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I’m a married woman in my mid-30s with an 8-year-old daughter. My husband and I love each other very much and just got back together after taking a three-month separation from our six-year marriage because of tension over having more children.
I had a challenging first pregnancy and delivery, and we are having trouble getting pregnant for a second time. He desperately wanted a boy and was getting frustrated. During our break, he went to work out of state, and we agreed to use that time to reflect on the pros and cons of staying together.
My husband is an excellent father and doting husband, and I personally didn’t want the separation, but I felt it might be good for both of us and could even strengthen our marriage if we could come through it. After the three months, he came back home, and we reunited with a night of passion that resulted in me feeling nauseous and sick a month or so later. We were both excited at the possibility I may be pregnant, but to our disappointment, I was not.
Not even days later, I began receiving cryptic messages and pictures on Instagram from a woman who claimed to be his “out-of-state” mistress. She sent pictures of him and her with a location and time stamp that correlated with the time when he had not been at home with our daughter and me. I was livid. How could he? I confronted him about it, and he admitted that he had stepped out with the woman but that he did not love her and wanted to work things out with us.
I was devastated to find out that he had dealt with a whole woman while we took a break to supposedly reflect on our situation and what we wanted the future to look like. I immediately went into detective mode and did some minimal research only to discover that the woman was an OnlyFans model and an escort. I was disgusted and hurt. How could he have put our relationship and maybe even my health in jeopardy? But that wasn’t nearly the worst of it.
The woman continued to harass us after he broke things off altogether and soon after sent me a picture of an ultrasound with a caption that said, “It’s a boy.” She also confirmed that one time when my daughter and I had gone to visit him out of state, he changed hotel rooms while we were waiting in the lobby because she had just left. Unbelievable!
My husband takes full responsibility for what has happened and admits that he made a terrible mistake. He claims he wants to be a better man for me and our daughter and assures me that this will never happen again. Overall, I feel disgusted by the matter and torn about whether to remain married.
Should I give him a second chance to prove his allegiance to me and our family or should I cut my losses, lawyer up and start drawing up a co-parenting plan?
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NOTE: This story has been edited for clarity and grammar.