I think she should move on. If she really wants a child of her own and she misses the opportunity it will cause hurt and resentment that will tear them apart eventually anyway.
You are right, being a step mother is not the same thing. I am a step mother, but my role is not the same as his bio moms.

I am the author of this post. Yes, telling me that we should have discussed this prior to getting married is no help to me now…

Here is a little more background. First, I don’t know why it says 3 times a week. I think that was some sort of auto correct issue. I’ve been trying to convince him for 3 years. That is what I meant to say.

Secondly, there are several factors here. He had told me early in our relationship that he would love to have children with me, and I held onto that much longer than I should have. He had a vasectomy. I should have known.

We had gone to counseling for several different reasons, one being this one. He didn’t want another child, and I was convinced that our marriage was over because I just can’t handle that. The urge is unbelievably strong. Somehow he managed to convince me, and I managed to convince myself, that maybe it was still possible. The counselor put me on antidepressants which made my marriage situation easier to handle. She told me to leave him, that he will never truly care for anyone but himself, especially regarding me. Perhaps that was the wrong thing to do. He hinted and “dangled” the carrot in front of me to keep me around and avoid another uncomfortable confrontation, and all that did was make it worse. I continued to believe what he was telling me, that if he could get a less stressful job, live in a better neighborhood, and I find suitable work too, that we’d be able to do it. Once we accomplished all those things is when I found out it just wasn’t going to happen.

See… I’m emotionally invested in our marriage, but I cannot stop with this primal need to have a child. And I can’t seem to handle the fact that he simply refuses to help me with it. He’s willing to let me crumble, or walk away, than to give in. Yet I know he shouldn’t have to “give in.” But neither should I.

The need for a child has morphed into several different things, and the root of it for me, and the reason I am leaving him, is because this is something i need, something that is destroying me, and he is not willing to even try. Because he doesn’t want to be a father again, I don’t ever get to be a mother, and he’s ok with that. The fact that he’s ok with that is what’s destroying me.

So, I’m ok with leaving and still living my life childless, and possibly alone, because I’d rather be alone than to remain married to someone who is willing to watch me suffer and do nothing about it. I would rather suffer alone.

Thank you all for your advice. I know what I need to do now.

I don’t think it follows that he was “lying” to her to keep her in the relationship. A lot of people struggle with these kinds of issues. They go back and forth on it. It’s very possible that he though that once their life together was fine he’d be able to. Many women enter marriage thinking that they’d be OK not having children and then decide it’s a dealbreaker. It doesn’t mean that they were tricking their husbands.

Actually, on second thought it doesn’t really matter.

Are you saying he had had a vasectomy and lied to you about it? If so, what Skyblossom said.

I call it lying because he said he would love to have children with her and then after they were married gave a list of things that had to happen before having kids. He was just buying time before finally having to say he didn’t want kids. Once the list was complete he still didn’t want kids and I think that he was just lying in several different ways. He doesn’t seem to be agonizing over this decision and wavering. He told her what he had to early in the relationship to keep her in the relationship. Then when they were married he used the delaying tactics instead of just being honest at that point. I’d love to know when he had the vasectomy.