Husband Flirting With Female Co-Worker

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Hi all - hoping I can get some good advice re: my situation…

My husband and I have been married for only 11 months and just had our first child almost 2 months ago. As you can see, we got pregnant right away…such a wonderful blessing that God has bestowed on us!!!

A few months ago, just after the baby was born, I happened to see my husband at home texting with a person in his phone labeled as “HR.” I thought that was odd that he had only their initials entered into his phone…and got an uneasy feeling. I was able to figure out who this person was by looking at the number and a few texts talking about what they were up to that weekend…it was a female co-worker of his around his age. My heart dropped. He was sitting at home with his recovering wife and a brand new baby texting this woman about things not even related to work! He must know it’s wrong if he has labeled her with only her initials…and, I noticed, deletes their text messages usually right away. It made me get to thinking back to if there were any times where I suspected something was going on. Just a month prior he went to a work-sponsored happy hour and stayed out until 2am. He never stayed out late for those things and would usually say how he dreaded them and just wanted to come home after work. When it started getting late, I texted and called and couldn’t get a hold of him and worried that something was wrong. Then he called right before 2am and said he was on his way home. When he got home he had a story about all the young co-workers of his that are on his team being too intoxicated to drive and he stayed and made sure they got cab rides home. I felt like he wasn’t being completely honest with me, just a gut feeling. And he seemed overly sorry, like something else had happened. The story just didn’t fit. So going back to when I discovered he was texting with “HR”… I logged into our cell phone provider’s website and checked the call and texts logs for his number. I found that they had been texting for the last 2 months and A LOT. There was texting during work and on week nights and weekends…sometimes until 12:30-1am. They would text when I was around and when I was out of town, usually more during this time. I checked the night of the happy hour and saw they were texting then…I guess during happy hour? He also made a call to her after he had called me to say he was coming home! I was devastated and needed to know what their conversations were about and if it was more than friendly. I did some snooping on his work email and found some flirty emails between the two. Nothing too incriminating but some comments were made that I was not comfortable with, especially with him being a married man! He also found me on his computer and questioned what I was doing and seemed a bit nervous… he has never done this before.

I am completely okay with my husband having relationships on a more personal level with his co-workers. But this one just doesn’t seem right. Frequently texting outside of work? Calling each other at 2am after a happy hour? My husband gets along well with women; he has a lot of women friends…maybe because he grew up with four sisters. I’ve always been fine with these relationships and have never noticed any flirting.

Would you say this is an emotional affair? I don’t get it. Our marriage is great. For goodness sakes we’ve only been married for less than a year!! Isn’t this the “honeymoon period”?? We don’t have any communication issues. We are both very caring and supportive of each other. We joke around a lot like best friends. We tell each other everything (except he is keeping this from me and that makes me sick to my stomach). The thing that we are lacking in, though, is intimacy. We haven’t had sex since we found out I was pregnant (I had horrible morning sickness, was not allowed to have sex for a few months for a medical reason and then was too big and too uncomfortable). My husband is a wonderful Catholic man and has great will power (no sex before marriage). I would think that he would not go out and look for something physical outside of our relationship. But I have wondered if this relationship he has with this woman could blossom into something more physical because he isn’t “being satisfied” at home. Before we got married, our relationship started out through email when we worked together, then texts, then phone calls, etc… and he seems to be going down the same path with this woman!

How would you approach this situation? I know I need to talk to him and have been thinking about it a lot; it really has been bothering me. I’m not overreacting, am I? I feel like this is something I (he) needs to nip in the bud asap. But I worry he won’t end it because they work so closely together on their account. I also worry about what he will say about my snooping. Should I tell him I checked the cell phone text log and looked at his work emails? I had to to know if this was something more than just a friendly work relationship.

Have been doing a lot of praying and would also appreciate any advice, (name removed by moderator)ut… thanks so much. God Bless.
 
Yes, it’s an inappropriate relationship. Whether it’s “emotional” or has turned physical- I don’t know.

Is your husband controlling, violent, has he ever threatened you…I ask because men can turn violent went accused. If he is, or could be, do not do so alone or in an isolated area.

