Hi drobinson!
You came to the right place.
First off, so sorry you are dealing with this. Please read some of the things in the Healing Library. And take care of yourself by drinking water and eating when you can. You have a baby to worry about now, not just yourself, though I'm sure you're already thinking about that.
There is an entire thread in the I Can Relate forum regarding Emotionless Infidelity that you might find helpful, but first, let's discuss what you've posted here.
I was married to an undiagnosed sex addict for 2 years, we were together for close to 5 years before marriage. He was a compulsive masturbator, and while I found a few suspicious calls/texts with escorts over the years, he always explained them away as something else.
He had 2 daughters, my step daughters, who lived with us full time. He too had almost no time that was unaccounted for, when he wasn't at home, he was at work, when not at work he was home with us, and even if I wasn't home, I trusted that he was always home with his daughters. We were also trying at the time that I discovered his affair. Fortunately for me, I did not get pregnant, as I ended up finding out about his drug habits as well.
I tell you all of this to let you know that I have been through a very similar situation. I too thought he treated me better than anyone else did. I too desperately wanted a baby with him. I too thought there was no way he would betray me, nor would he have any time to. Our kids were excited about us trying for a kid. We were also all talking about buying a home.
But there are other similarities here. My XH also told me that he did not know how the numbers got in his phone. Is it possible that somebody hacked into his phone and planted an escort's phone number there? Sure, it's possible. But it's not plausible. After we separated, I discovered dozens of calls to different escorts. He had let his guard down and was less discrete because now that I was out of the house, he thought he could get away with whatever he wanted. He didn't realize I still had access to all of our phone bills. The point is, I was dubious regarding his contact with escorts as well. I believed his lies for many years. But I ultimately learned, when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.
Regarding not having time away from home to do something - people will make time for things that they deem a priority in their lives. He has already made time to text other women, as well as look up and contact escorts. I would not put it past him to make the time to meet up with them.
Gently, you have already caught him texting another woman before. His responses to her were that he did not want his wife to know that he is cheating. And regardless of if their relationship was ever physical, it WAS cheating.
Same with communication with escorts. That is cheating, even if he NEVER met up with them. Though in all likelihood, your gut instinct is correct - why contact an escort if you don't intend to follow through with a meet up? Especially given that one of these girls had texted him the address to a hotel. He can say all he wants that he didn't know the number and it somehow got into his phone, but escorts don't give up their locations unless they see a chance to close a transaction.
His attitude towards you says it all - he is annoyed that you keep bringing this up, because he does not want to deal with the consequences of his actions. He would rather you rugsweep everything and pretend like none of this ever happened. That is not what remorse looks like, not even a little bit.
My suggestions are the typical ones:
- Get yourself into counseling. Seek out someone who has experience with infidelity, who knows that infidelity is a trauma.
- Get yourself STD tested. Remember that when you go in, you are going to have to be very specific that you want a FULL panel - the typical ones like gonorrhea and herpes of course, but you need the full gamut including HIV and hepatitis. Tell them that you are dealing with infidelity and that you want to make sure you are 100% in the clear. I know it can be embarrassing, but they will understand. I brought my mom with me to my appointment, and it helped to have someone there who could advocate for me when my mind was a mess. You will want to get the full test not just for yourself, but for the baby as well. Certain STDs will determine whether you can give birth vaginally or not, and the more serious ones may require treatment while you are pregnant to help prevent the baby from contracting anything.
- insist that your husband is tested for STDs as well
- no sex with your husband until you have both been cleared. Any affair puts you at risk, but escorts have been around the block, and you are at much higher risk in this situation, especially given your pregnancy.
IF you feel you want this relationship to continue, that is your choice. But you are going to have to make some strong moves here. Make a list of the things you need to feel safe in your relationship again. Your husband's opinions on these things is irrelevant, this is all about what YOU need. Some of the things many people ask for below:
- complete transparency with all devices and social media. Meaning you have access to his phone, computer, ipad, apple watch, and all social media accounts at all times. Any time you want to see it, he hands it over immediately, no questions asked.
- full STD testing as mentioned above
- he writes out a complete timeline of any and all contact he has had with any other women (or men) that he had any inappropriate contact with, whether that be texting, online, phone conversations, meet ups, touching, kissing, oral, sex etc. Tell him if he can't remember the details, he'd better do the research to figure it out. He is perfectly capable of going through phone records to provide this information to you - you should not have to be the only one doing the digging
- a polygraph to confirm details of the timeline. Schedule it, and tell him if he decides not to go, then R is off the table. If he lies during the poly, R is also off the table. You will likely find that he will give you what is called a "parking lot confession." Right before the test, he will confess to things he had not previously discussed with you in a last ditch effort to make you believe that you have all of the info, so that he doesn't have to take the test. Even if he does this, make him take the polygraph anyway.
- he needs to get into therapy as well. This would involve him actually owning up to the behavior though, which he is currently not doing.
- absolutely no marriage counseling until much later down the line. MC is about how to save the marriage. He broke the marriage, and now it's time to decide whether or not a new one can be built. Only IC will help you each gain the clarity you need to figure out if that is possible.
If I were you, I would postpone buying a house right now. If this ends up in divorce, the last thing you need is a huge financial entanglement. This doesn't mean you can't buy a house later on down the line if things improve, but doing it now while you are still unsure of where your relationship is headed puts you in a bind.
Again, so sorry that you are here. Others will be along to give you more advice. Reach out here when you need it, we all know how terrible it is. You will survive this!