Sounds like drama.
Here's my read. You said she was needy. We're all needy, but we often wind up with people who need different things. Life's cruel joke. There are 5 categories of need:
- Physical touch - proximity, touch, sex
Service - cook, earn money, watch the kid
Quality Time - let's sit and talk (no TV, no poker)
Encouragement - "your so strong", "I love that about you", etc.
Gifts - "I was thinking of you so I picked up this bag of m&m's" -- yes, that simple.
We usually are experts in one or two of these and suck at the others. We usually want one or two of these and give the same away to others we love. We we first start a relationship, we do all 5 to impress each other, and it lasts about 2 years, then we fall back to our favorite.
Have you been together about two to three years? Her bucket is empty, her well is dry. She's told you different ways. You're sensing it. You can pretend it is "her fault" for having a leaky bucket. Maybe your bucket is empty too. You gotta figure out which of the 5 things she's asking for and just give it two her. Once her bucket is full, tell her what you need to fill your bucket.
If you don't fill her bucket, she'll get it filled elsewhere, or you'll split. You'll spend the next 17 years paying for a kid that you don't see enough, and the 17 years after that, wishing you'd spent more time with the kid the first 17 years. Hopefully the first 17 years don't involve your lady hooking up with a pedophile. Separation and starting over may be
de rigor for the 21st century, but it's a poor financial decision, a poor parenting decision, and pretty painful for everyone involved.