I would confront him immediatedly. This is totally wrong and must stop. Additionally, I would contact someone to support you- you will need it.

I am sorry- this is awful, but does not mean your marriage is over. Is he Catholic? Practicing? If so, call a deacon or priest you trust.

What is his personality like normally? I emphasis this because sometimes women marry one person and get another- google narcissism and symptoms.

A good Catholic man does not do what he is doing. We are our actions, not our words.
 
talk to your priest ,any advice contrary to this that you would get online is nonsense.i do not know you or your husband,and neither does anyone else on this site.
 
April-

It doesn’t take a psychologist or priest to figure out what covert texts and calls mean to a female co-worker, esp. at 2am.
 
talk to your priest ,any advice contrary to this that you would get online is nonsense.i do not know you or your husband,and neither does anyone else on this site.
Her priest may not know him either. I go to Mass weekly but I do not know my priest on a personal level.

OP, simply ask him to stop. It’s one thing if he needs to communicate with co-workers after work hours for business, but it doesn’t seem to be the case from what you are saying. It does not matter if it is “innocent” chat or not. If he is a good Catholic man, he will understand and respect your request. I would do the same if a spouse asked it of me.
 
Her priest may not know him either. I go to Mass weekly but I do not know my priest on a personal level.

OP, simply ask him to stop. It’s one thing if he needs to communicate with co-workers after work hours for business, but it doesn’t seem to be the case from what you are saying. It does not matter if it is “innocent” chat or not. If he is a good Catholic man, he will understand and respect your request. I would do the same if a spouse asked it of me.
I would go with this. If he is unwilling to stop then I would be talking to my priest.
 
Speaking as a husband of just over a year and with a young baby, I feel bad for you but want to re-assure you also.

Just because the marriage is young and you are in that honeymoon, doesn’t mean it is immune from temptation, especially where pregnancy is involved because of the physical and mental changes on husband and wife.

I would suggest this woman is offering him a bit of a lease of life and he may be enjoying the attention he gets from her. Nothing suggests a physical affair has certainly been happening but your husband needs to realize for himself that he is endangering your marriage and his own spiritual well-being. Confronting him is not going to be conducive to trust for either of you.

Speaking for myself, I have female friends and sometimes notice temptation. But I adore my wife and could not bring myself to hurt her not to mention God. I deal with the temptation by spending quality time with my wife, talking to her about my feelings and through prayer. I hope your husband can do the same and may God bless you both. None of us are perfect, but we can try to be.

From your own point of view, maybe try to have something that resembles a fun date, nothing major, and involving baby too if necessary. Try to be relaxed. Be strong. Don’t let yourself get neurotic. See how he responds. If he says nothing, maybe bring it up in an open way. But make sure your husband is able to enjoy you and his baby, so that if he has guilt, it will rise to the surface.

Ultimately though, in a good marriage there should be honesty and trust. When the time feels right, open your heart to him, be totally honest and make him understand where you are coming from and say how important trust is. He may be defensive, but you know how to talk to him better than we here can advise. You will want to be prepared for him being offended, rightly or wrongly, that you checked up on him. Be humble and calm and make him understand.

This is simply humble advice and not a substitute for seeing a priest or sister.
 
A couple of thoughts:

a) Yes, you should confront him and ask him to stop messaging this person on a personal level. It’s very innapropriate of him, and by your account he seems to know that already.

b) It seems like a long time since you two have had sex. So you got married, fell pregnant, stopped having sex once you knew you were pregnant, and haven’t had sex since. So is it about 9 months since you last had sex? I think you need to realise the importance of sex with regard to the unifying effect it has on marriage. So far you’ve had a bit of sex and experienced the procreative element, but you need to reinforce the unitive element again…and again…and again. The “honeymoon” phase of a young marriage should be full of loving sex as much as is possible/reasonable; your husband may be finding marriage to be very different than expected. I know 2 months after giving birth is quite soon, but if you are up to it physically, then consider it.
 
Definitely inappropriate and I feel for you, I really do. I know it’s a horrible feeling snooping around, but clearly his behaviour has made you nervous, and coupled with the need for feelings of security in the home during pregnancy, I would have done the exact same as you. I don’t think lack of intimacy for the reasons you have given can or should ever be seen as a way of justifying a man “looking elsewhere”.

