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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

I thought I'd been reading too much Mumsnet!

463 replies

Shaz10 · 29/06/2010 21:55

But it turns out I was right, he is having an affair. Claims to be in love with her and not me. Shit shit shit shit shit.

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armbow · 01/07/2010 20:15

shaz - i have thread going too - I have been following yours but have not felt in the right frame of mind to give you any advice.

(H has left me as he does not love me anymore. not sure if there is an OW. blah blah blah )

but i wanted to say hang on in there.

TheCrackFox · 01/07/2010 20:32

Clean the fridge. Throw away any food that only he likes.

Shaz10 · 01/07/2010 20:43

That's a good idea! I've just cancelled a direct debit for some magazines of his too.

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whatname · 01/07/2010 20:50

Hi Shaz, if you are looking for something to do, why don't you pack his bags. Literally, pack everything up ready for him to collect?
Just a thought
Good luck, you are doing really well.x

Shaz10 · 01/07/2010 20:54

Now there's a thought. I don't think I'm ready for that yet though. I'm trying to snoop but seem to have run out of places. Where do people hide things?

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Shaz10 · 01/07/2010 21:02

Oh, forgot to say earlier, the love letter I found all but confirms that he is completely lying about the "only kissed once" thing. I don't know why I thought he would start telling the truth at that point, I guess I assumed a confession would be just that.

I have no idea who this man is.

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bananalover · 01/07/2010 21:10

O what a tangled web we weave!

Otterlybotterly · 01/07/2010 21:34

Shaz, hope you're doing OK and get a good night's sleep tonight. I agree with the other posters who've said to start making some physical moves - pack his things, throw out his food, clean his ring off the bath etc. Don't wait around in limbo for him to call the shots - move on at least a little if you can.

Shaz10 · 01/07/2010 22:41

I'm going to bed. Thank you for today, all of you. See you in the morning.

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armbow · 01/07/2010 22:44

sleep well.

TheCrackFox · 01/07/2010 22:46

Sleep well and try and have some breakfast in the morning.

Shaz10 · 02/07/2010 05:17

Woke at half 4 again, not bad really. I am so sad, but you have all helped me see that it's not what he says. He says the feelings for me went before he met (or got closer) to her. But I can see now that he deliberately pushed me away so that he could shag her without feeling guilty.

I just feel so sad that even during his 'confession' he continued to lie to me. I gave everything to this man. When we christened our baby and promised to raise him right he was shagging his employee. It's disgraceful.

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Confuzled · 02/07/2010 05:34

I think you need to see a solicitor on the quiet, while he is still feeling guilty, and make a mediation appointment asap as there is a wait. That way you go into a mediation session with the info on your legal position in your back pocket, if he is less than honourable. Hopefully he won't be and you will at least be okay financially.

So, so sorry. It's quite pathetic how many people split when children are very small - of course it isn't likely to be the romantic high point of a relationship, but a grown adult should be able to work through that and see the wood for the damn trees, when little people are so very reliant on them, and support the primary carer in giving the absolute best start possible. Pitiful.

The pain is hellish, but at least you know he did this when you were focused on giving his son the best start possible, and that makes him beneath contempt. I hope you can work out an amicable way to co-parent, and I hope after you heal you meet someone worthy of you.

Ineedmorechocolatenow · 02/07/2010 06:40

What a great post Confuzled!

Hope you managed to get a little more sleep Shaz10.

PrettyFeckinVacant · 02/07/2010 09:59

Thinking of you Shaz

I recommend getting some legal back-up now, even though you dont feel ready for it.

I have a friend who has gone through similar and, in the first few weeks, her guilty h verbally agreed to hand over the house as she was primary carer for the children. She didn't feel up to going to a solicitor at that point. Roll forward a year and her exh has shacked up with someone and they are now pushing her to sell the house so that he can take his equity - sod the dc, apparently

So, the moral of the story is strike while the iron is hot (or while the h is feeling terribly guilty).

Shaz10 · 02/07/2010 10:22

Thanks. I do want to speak to someone, just in case, to see what I need to do to protect my son. I assume I will see husband this weekend at some point. If so I will ask him what's happening. If he's still insistent that he's hopelessly in love then I will be speaking to someone asap to protect the assets.

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Shaz10 · 02/07/2010 10:25

Ooh, look at me all practical and strong. I'm dying inside.

