HORRIFIC
Danielle Powell, 28, from Somerset, thought she’d met the man of her dreams...
*NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED.
Packing my shopping into bags, I picked them up and headed outside with my mum Amanda.
As we walked out of Iceland and started to head down the road, someone called Mum’s name. We both turned around.
‘Oh, hi!’ Mum said, as her friend Sue* came over.
There was a bloke with her, and he looked shy.
I noticed him giving me the eye though.
‘This is my cousin, Alan,’ Sue said.
We stood chatting for a few minutes, then said our goodbyes – I didn’t think much more of it.
But a few days later,
I had a friend request on Facebook. It was from Alan Barney.
Hi, I’m the bloke from Iceland, he wrote. Sue told me your name.
I realised I was falling for him
I was a bit taken aback, but intrigued by him. We got talking, and I thought Alan was sweet and funny.
He was covered in tattoos and had a bit of a bad boy vibe, but there was a softer side to him.
At 22, he was five years older than me, but we just clicked.
Within a week, we’d made plans to meet up.
Sat in Subway, chatting over a foot-long sandwich and sipping on a Coke, I realised I was falling for him – and from there, it was a whirlwind. Mum was wary of Alan, but she’d been like that with all of my boyfriends before, too.
In December 2014, after dating for just a month, we ended up moving in together.
And in January 2015, I found out I was pregnant.
I was over the moon.
Ever since I was little, I’d always wanted to be a mum.
And the year before, in a previous relationship, I’d gone through a miscarriage – so this felt like fate. ‘Are you excited?’ I asked Alan, but he just grunted back.
I was a bit disheartened by his response.
But despite his lack of enthusiasm, Alan was so supportive and sweet.
I suffered with bad morning sickness and high blood pressure and I was in and out of hospital, but Alan came with me to every appointment.
He was the perfect boyfriend and dad-to-be throughout.
And on 5 October 2015, our baby boy Harry* finally came into the world.
‘Hello, baby,’ I whispered, stroking his soft cheeks.
But after the birth I started to haemorrhage, and then doctors found that the left side of my heart was enlarged due to my pregnancy.
I had to stay in hospital for two weeks, and Alan barely left my side.
But back at home, everything changed.
Alan barely lifted a finger, and despite still recovering from a traumatic hospital stay, I had to do everything.
He refused to do any feeds or changes for the baby, or do any housework.