So you need to talk, and if he is a man of faith, (my husband isn’t for example) you need to sit down and from a faith-filled context, talk about what has been happening, ask him does he think it’s appropriate and look for a way to move forward - basically he needs to stop the out of hours contact with her. If he doesn’t see anything wrong with it, ask him if it would seem wrong the other way around, if it was you doing the out of hours texting to a male friend or colleague. My husband is the sort that unless I turn the tables on him and say, “well if I behaved this way, would you think it was alright?”, only then can he see that actually his behaviour is damaging to the marriage. You can apologise for your side of the snooping, but at the same time, explain that in the circumstances (baby on the way, needing hubbie to be a pillar of support, hormones going crazy), your behaviour was quite natural.

Please keep us updated. Prayers for you.
 
I am so sorry you are going through this. When someone doesn’t want their spouse to hear, see or know what is going on that is a problem. This flirtation may not have become physical but there is obviously an inappropriate emotional relationship going on. When one is married he/she shouldn’t act like they are single. Yes, he has to deal with her for business. Yes, he has to talk to her regularly about business. No, he doesn’t need to talk to her or text her well into the night. No, he doesn’t have to attend happy hour if you aren’t with him. Even if it is all innocent it can turn into something else in a heartbeat.

He has to understand that this is inappropriate and must stop. Even if he doesn’t agree it’s inappropriate he should stop it because it is causing you pain. The two of you need to get into counseling now before it is too late. It can have a domino effect. His actions concern you so you snoop. You see the history on-line. He knows this and he gets a prepaid cell so you can’t check and gets sneakier. You get desperate to find out more and your marriage is destroyed.

My prayers are with you.
 
I would not confront him head on. This could easily be something he has slippes into without realizing the direction, unthinking.

A lot of times when baby is born, life revolves around the baby, and a lot of times the mother is the most involved with the baby. It just happens. Ratherthan confront your husband, I would start doing little things for him, talking with him more instead of doing housework while the baby sleeps, arrange for special dinners or date nights if you can find a babysitter.

Also, he seems to be very confortable texting and emailing, so maybe you could increase that aspect of your relationship again?

And somewhere along the line maybe mention about a case you heard similar to yours to maybe get him to think about what he is doing.

It has been a difficult time for the both of you, i would suggest mentioning how much you have missed this aspect with him, and when the doctor says you can “reconnect” with your husband, I’d make it a big deal.

I would suggest all this not because I think he is not doing something wrong, but because you want to make yourself more attractive than HR. Confronting him will not do that. Examing your relationship and your husband and seeing what is best to strengthen your relationship with your husband would be, I think, the best way to go *at this point. *

Annie (married with 4 children)
 
Well, if your communication is what you say it is, then yes you need to talk to him and give him a chance to clear it up. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Tell him you looked at the texts, the emails…if he is a good Catholic man, then you two will fix this.

He needs to know how this makes you insecure and unsettled.
 
Definitely inappropriate and I feel for you, I really do. I know it’s a horrible feeling snooping around, but clearly his behaviour has made you nervous, and coupled with the need for feelings of security in the home during pregnancy, I would have done the exact same as you. I don’t think lack of intimacy for the reasons you have given can or should ever be seen as a way of justifying a man “looking elsewhere”.
If it walks like a duck, it is a duck … NIP IT IN THE BUD now.
 
I would not confront him head on. This could easily be something he has slippes into without realizing the direction, unthinking.

A lot of times when baby is born, life revolves around the baby, and a lot of times the mother is the most involved with the baby. It just happens. Ratherthan confront your husband, I would start doing little things for him, talking with him more instead of doing housework while the baby sleeps, arrange for special dinners or date nights if you can find a babysitter.

Also, he seems to be very confortable texting and emailing, so maybe you could increase that aspect of your relationship again?

And somewhere along the line maybe mention about a case you heard similar to yours to maybe get him to think about what he is doing.

It has been a difficult time for the both of you, i would suggest mentioning how much you have missed this aspect with him, and when the doctor says you can “reconnect” with your husband, I’d make it a big deal.

