32 weeks and living in building site !!!

[mia1972]

Hi ladies, not sure what I am trying to achieve writing this thread maybe only some support and the idea that I am not the only one ?? I have moved 2 weeks ago and some of the building that we were doing went a lot slower than we originally anticipated so we still haven't been able to unpack and living in quite a dusty house that is not fully functional. I have bad days and better days but this week I have been really down and it feels it will never end. I have not been able to relax really or do nesting and yet and panicking that the baby will come early (hopefully not) - is anyone is a similar situation ? Do you have any advice ?
Thanks in advance

Hiya, not quite as bad as your situation, but we've just had some building work done (large 2nd bedroom split into two, nursery and spare room) and are getting our kitchen refitted next week.
Firstly, try not to get stressed by the mess (easier said than done!). Is your building work still ongoing or finished now? What I would say with the dust is to work from the top of the house down with cleaning, then close doors to the rooms you've cleaned to stop more dust.
Is your stuff all in boxes? Are they labelled? Why not aim to unpack 'x' number of boxes per day (however many you feel up to doing)? Have you got all your 'baby bits' already or do you still need to buy them?
I would try and prioritise the unpacking, so what rooms do you see as more important? Then try and get those done first.
All the best, and hope you start making sense of the chaos soon

I am 39 weeks pregnant tomorrow. We have been refurbishing our house forever but with a baby on the way I could no longer put up with it all looking a mess. We have been doing a lot of work ourselves but we decided we needed to get some help in for some areas. We prioritised the areas. We decided we wanted the sitting room to be nice so I have somewhere nice to sit and also somewhere to receive visitors when baby is born. We got a decorator in who did the ceiling and walls then got some carpet put down. In 5 days the room looks perfect. I can't tell you how much better that has made me feel. We concentrated our efforts on getting our and the baby's room sorted which as of yesterday are also now done. I then tidied and cleaned the other rooms so they were the best they could be but I am settled they will not be perfect.

We've been in the same situation as you - dust everywhere for the last 2 years and i'm now 36 weeks pregnant. We've just got 2 rooms completed - our bedroom and the nursery so feel like the pressure is off a bit now as they HAD to be done before the baby came the rest can be done as and when. We've been doing it all ourselves and have worked every weekend and evening since we found out i was expecting so i'm relieved to now be able to slow down. Don't worry too much just try and prioritise and get the important bits done beforehand as best they can be. I know how you feel about nesting i was the same - couldn't wait for my nursery, even had a few tears every now and then when i was feeling particularly down or unreasonable about how it wasn't fair etc etc

Good luck!

• i have also been convinced baby would arrive early just because we weren't ready! So think how you're feeling is perfectly normal

No advice but just wanted to offer my support as by the time I am 32 weeks I I am pretty sure will be in the same situation as you!

We are supposed to be getting the keys for our new flat, that needs everything done to it, on the 12th july and do everything (re wire, new floors, new kitchen, new heating, remove wood pannelling that is EVERYWHERE then re-plaster and decorate all while working full time and looking after a toddler..) and move in by 1st September when I will be 28 weeks..I know it won't be ready by then

Everything is moving far too slowly, we haven't even signed anything as the sellers solicitor/agent is so slow at getting paper work sorted. It's starting to make me really stress out that not only are we very short of time anyway but also everything is not going to happen on the 12th of july and we will be further delayed.. and breath!! argh
so i wish you the best of luck and will probably be staring my own thread about this at the time!

Thanks ladies for the supportive messages, it really does help hearing that I am not the only crazy person living in this situation whilst pregnant, it all seemed a good idea when we were going to be the house and I am sure it will all be worth it ...
So yes building work is still being done, there is so much to do and endless snagging too. Trouble is, we had used before these romanian builders that are very good and reliable and cheep, but these people have day jobs and only come to ours from 4,30 to 9 so I am having to live with them every evening :( and things are also proceeding more slowly than otherwise. However if we now change builders I worry things are going to be messed up even more. Or not happen at all !
At any rate, we have 2 bedrooms painted (but bare dusty floorboards) and the bathroom is nearly ready, a few cupboards in a dusty temporary kitchen - i worry about unpacking as everything will be covered in dust so i think that I will do as you suggested and unpack just a few rooms as they are getting ready ...
Betty10K - i had a few tears too, hopefully baby won't' come early...
Mrswee - i totally understand your position as I was in the same one about 2 months ago. We had a problem with the people buying our previous flat and things got delayed a bit, all I can suggest it try to put pressure on your solicitor to get this sorted...hopefully it will be fine ...

PS I do hope that all this dust is not going to make my baby asmatic gosh what a thought ....

thanks Mia My solicitor seems very efficient but the sellers agents and solicitors are slow.
My friends just bought a house using the same solicitor and coincidentally buying through the same sellers agent and they were slow then too, our solicitor got quite annoyed with them for being so slow, but it did all complete on time in the end.
I haven't met my solicitor in person and haven't mentioned yet that I am pregnant but if I haven't heard anything by tomorrow I am going to explain the urgency to her and ask if she thinks things will actually be delayed ect and see if she can push the sellers agents to pull their fingers out, due to our situation. She has been waiting over two weeks for them to send over the title deeds, without them she can't proceed any further! She waited over two weeks for them to officially send over the offer acceptance on paper....argh.. that's over a month gone and only one month left to go with a lot of bits of paper still to sign!

There must be so many pregnant ladies in this situation, it's only when you are pregnant and suddenly you need more space that we all decide this needs done and done now and it will all be fine living in a building site and it will be finished by the time the baby arrives... sigh!

good luck with it all!

I am 21 weeks and we are trying to get building work started for a kitchen extension. May be bonkers but we really want it done and it wouldn't make sense to start it after the baby. Hope if I hang around looking really pregnant then the builders will work fast ha ha!! I'm somewhat concerned about keeping my 2.5yr old DS out of it though

Hi ladies, sorry for the delay had no internet either at home and it finally got installed. Mrswee, I really did use the pregnancy card but we were held by the fact that the people buying our previous place were going on hols for 3 weeks and wanted to complete when they returned (!!!) -
In our case our solicitor was able to get us 'access to the property' for repair and decoration between exchance and completion. Of course that was becuase the propoerty we were buying was empty and we did take a small risk (very rarely things fall through between exchange and completion), if you could do you could at least start before moving for however long is the gap between exchange and completion ?
Good luck with it all, it's a stressful process but I am sure it's worth it ....