over NY (to his mother's, I refused to go) and the house felt so lonely and empty, think I will find it really hard being alone. Sorry, this is turning into a ramble. Can anyone help?

OP posts:
lookbutdonttouch · 07/07/2011 14:40

Sod the other woman.

He was a twat before her and Nashville and he is a twat now.

Get back to the solicitor and work out your next steps and make sure he has absolutely no access to your money or the boys' passports.

Gangle · 07/07/2011 14:59

Will there really be other men in my future? I am nearly 35 and it looks like a long and lonely road ahead.

OP posts:
cestlavielife · 07/07/2011 15:04

it will be longer and lonelier if you stay with H...at least by rbeaking off you will be ready for new opportunities (baby sitters permitting)

buzzsore · 07/07/2011 15:09

Of course there can be other men in your future. 35 is scarcely in your dotage Grin.

Gangle · 07/07/2011 15:46

One thing I struggle with is how I am ever going to manage to get on with him for the sake of the children. He's been unbelievably cruel - not sure I can ever bear to be around him again or feel even remotely civil which is very sad for the children.

OP posts:
cestlavielife · 07/07/2011 15:51

you dont have to get on with him - quick handovers "hello off you go bye bye" smile thru gritted teeth... liek a word colleague you dont particualrly like.

ok is not ideal and we would all like amicable friendly divorce but it aint reality for many ...maybe further down the line when the exH has grown up a bit

lookbutdonttouch · 07/07/2011 16:06

I am about your age. Once you are free of him your confidence will soar and yes there will be men in your future. Real ones.

Do you have friends you can talk to?

You can maintain a civil 'kids only' acquaintance with him once this is over. No need to be friends.

Just keep going.

oldwomaninashoe · 07/07/2011 16:23

Forget about the affair for the moment, why are you still with this self obsessed, self absorbed , utterly selfish man, who clearly does not love you!

If you love someone , you show them respect, when in the last few years has he shown you any?

Stop investing your time, energy and emotions in him. And before your DC's get any older and start being affected by his bizarre treatment of you, just call it a day.

He is back pedalling with all this business about going to Relate, you both, quite frankly, are wasting your time and theirs.

He will not change but will continue to live his life doing precisely what he wants to do and expecting those around him to fall in with his plans and wishes.

Please stop being his doormat!

bibbitybobbityhat · 07/07/2011 16:46

Oh come on Gangle. I remember your op so clearly. You've already wasted another 18 months on this dreadful relationship. Just start the divorce proceedings.

Gangle · 07/07/2011 17:37

I know, I've just realised that. It could all be over and done with by now.

OP posts:
heleninahandcart · 07/07/2011 18:17

Gangle I suspect he is in the house simply to retain ownership of 'his property' ie you and your DC. It has nothing to do with loving or caring. You have been and always will be collateral damage to his wants and selfish sense of entitlement. Its clear from your posts that he has ground you down and your sense of normality has shifted. This is simply wrong.

Get your documentation sorted, put DC's passports somewhere safe out of his reach, gather yourself and make your plan. Take each day as it comes, you will get through this, it will be better.

TubbyDuffs · 07/07/2011 18:30

As someone who lives abroad with children and no family for a few thousand miles, please don't even consider moving with him. To live away you really do need to have a strong relationship, as any cracks will magnify once you are on your own.

He sounds like a total git and I think you would be better off without him. You are 35 ffs, don't give up, you have a lovely long life ahead of you and you deserve to be happy, this twunt isn't going to ever make you happy.

Sending very un-MN cyber hugs to you. Be strong and don't waste another nano-second of your time on this total waste of space.

shandyleer · 07/07/2011 19:06

Have pm'd you Gangle

babyhammock · 09/07/2011 08:48

You must get rid
Keep a diary of everything he says and does and see if you can get a recorder so you can record abuse (very hard for him to deny later which he will try to)

Don't undersetimate what he will do. You think he can't organise a piss up in a brewery, but this is probably the impression he gives you to make your life harder.

He is extremely abusive and has zero empathy. That makes him dangerous imo

Hide the dc's passports and cover your back at all times. Always be 2 steps ahead.

Please don't get reeled in by him anymore. Counselling is just a game to him. Cut him dead now but be prepared for the fallout. You will really see his true colours if you do that.

Get all the support you can.

Only 35! You're a puppy! Of course you'll meet someone else. You sound major league catch to me.

Don't waste anymore of your life be taken in my him and dancing to his tune. HE WILL ONLY GET WORSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WILL NEVER BE OK!!!!!!!!!!

mumpalumps · 09/07/2011 11:15

Firstly you would not be breaking up the family, it seems clear that by putting up with your dp's awful behaviour you have gone above and beyond trying to maintain this relationship.

