I know I'm not quite 25 yet, but I need help from men who are in the trenches so to speak.
First, a little backstory.
I'm 24, and my girlfriend is 25. We've known each other since we were 7 and had a little "playground relationship", she moved away for a while, and then came back. I asked her out again and we've been together for 6 years, now living together for 5, and have a 4 year old and an 8 month old together.
We are planning to get married, but there's a little hitch on my end: When she got pregnant with our first child, sex went out the window, and hasn't returned.
Now, I understand that a woman's hormones can change, and that she may lose the desire to have sex, but she's mentioned to me that she still masturbates, and this is after saying "We don't have sex because I don't like sex anymore." She's given me about 10 different excuses as to why, ranging from "I'm tired all the time," to "You need to show me more romance." I've tried showing more romance. If I beg, sure, I'll get sex, but she says "If you're not done in 5 minutes, that's it" and then she'll just lay there like a corpse. And THIS only occurs once a month, after I've promised to buy her something.
There also was a period of time, when she turned 21, that she went out and started partying, claiming that she wasn't ready to settle down and be a mother and a wife. During this time, she was hanging out with this guy, and almost slept with him, but due to my snooping through a left-open text message, I was able to put a stop to it (as far as I know, anyway...)
She clearly isn't interested anymore (I've gained weight since settling into Dad/Husband mode, and I'm currently unemployed), and that's the real problem, but she doesn't have the heart to tell me that because that means splitting up the family. So, here's my question.
Do I simply stop asking for sex? Do I cheat? Do I leave? If I can fix this, how do I do it? Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post!
tl;dr: 24/m, 25/f, 6 year LTR, 2 kids, once per month sex after purchase. What do?
First, a little backstory.
I'm 24, and my girlfriend is 25. We've known each other since we were 7 and had a little "playground relationship", she moved away for a while, and then came back. I asked her out again and we've been together for 6 years, now living together for 5, and have a 4 year old and an 8 month old together.
We are planning to get married, but there's a little hitch on my end: When she got pregnant with our first child, sex went out the window, and hasn't returned.
Now, I understand that a woman's hormones can change, and that she may lose the desire to have sex, but she's mentioned to me that she still masturbates, and this is after saying "We don't have sex because I don't like sex anymore." She's given me about 10 different excuses as to why, ranging from "I'm tired all the time," to "You need to show me more romance." I've tried showing more romance. If I beg, sure, I'll get sex, but she says "If you're not done in 5 minutes, that's it" and then she'll just lay there like a corpse. And THIS only occurs once a month, after I've promised to buy her something.
There also was a period of time, when she turned 21, that she went out and started partying, claiming that she wasn't ready to settle down and be a mother and a wife. During this time, she was hanging out with this guy, and almost slept with him, but due to my snooping through a left-open text message, I was able to put a stop to it (as far as I know, anyway...)
She clearly isn't interested anymore (I've gained weight since settling into Dad/Husband mode, and I'm currently unemployed), and that's the real problem, but she doesn't have the heart to tell me that because that means splitting up the family. So, here's my question.
Do I simply stop asking for sex? Do I cheat? Do I leave? If I can fix this, how do I do it? Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post!
tl;dr: 24/m, 25/f, 6 year LTR, 2 kids, once per month sex after purchase. What do?