Hi everyone, I’m 21F and I’m typing this at 8:45 AM because I haven't slept a wink and I can't stop crying. I just really need to let this all out.
About two months ago, my ex-boyfriend (26M) and I started having major disagreements because he wanted to get married and I didn't want to live with his parents afterward. We decided it was best to split, but we loved each other so much that we couldn't fully break it off. But I could tell he was getting bitter toward me.
I’m naturally a pretty playful, non-serious girl who just likes to have fun, and I think he initially liked that about me compared to his ex. But soon after our argument, I caught him talking to his ex again. When I confronted him, he wasn't even sorry—he claimed I had done the same thing to him in the past (which wasn't true, I just had male friends, but I cut everyone off for him anyway). I couldn't take it, so I officially ended things in early June.
Then on June 18th, I found out I was pregnant. By that point, he was already officially back together with his ex.
What followed was a total nightmare. After endless blood tests (pricked almost a 50 times) and ultrasounds (6?) , it turned out to be an ectopic pregnancy, which my doctor said was life-threatening. I tried the medical treatment first and spent 4 days in the hospital dealing with awful side effects—pain, bleeding, ulcers, extreme fatigue, and severe gas pain. When that failed, I had to be rushed into surgery (another 3d at hospital. They had to remove my fallopian tube, and the doctor told me my remaining tube doesn't look great either, meaning this could happen to me again in the future.
My ex actually stayed by my side through the whole medical emergency and helped out financially, which I was grateful for, even though he was insensitive at times. But because everything happened so fast, I never even got the chance to process or grieve losing my baby. I just bottled everything up.
Fast forward to a few days ago. Going through all that trauma together brought us close again, even though we tried to keep boundaries because of his new girlfriend. But I’d be lying if I said I didn't still love him deeply. I couldn't move on like he did. So in a moment of total vulnerability, I asked him what we were, told him I loved him, and begged for him back. He said no.
So, I decided I had no choice but to try and heal.
Six days after my surgery, after being trapped in my house and completely consumed by grief, I just wanted to feel normal for two hours. I decided to go watch a movie with a male friend just to get out of the house. When my ex found out, he completely lost it. He started blowing up my phone, angry that I didn't just go straight home, saying I was disrespecting him and choosing another guy over him. when all I was doing was trying to save my own sanity.
He kept me up all night arguing, screaming that I ruined his "happy, peaceful life" with his girlfriend, and that my pregnancy ruined everything for him. Then he turned around and accused me of lying, saying it probably wasn't even his baby (which hurt so badly, because I have literally never been with anyone else). He called me horrible names.
Hearing those words come out of the mouth of the person I loved so deeply, the father of the baby I just lost, absolutely destroyed me.
Now, even though we aren't together and he is actively dating his ex, he told me that if I want any peace, I have to follow his rules:
- I can never go to a movie theater again.
- I cannot go anywhere with any man.
- I am not allowed to go to the gym.
- I cannot go to any university or outside events.
I feel so much shame, guilt, and confusion. A rational part of me knows I need to grab whatever tiny scrap of self-respect I have left and run away from him forever. But another part of me feels so broken and traumatized that I find myself wanting to apologize and accept his crazy demands, just to stop the pain even though I know going to a movie wasn't wrong.
I lost my baby, a part of my physical body, and my self-worth all in eight weeks. I feel so utterly humiliated and defeated, and I don't know how to move forward from here.