Secondly in order for him to continue with his abuse, critism, ignoring and bullying behaviour he requires you to continue to put up with it - so he has decided to up the ante by moving you across the world to a place were you will be totally dependant, which would mean his behaviour would no doubt esculate to new heights of abusiveness.

Thirdly is he truely the role model you would like for your sons, to see you treated with such disrespect, to believe that this is the way to treat women. My xh was exactly the same but there is life after believe me, he now has a lovely relationship with our daughter, far from breaking the family up I believe she now has a dad rather than a angry, criticising bully in her life.

I would like you to take some time out to picture yourself and your boys in a life without the stress of your partner - the relationship he retains with them is entirely in his hands - the life you deserve is waiting for you to make the difficult choices. Take the time he is in Nashville to make up your mind for your sons and for yourself.

Gangle · 11/07/2011 12:48

Not sure how it's possible but thing have got even worse. After the counselling session on Wednesday, we had a truce for a day or two. He clarified his comment in the session about the o/w and said he would only want to see her IF things with us didn't work out. He then came back home on Thursday evening and told me he loved me so I was left feeling more confused then ever though I knew at that stage to not believe a word he was saying. Just as well I didn't as on Saturday morning he said that he had thought things through on Friday night and realised that he still had feelings for this o/w, that he needed to see her again and that he couldn't even try to make things work with me. Not that I'd asked him to of course or that I would want to try but I just cannot get my head around this back and forth and continual changing his mind. It's tearing me apart as it's like he says one thing which make me realise it's over, I accept it then he throws me a crumb to reel me back in so that he can reject me all over again. I feel discarded like an unwanted dog and he is still in the house walking around seemingly without a care in the world??

OP posts:
tadpoles · 11/07/2011 14:02

Ye Gods! The man is a psycho and obviously gets off on all this emotional drama. Disengage. See a counsellor for your own state of mind and to clarify issues for you. Honestly I would start divorce proceedings right now. Do not engage in any psychological games. You have ample grounds for separation and divorce. Stick with the facts of the matter - for a great many people infidelity would be a deal breaker and he has now given you the 'get out of jail card'. For your own state of mind and that of the children - get out now.

Squitten · 11/07/2011 14:58

Christ! All I read in your posts is how it's about him. Who does HE want? When will HE make a decision? What will HE decide?

To hell with him! When are you going to pick yourself up off the doormat and make your own decisions? I can't believe you've wasted so much time on him and are still sitting around wondering how he's going to treat you

CloudC · 11/07/2011 15:08

Gangle, it sounds like you already know leaving your support network and becoming dependant on an unreliable and bullying man is not a good idea, and I would echo the other comments here. Also, you say you have two boys. However much he loves them, you really have to think about the kind of example their father is setting of what family life should look like. I think you all deserve better.

spooktrain · 11/07/2011 15:20

Gangle, take control, you can do it.

He does not love you, these are not the actions of a person who loves you.

You are in a very bad place right now, and the only way out is to take control and realise you are worth so very much more than this.

You are enabling him to continue to treat you like shit. KICK HIM OUT.

Dozer · 11/07/2011 15:45

Gangle, please listen to the advice on here and take charge.

This man is seriously bad news, as a partner and father. You are young, capable and will have a much happier future without him. The DCs will also be absolutely fine, indeed much better off.

As others have said, is much better for kids to be with one parent than in a toxic atmosphere. They need you to be OK, not in a mess because of being constantly hurt and bullied.

What if you stay and in 20 years' time your sons are treating you the way your husband treats you? Or treating their girlfriends like dirt?

Stop thinking about what he wants / will do / feels, and start being practical. Get all the help you can in RL.

Have you seen a lawyer yet? This should be your first priority. Also limiting ANY interaction with him other than to discuss practicalities.

Get him out of the house, if he'll agree to go. Even if he won't go, don't talk to him / sleep with him / engage with him. Gather all important documentation to do with the kids, car keys etc etc. And look at the finances (e.g. working out what he should be paying in maintenance).

You stayed 18 months ago, you have given it your all. Time to move on now.

Dozer · 11/07/2011 15:48

Your very first post said that even his mum thought he was a bully with a personality disorder!

What more do you need to happen before you see sense and get out of the relationship?

Gangle · 11/07/2011 16:29

I know, I know but I can't see to drag myself out of the pain of him rejecting my and endlessly analysing how/why we've ended up here, pointless as it is. He is hopefully going this week but SO hard not to engage with him as I am still trying to understand why, even though I know what won't help.

OP posts:
Gangle · 11/07/2011 16:29

and yes, have seen a lawyer and seeing him again on Thursday to initiate divorce proceedings.

OP posts:
Dozer · 11/07/2011 16:32

Know it's hard, but analysis won't help. Will only bog you down and he will no doubt reinvent the past and have his own (warped) perception of the situation (you being too emotional, your fault for leaving nashville blah blah).

The MN analysis (the gentle version) is that you have ended up here because he is not the right person for you.

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