To wonder how to cope with this heat

[Cannotstandthisheat]

Currently 25 weeks pregnant, living in a privately rented old house.
Tenancy is up in November and we will be moving elsewhere.

The temp in bedroom at 11pm last night was 27°, downstairs not much better at 26°.
We have two fans in the bedroom that are just circulating warm air right now, but it's ever so slightly better than not having them on, just.
Upstairs windows are all open, as the temp outside was lower than in the house.

I just can't cope, last night was such a horrendous night sleep, and I'm absolutely dreading July/August temps.
I woke up at 1am throwing up, I havnt had any morning sickness at all and no nausea for months so I definitely think it was from being too hot.
Been awake now since 4am, so just 4.5 hrs sleep most of which was disturbed.
I've now come downstairs and opened the back door wide so as to try and cool the house down.

I took an ice pack to bed initially and two full bottles of fridge cold water.
Ran cold water over wrists and ankles/feet for a few minutes before getting into bed and after waking to be sick.
I just don't know what to do now, the temp is looking to be dropping back down today (thank god) but this won't last long, and honestly the thought of trying to deal with this over summer is making me want to ball my eyes out.

The house is very very old and mid terraced, I think this is why its so stiflingly hot.
Having spent lots of money on baby essentials, and not far from starting mat leave, we cant afford to spend hundreds on air conditioning units.

Sorry for the long post, but does anyone have any other advice on how I can try and keep the house cool?
I've tried keeping the windows/blinds/curtains shut all day but this make ls no difference to having the windows open I've now learnt.

Thanks in advance.

Is it cooler downstairs? Can you sleep down there? There won’t be too many nights like last night. There’s normally a handful a year, so it won’t be too bad. 4 and a half hours sleep is good prep!!
Maybe try not to worry too much if you’re not sleeping and prioritise cooling yourself off and relaxing. Have a cold shower just before bed or even in the night if you need to. Keep wet flannels in fridge and get them out when you need them

Last night I wore a vest and pants (I can't sleep naked) and I ran the vest under the cold tap which cooled me before bed. My husband thought I was mad but it really helped and dried quickly.

I have a spray bottle too so I could spray myself if I got too hot overnight.

It meant I was cool enough to get off to sleep. I have woken up early but my sleep is a bit shit anyway at the moment.

Someone else suggested pjs in the freezer but you'd be mad to wear them in this weather!

I don't think you can do much else. Make sure it's a decent fan and it's cleaned. It's amazing how much better they run when you've dismantled and cleaned the blades.

Could you afford to buy/run a small air con unit if you're still struggling?

Large (5l if you can) bottles of frozen water in your room in front of the fan. More than one if you can , will bring the temp down. It’s more or less how fridges used to work.

We have a large fan which works really well, I think.

If it's too hot we sleep in the living room which is in the basement and very cool but it's very rare we have to do that.

Don't worry, normal shit weather is due to return!

Or frozen blocks of ice - you could freeze a large Tupperware for example.

I’ll sorry your struggling a few tips from someone who lives in a hot country without aircon:

1. cold shower before bed, don’t try yourself just lie down in bed with a thin sheet. Make sure you get your hair wet. Repeat in the night


2. put a frozen bottle of water in front of the fan to help circulate cold rather than hot air


3. take a sheet and put it in cold water and lie with it - it will try out.

It will pass. But I’m sorry you are facing this

If you have any muslin cloths for the baby use them! Soak them in cold water and wring them out and lay them across your bare bump in bed. Only way I managed to sleep when I was heavily pregnant last summer!

When I woke up for the inevitable trips to the toilet I would wet the muslin again, it was heaven!

Thank you for the ideas of frozen water bottles in front of the fans, I will definitely be doing this!!
And wet sheets/towels sounds like a good idea.

Sleeping downstairs would be difficult as the sofa really isn't suitable/confortable for sleeping on, and the airbed we have makes you sweat even on the coldest nights.

I used to love summer weather but since being pregnant I honestly pray for cold/wet days!

I feel for you, I was pregnant over summer in Aus with no air con. All these suggestions are great. We also had three fans in our room (!) Set up in a formation to fan the cooler air from outside over to other fan over to us, each of us had a fan trained directly on us all night. explaining it badly but it helped on all but the hottest nights (when I think I just went and had a shower or cool bath tbh).

So do they not even sell air conditioners there? Not even a window unit? I was pregnant in the summer twice, and the A/C was the only thing that saved me.

Soak a tea towel in cold water, wring out and place around neck to instantly cool you down.

Bowl of ice in front of the fan.

I have cold bath and lots of drinks. Also doing chemo and they heat room to tropical temps and in there I have either bags of frozen ice or bags of frozen peas or gel packs which have been in freezer and keep by me in coolbox and put on me and ice lollies. Hope something works.

OP has explained quite clearly she can't afford one

I find a cooling pillow really helps with sleep and there are plenty of inexpensive options out there.

Socks in freezer!

My mistake. 🙄🖕

I open all my windows, and have the blinds down on the sunny side. Then swap over when the sun goes over the other side. Having all the windows open allows a breeze to blow through.

Thanks again for these tips. I ended up soaking a clean pillow case and using that to lie over me and it really helped and pretty fast too. Managed to get another 3 hours sleep in which has probably saved me from getting a migraine today 🙏
I will be freezing water bottles in preparation for the next sweaty night though.
Thanks for all your help xx

Its all about through draft for me.
So windows and doors open and all
Propped open so air moves through the house in any direction any breeze comes from.

It makes a significant different to just having windows open in each room but each room closed off.