Feeling bad for playing the 'pregnant' card

[helgaw99]

Hi,
My husband and I are in the process if decorating our new kitchen. At 11pm tonight we had finished with a layer of gloss and just needed to clean the brushes.

I really didn't fancy doing the cleaning so I said 'I probably shouldn't clean the brushes, White spirit is probably bad for baby'.

Am I a terrible person to use my pregnancy to get out of a job that everyone hates doing?!!

Feeling guilty..,

My husband wouldn't let me help him paint when we were redecorating during my pregnancy in case of any fumes, so he should be glad you helped with any of it! (disclaimer: I usually do all the DIY around the house, dh not fantastic at it).

I wouldn't feel bad - you probably shouldn't be doing it anyway.

I have done it once so far - I am sure there are many more times to come as I am only 11 weeks.

I wouldn't feel bad. DH did loads of gloss painting yesterday and I just took ds out for the day. Now obviously we had a 3-year-old-meets-gloss-paint thing to avoid, but I wouldn't have done any painting. I also wouldn't clean the brushes or anything.

There are lots of jobs I save for DH now too. Hoovering the stairs (the Dyson is very heavy....), cleaning the toilets.....

And as I go on I anticipate adding in anything that involves bending down to the floor, like cleaning the bath or the shower tray.

He doesn't mind and it was his suggestion re the stair hoovering, so I think I'll let him do it if he's happy to

You want to come to our house. I'm the person that fixes things in the house but since I got pregnant I've moved to a more restful but highly irritating (for him) "advisory" role. "No, you need to turn that round before you hammer it in, it's facing the wrong way" sort of thing.

How far on are you? I think painting till 11 is pretty hardcore and good on you if you feel up to it but if not I think you're well within your rights to give it a miss. I'm sure your midwife would tell you to take it easy.

to me, "playing the 'pregnancy' card" would be lounging in a day robe on a chaise longue, feeling absolutely fine, with frequent calls of "darling, could you just pass the telly buttons - I'd do it myself, only I'm pregnant you see" and "darling, could you just make me a cup of tea / sandwich / pass the chocolates...".

Suggesting your DH takes on a task that involves volatile compounds while your pregnant strikes me as eminently sensible - and IMO you've already gone over and above the call of duty by putting a full day's decorating. Stop trying to be super-woman and look after yourself and your growing baby!

Don't feel guilty, there's no point to it. My DP now cleans the bathroom (he used to refuse to do it) and was yesterday on stand by just in case I wasn't able to cut my nails :o As I'm feeling pretty rubbish due to a nasty cold, he did the washing yesterday and dinner without me even having to ask. Even though he has always helped around the house, I think that things are slowly and naturally shifting so that he's actually doing more than he used to.

Thanks ladies, don't feel bad now!

More painting today, though I'm only doing the low bits and he is on ceiling duty.

Only 25 weeks so not too big yet, but if I overdo it, my pelvis feels like it's falling apart when I am in bed- taking it a bit easier today and certainly no white spirit fumes!

X

Stay away from nasty fumes! Can't believe you were DIYing so late - think you're doing very well!

Milk it as much as you can love. Dont feel bad, you're the one that is carrying his child for 9 months and then has to push something the size of a watermelon out a small hole. xxxx