to move before or after baby is born?

[angels1]

I'm currently 10 weeks pg. It's a bit complex but we are hoping to move into a relatives house in a few months (they are moving out to another house and we are pinching their house).

Thing is, my relatives whose house we are moving in to need to do quite a bit of work to their new place before they move in (new electrics/kitchen/bathroom/decorating) and won't move in until all the work is done (fair enough of course).

I have said that ideally we would like to be able to start moving in/having work done on their house end dec/jen so that we can be in before my baby is due in feb and can have some bits of work done on their house before baby is due (I'm thinking weeks of hammering loudly all day long if we can't get the work done after the baby is born won't be good for getting it to sleep!) and also DH is self employed and takes a month off in January every year. This is the only time he has off all year so will be his only oppertunity to do the decorating etc we are hoping to do.

My relatives don't really seem bothered that it will be hard to move with a new born. They said it will be easier as if we move with a baby than when I'm pg I won't be able to do anything to help with move when I'm massive (I have a back problem anyway so it's not like I can lift anything, and I'm sure I'd be very useful pointing at what needs to go where/making tea when I'm very pg!)

So, in your expert opinion will it be easier to move before or after the baby is born? Some advice/past experience would be good.

I'd agree with you that it would be better to move before the baby is born. The baby itself will probably be pretty adaptable, but you and your DH will be knackered and adapting to life as a newborn, which can be quite erm, challenging . If your pg is anything like mine were, you'll be quite chilled - I wish I could bottle pg hormones - ideal for moving house without letting it get to you .

The fact that your DH gets January off would be a clincher for me.

erm, post birth it'll be even harder - and no chance of getting work done to the house. And do you really want the dust and mess of decorating with a newborn in the house???? I was fit for nothing execpt looking after DS for a month after having him. (we moved 2 months before I had him)

If you do move after the baby, I'd suggest not doing it in the first 8 weeks. Give you and your baby time to get used to each other and for you to physically recover. And pack as much as you can before the birth, you won't have the time afterwards!

(My back is still bad and DS is 7 months, sorry!)

sorry, adapting to life with a newborn. Hopefully your DH will not be regressing.

I agree that moving before your LO is born would be easier, though having to deal with extended family in order to make it happen doesn't make your situation easy. Good luck!

No advice to offer, just chipping in. I am due in 3 weeks and our house has just sold. We expect to move within 8-12 weeks so we will be moving with a newborn. Hardly ideal but I am of the opinion that (with positive thinking and good common sense) nothing has to be a nightmare. We hoped our house would sell much sooner so we would have moved by now, but as with most things in life it didn't pan out that way!

Personally speaking, now I am 37 weeks pregnant I would rather be moving house with a newborn than moving in my current condition (i.e. huge, useless and very uncomfortable!)

before.

thanks for the advice and I'm glad my thinking of moving before baby born is generally the agreed. I get really stressed and out of sorts when we have any building work etc done on this house, so I can imagine I'll be really struggling to keep it together if we move when I have had no sleep for a sustained period and dealing with getting over birth/all those hormones vanishing. I will keep trying to get relatives to be speedy in organising their works/move (which is harder said than done!)

Offer to help them organise things?

well, our 'ideal' to do list is quite long, but we won't have enough cash to do it all, so will do what we can. We will HAVE to get the kitchen done (we are moving it to another room so not straight forward), add a shower (apparently DH can't survive by bath alone!) and sort out some floor boards. There's a bit of decorating etc that will be needed to be done, but we can cope for a while without doing that. I'm taking a year off on maternity so I'm hoping that after a few months I might have established enough of a routine to be able to do some of the decorating here and there myself (or is this wishful thinking??). Maybe I'll send the baby off to the relatives in their new house to look after so I can get things done!lol

Have tried helping organise them besom...alas I feel the more I try to help the slower they seem to go. I'm now trying the 'leave them and hope they get sorted on their own' tactic

Before. Most definitely before!

I've moved both times I've been pregnant.
I would say BEFORE!!!! Otherwise you'll be sitting around unpacked boxes for months!

Honestly - it will be so much easier while pregnant. Plus I found people are far more willing to help when you have a big bump rather than holding a baby IYSWIM. It makes no sense, but everyone worries about the pregant lady more than a new mother!

Definitely before. You won't have any time afterwards and even when you get into a routine, you won't have time to decorate - the times when the baby is asleep you'll be washing clothes, tidying up, having a shower, pureeing fruit and veg. Agree with pp, you won't want the dust, noise and paint smells - the dust really effected us all - sinuses, chests, etc.

We moved when DS was 10 months, which was hard work. But we didn't really do much work to the house, just a few bits here and there. We started renovating a year later, for a whole year (big job), and that was tough, but at least he was older and we were used to sleep depravation. I remember once painting the landing floor outside his room whilst he napped, praying that he would sleep for his usual 2 hours, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get to him until the floor dried!

Good luck!