Well, I’m not sure where to start…I’m 30 years old & in March 2010 while I was 7 months pregnant, got out of a horrible year & a half long relationship that included verbal, mental, emotional & one incident of physical abuse. Things got bad within a few weeks of the relationship starting, but it became hell after I found out I was pregnant & then at 5 months pregnant when during an ultrasound, we found out that the baby had a hole in his heart (that he will be having open heart surgery for in early September). My ex would make fun of me & mock me while I was throwing up from morning sickness, told me he was going to kill my cats by snapping their necks in front of me to “toughen me up”, threw one of my cats against a closet door numerous times, would threaten to break my fingers or slap me if I didn’t clean up properly or do dishes, threw objects in my direction, made sexual comments about my 15 year old female cousin, told me I wasn’t allowed to have pain meds during childbirth because his sister didn’t, tried to prevent me from going to ultrasound appointments that were monitoring the baby’s heart health, told me if I didn’t get an abortion he would hire a lawyer to clear him of any parental responsibility, his mother (an alcoholic who had tried to kidnap another one of her grandchildren!) would call me every time she found out I went to a friend or relative’s house & yell at me saying I had no right to take her grandchild away without asking her first (this was while I was pregnant-not sure how else I could go somewhere without the baby!)…I could go on and on…all this while pregnant and working a 44-hour a week job.I had just got out of an 8 year relationship when I rebounded into this one, and I had no clue about warning signs to look for, etc. But I knew something wasn’t right. During one doctor’s appointment I broke down & just started crying & crying & found the courage to tell my doctor what I was experiencing. She had me meet right away with a social worker, and if it wasn’t for these 2 women I would never have found the strength to leave. On March 2nd, I packed my bag with clothes & sentimental things, got in my car & drove 4 hours to my parents place, never going back…After I left his mother starting calling & leaving threatening messages directed at my mom & we had to get police involved who advised me to get restraining orders against both him & his mother. The police contacted both of them, and if they try to contact me again they face criminal charges.There’s so much to share here about the abuse, but I just feel so ashamed that I let things go as far as they did! Right now all I can worry about is how will I explain this to my son when he’s older! I also feel that as a single mother in my early 30s that went thru this abuse, that I will be single the rest of my life, my situation isn’t something a man would want to get involved in!Well thanks for reading, if anyone has advice or comments that would be good, thank you…