Happy Frickin Mother’s Day

My husband lost his job about two months ago. He refused to disclose his vaccine status. I had urged him to get vaccinated so he got the J&J shot but he was not happy about it. So now we have a 5-month-old baby girl and I am the only one working. Today he said he was working on my Mother’s Day present and I said the only thing I want is the house cleaned. He said he can’t clean the whole house because other people live there. I felt attacked. I work 20 hours a week. I am the only one getting up with baby when she wakes up every few hours to eat during the night. The days I don’t work I watch her the majority of the day. He will get her in the morning tor a couple hours so I can sleep a bit. I haven’t had more than a few hours sleep at a time since she was born. For the first time ever, I slept four hours straight yesterday. I try to do a bit round the house like cleaning the toilets. I wash our baby’s clothes, I bathe her, I trim her nails, most of the time I change her clothes. Is it too much to ask that he then spend 20 hours a week outside of taking care of baby being productive? In a day he might clean the cats litter, walk the dogs, feed the dogs and do one chore. He has hours where lies in bed doing nothing. He hasn’t applied for any jobs in the meantime. Other than a part-time seasonal job he has done in the past. He is also morbidly obese but he doesn’t want to use this time to do something different to try and lose weight.  I’m trying really hard to work this out for our daughter but I’m feeling really discouraged. Anytime I bring up my frustrations, he says happiness is a choice.

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May 7, 2022

i am so sorry that you are experiencing this, it’s absolutely f*cked up that your husband is purposefully neglecting his duties not just as a husband but also as the father of your children. something as simple as cleaning the house should be a joint effort – and even on mother’s day, it’s the least he could do. you are an absolutely amazing, strong, and resilient woman. you bringing up these matters to him and then him gaslighting you into thinking that happiness is a choice and not a constant effort or pursuit is just disgusting. i’m just a student so i have no idea what you are feeling, but the fact that you are still holding up for the sake of your baby is so strong and admirable. i do genuinely hope that things get better for you and your child, and that your husband would make an effort to be better. he doesn’t deserve to have a family if he will neglect you like this, because neglect is a subtle form of abuse.

anyway, happy mother’s day to you! i sincerely hope things improve for you. God Bless you and stay safe always.