I would suggest all this not because I think he is not doing something wrong, but because you want to make yourself more attractive than HR. Confronting him will not do that. Examing your relationship and your husband and seeing what is best to strengthen your relationship with your husband would be, I think, the best way to go *at this point. *

Annie (married with 4 children)
Agree with every word.
 
If it walks like a duck, it is a duck … NIP IT IN THE BUD now.
Or it could be a swan that was raised by ducks.
The viewing of hubby’s texts is disgusting and dishonest.
Wife should likely “upgrade” her own flirting skills - NOW.
 
I would not confront him head on. This could easily be something he has slippes into without realizing the direction, unthinking.

A lot of times when baby is born, life revolves around the baby, and a lot of times the mother is the most involved with the baby. It just happens. Ratherthan confront your husband, I would start doing little things for him, talking with him more instead of doing housework while the baby sleeps, arrange for special dinners or date nights if you can find a babysitter.

Also, he seems to be very confortable texting and emailing, so maybe you could increase that aspect of your relationship again?

And somewhere along the line maybe mention about a case you heard similar to yours to maybe get him to think about what he is doing.

It has been a difficult time for the both of you, i would suggest mentioning how much you have missed this aspect with him, and when the doctor says you can “reconnect” with your husband, I’d make it a big deal.

I would suggest all this not because I think he is not doing something wrong, but because you want to make yourself more attractive than HR. Confronting him will not do that. Examing your relationship and your husband and seeing what is best to strengthen your relationship with your husband would be, I think, the best way to go *at this point. *

Annie (married with 4 children)
I agree that this DEFINITELY needs to be PART of your approach.
But I do think it’s important to actually confront him on the issue.
What you have posted WITHOUT A DOUBT crosses lines.
Time frames are inappropriate. DELETING the txts is inappropriate. These are smoking guns.

I think sincerity is necessary.
I think being honest with where you are in life (just had a baby) is important.
I think apologizing for any lack of attention you may be showing him (now matter how warranted it may be with the baby) is prudent. He may need to hear this. Remove any potential for (even unwarranted) guilt on your part. Don’t hesitate.
“I love you. I know I’ve been busy with the baby. I’m sorry if we aren’t as close as we should be right now.”

Then… it’s up to him.
 
I still think it’s crazy to presume anything until you talk to him.
 
Or it could be a swan that was raised by ducks.
The viewing of hubby’s texts is disgusting and dishonest.
Wife should likely “upgrade” her own flirting skills - NOW.
As one who has been there I looked at it as a necessary evil. My ex was telling me that his conversations were innocent. After a few months and a complete change in his personality I too felt the need to snoop. He was very good at deleting everything. I’m not stupid, you don’t talk to someone at 2AM and 4AM and all through out the day and have it completely innocent. The funny thing is that what I found, I found by accident. I went on-line to transfer some money from his checking account to his savings. There it was in black and white. A hotel charge that day in a town 4 hours from where he was supposed to be, but really close to where the women he was talking to lives. hmmmmm I told him to get out. The night b/f he left I found out he had a prepaid cell which is why nothing showed up on-line for his regular cell phone.

Has her husband crossed the line completely and is having a physical relationship? I have no idea. I do know that he has now broken her trust. If it’s all innocent he should be willing to have her see all correspondence with this person. The bottom line is that he shouldn’t have any type of relationship with another woman other than business that doesn’t include his wife. Her hormones and emotions are all over the place right now with just having a baby. He should be doing everything to make her feel loved. His actions are making her insecure in her marriage. I see that as a big problem.
 
I still think it’s crazy to presume anything until you talk to him.
Not “crazy”… not at ALL.

People socialize… that’s normal.
During the day at work, laughing over lunch, sending txt’s about your whereabouts (“In late today”, “We’re headed to lunch”, etc)… very normal.
Guys txt’ing their work buddies over the weekend and late nights is cool too. Same with female friends. All healthy and normal behaviors. Those types of things you don’t HIDE from your SPOUSE!

But this seems to cross all those lines.
Male/female.
Late hours/weekends.
DELETING txts.

Too many red flags.

Physical relationship? Obviously no evidence.
Emotional? Without a doubt.
 
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