I am pregnant and have developed a phobia of my own home, help!

[MrsFrederick123]

My husband and I recently found out we are expecting our first child, days after moving into a new house in a new area. Ever since, I have developed an unbearable hatred of the house and everything in it, the smells, the floors, the doors, everything!

I dread the thought of going home from work every day and just feel that I can't relax until we live somewhere else. My hubby thinks I'm crazy as we haven't even finished unpacking yet. I'v even been staying at my mums whenever possible and it's affecting our marriage.

I just want out NOW, why am I like this??

:'(

It's a lot of change.

It also could be your hormones

It probably doesn't feel like yours yet, just some place that is weird and different and not home and full of stuff still to do. Your mum's feels comfortable and familiar, plus you don't need to unpack stuff there.

Are there things you can do to make it feel more like your own place? Put carpets/rugs on the floors, replace the annoying doors (if you own it), fill it full of your own stuff.

Pregnancy makes smell especially seem different - I usually love the smell of coffee and cut grass, but they both made me feel nauseous in early pregnancy. Could it be something like that affecting your senses and magnifying everything?

Definitely your senses are enhanced during pregnancy. I had a friend who felt she could detect the slightest hint of B.O. on various people at work or in shops. She would gag all the time poor thing! It's very unfortunate that it's your own home though, you poor thing! I agree with pterdodactyl, try making some changes to the home and see how you feel, maybe start with just one room and turn it into a bit of a sanctuary?

Don't panic I actually think this is quite normal. How pregnant are you? I ask because I'm 16wks at the moment and I feel similarly about my house.

We've lived here about a year but it was a do-er up-er and it's still not finished so it's not quite completely feeling like ours at the moment. Because of this there are rooms I can't even go in! I definitely have a heightened sense of smell at the moment but also, the whole house smells weird and HORRID to me now. DH says he can't smell any different. & when we moved in we did proper hardcore cleaning scrubbing ceilings, walls, stripping everything out so it really can't be the smell of previous residents - it must just be that my smelling senses have changed!

I don't think it's permanent because I LOVED the house before and all that we'd worked on. I think it's a crazy pregnancy blip!

Also, because the house isn't "finished" I'm finding it hard to imagine a baby in here and how we are going to "nest". Deep down I know that it doesn't matter if it's not all perfect straight away - but it doesn't relieve the panic!

I am still getting really bad sickness which also means I don't have the energy to do anything about my fears. But I am hoping that later on in the pregnancy I will get this nesting feeling everyone talks of and will start adjusting things in the house accordingly.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted you to know you're not the only one! & especially if you're fairly early on in the pregnancy you're still getting used to the idea, so it's lots of new things at once! As tough as it may be at first I think you should ride it out, concentrate on making baby happy and you'll feel strong enough to battle the house in time.

Good luck and congratulations!

I went through this, too. Just like Bebop I HATED the way our house smelled, the only room I could bear to be in was our bedroom, and it wasn't that I actively liked being in the bedroom, it was just that I had terrible HG and couldn't face getting out of bed for the first few months.

I'm now 26 weeks and just about getting over it. I did actually go and look at alternative houses to rent but have decided to stick it out here for the time being.

Can you try to focus on turning one room into somewhere you feel comfortable and happy? Either the bedroom or the living room? Unpacking will help if you can bear it.

Are there any cleaning products/scented candles that you don't mind the smell of just now? After much experimentation (and wasting huge amounts of money on various diffusers) I finally found some candles I liked the smell of, so have put those everywhere.

Good luck - it's really, really horrid - at the time when you most want your home to be safe and cosy, it feels like a house of horrors.

Thank you all so much, good to know i'm not the only one! I'm only 8 weeks, hope I don't feel like this for the next 7 months because I am being such a brat!

Also the spare room (which would be nursery) is really damp so out of use until builders can sort this. i can smell the damp as soon as i'm in the front door although no one else can. It's crazy. I've tried everything to shake the extreme nausea I only feel when at home, locked away everything scented, candles, washing powder, the lot but hasn't helped. The only thing that eases it is sitting with a fan blowing in my face constantly. ridiculous!

Such a shame cos it's our first home together and we were both so looking forward to moving in, we recently got married and got lots of lovely bits for the house as well as vouchers which we have used to buy everything we want/need.

I just feel a huge urge to get out as soon as i'm in and it's driving me crazy :(

hopefully it will pass but not looking likely at the moment, my home is a hell hole :(

MrsF an enormous chunk of our to-be-nursery's floor and walls had to be knocked through and rebuilt in the past month because of dry rot. Don't worry about the nursery, you've got plenty of time to sort that...can you get that builders in ASAP? The smell of damp is AWFUL and that will be permeating everything else.

If staying at your Mum's is an option until that gets sorted...tbh, I'd go for it. You are not being a brat, it's hard to explain how awful the nausea and the smells are to someone who hasn't experienced them.

hi, i felt like this too, thought my house stank!! couldn't eat out of it, it was awful. bloody hormones, hope you feel better soon xx

I'm gonna attempt to go home with a positive attitude today. I'm gonna tackle the unpacking, rearrange some furniture, make a list of things that will make it feel more like home. I am loving the smell of bleach right now (even more than usual, I always enjoy it) so I'm gonna scrub the whole place from top to bottom so I know that it's clean and safe and en route to becoming home. Even if I don't like it long term, we own it and won't be able to move right away so I need to get to grips with getting over this home-phobia and try to make the house a home.

Thanks all, feel heaps better!

Oooh OP, I sympathise, I had a really over the top sense of smell until about 20 weeks and so many smells made me gag! I think your house issues will resolve themselves but would it help to get some nice smelling sticks in the meantime?