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isthatporridgeinyourhair · 02/07/2010 10:42

I'm so sorry Shaz. Thinking of you and your DS.

IfYoureHappyAndYouKnowIt · 02/07/2010 10:45

One step at a time Shaz, it's fine to feel crap, and when you do those practical things they will give you strength. Over time, you'll get so good at them that the good, strong times will squash out the bad ones

Condensedmilkaddict · 02/07/2010 11:41

I just wanted to say Shaz that you sound absolutely brilliant.

I can't imagine the hurt you are feeling right now. But you are being so very strong.

He is missing out.
Big time.
Imagine giving up precious time when your child is little to be a deceitful, lying asshat.

He will regret this one day. This time with your son is so special. He is achieving milestones every day. He is full of love, real love, not the cheap kind your husband seems to be chasing.

He gave up something beautiful and precious for what??
To behave like a teenager.

Shaz, it may not feel like it now, but you will be better off without him.
He should be so grateful to have a precious, healthy boy, and he should be supporting his hard working wife.

None of this is as it should be.
You deserve better.

It will get easier with each day - focus on your son who loves you dearly and truly.

DillyDora · 02/07/2010 11:58

Hi Shaz, just checking in to say keep your chin up. I think cleaning is an excellent idea - how would you be with changing the sheets on the marital bed?! Could be a big move but can be cathartic!

chin up, lovely, hope you're eating...

WhenwillIfeelnormal · 02/07/2010 12:05

Shaz what you are learning from this horrible experience is that people having affairs lie continuously. They lie to the affair partner, their spouse and very often, to themselves.

As you know, I challenged this nonsense that he had gone off you first before starting this affair. It so rarely happens, but like so many before him and after him, he is re-writing history, to make himself feel better. No doubt he is telling OW the same hackneyed lines, because like him, she needs a justification for her behaviour too.

Of course he has slept with her. No man leaves his wife and family for a kiss. This started as an emotional affair and as soon as he had sex, the feelings appeared to deepen, because he is someone who cannot divorce sex from love.

I suspect he had sex with her for the first time around April, because that's when he's telling you this started, but what he means is that that's when he was first sexually unfaithful. Up till that point, he could kid himself that since he hadn't had sex, this wasn't an affair. The phone bills will tell you when this really started, in terms of the emotional infidelity.

He is comparing the heady flush of a new relationship with the more settled depth of a longstanding relationship. I'll bet he felt like he does now for you once, too.

He is in the grip of a form of insanity at the moment, but like everything, this too will pass.

What usually intrudes on it and brings it to an end is a hard dose of real-life, recrimination and loss. Because they have both been in the grip of a "this thing is bigger than both of us" fantasy, they haven't troubled themselves with real world consequences. The disgust from others at work, the horror of their families, the OW's friends who are now re-thinking whether they could ever be friends with a woman who has an affair with a young father and conspires in him leaving. The prospect of having no money and a life of step-parenthood. The prospect of another man being a day-to-day father to his son, in time. The image of you having sex with another man.

All of a sudden, this great romance looks more and more like just another tawdry affair.

Information is power Shaz, in all its forms. The worst is actually over, because that was when you were being deceived but had no proof.

Get as much information as you can about his relationship with her and your legal and financial position. Stay firm in telling him that it is over as far as you are concerned. Tell him perhaps that you now know he has been sexually unfaithful and can prove it but you will not be telling him how you've got that proof. That should cause them a few sleepless nights in that hotel.

Otterlybotterly · 02/07/2010 12:11

Hi Shaz - you are doing so well. Yes do get some legal advice and stay strong if you see knobber this weekend. This is a man who cares more about his own penis than his baby son and his loving wife. Asshat, as condensedmilk so wisely said.

Shaz10 · 02/07/2010 12:23

I have a few mobile bills from the end of last year and the beginning of this. There is nothing until January, when there is clearly something brewing. The bill for March is over £100. On text messages. I also think I know when he had sex with her - perhaps for the first time, and I think may have been the first time I suspected something. It was in March, just around the time when he said he was having 'feelings'. I called him at work in the middle of the afternoon, they said he'd gone home. His mobile was off, he didn't come back till early evening. He had excuses but you all know the rest.

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Shaz10 · 02/07/2010 12:23

I like the idea of saying I've found things out but not saying how.

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