Having a house extension while pregnant...?

[Eststarr]

Hi!
Me and my DH are newly married and looking to start a family. We’ve planned to start trying around December. Only thing is we also had planned to have a major house extension around March (probably a two story extension and whole house reconfiguration downstairs)... and I’m really not sure what to do about it.
I don’t have experience with being pregnant but in general I do get stressed very easily.
Would it be better for me to have this major housework before the baby comes while I’m pregnant... or would it be better to be having this work done in a years time while having a young baby?
Thoughts and opinions will be well listened to, thank you in advance!

I am six months pregnant and we’ve just had a loft conversion done. It was a bit of a hassle (especially in the first trimester when I needed my afternoon naps!) but I’m glad to have got it out of the way before the baby comes. I can relax now knowing that the house is sorted for a good few years.

We put off buying any baby stuff until the work was finished so that we wouldn’t have to worry about finding space to store it which helped.

I currently have a two month old and am having similar building work done. Trust me, it's no fun and is in unwelcome distraction when I should be focussing on my baby and enjoying him rather than keeping him away from dust and arguing with builders
We started it when I was pregnant with the intention it would be finished before baby arrived, but various delays have dragged it out. So I would recommend getting it done before pregnancy (and not trusting expected build times) if at all possible!
All that said, I still think it's easier to do work with a newborn in the house than with a young baby that can crawl/walk so would be very hesitant to delay it

We are having work done at the moment (36weeks pregnant) and the house is a building site O_O stresses me out thinking that if the baby comes now we don't even have carpets in our bedroom. Our builder is running 2months behind schedule. So I would say get it done if you can but give them a deadline and then have your real deadlines months later for peace of mind! I have missed having the house to myself in this stressful time but I would prefer it not hanging over me when the baby actually arrives :) good luck!

Do it asap! It gets 100 times harder with a baby and harder again once you have mobile small children. Also these things never run to budget so you want to minimise the amount of time you are doing work while on mat leave.

If you are still relatively young and likely to be quite fertile, plus are easily stressed I'd personally start the work then start ttc - 6 months is not going to be enough to get all the work done if you fall pregnant right away.

It's very common for people to be renovating through pregnancy and with babies, we did it, but it IS also hard work and I'd try and minimise it if you have the chance.

I’m 35 weeks with a loft conversion running at least 5 weeks behind. It was meant to be complete yesterday... it is not fun. I have one DC already so know what I’m in for when baby arrives. Having builders around while trying to breastfeed, bleeding and crying will be horrific. I’d say try and get it done whilst pregnant!! Hopefully you won’t run into the trouble we have.
We have been almost 2 years in this process, with planning permission and tendering, etc. Obviously we intended to have it done sooner, but it just didn’t happen that way.

Better when you're pregnant than with a baby.

Definitely better pregnant the with a baby. If your worried though, would it be possible to stay with friends or family for a week while the messy bits get done?

They can do quiet a lot before they knock through to connect to your house, so it might not be as bad as you think. Just make sure DP knows he will be expected to step up with the organization / lease with builders etc.

We haven't done an extension but a renovation. We moved in in March and I fell pregnant at the end of that month. It's been hard especially in the first trimester when I felt particularly stressed. I've not been able to help as much as perhaps I could have if I hadn't been pregnant but I've still painted and cleaned. We have 2 1/2 rooms to go and I'm 6 months pregnant now. I haven't regretted it so far and I'm looking forward to having a year focused on the baby once he/she arrives in December. Xxx

Definitely before baby! Keeping a small child away from builders, dust, tools etc is an absolute nightmare. Plus they'll likely have to turn of water and electric off for periods of time.

We did a whole house renovation between 3 months and 8 months when pregnant with DS and it was absolutely fine. We are now doing another and DS is 2.5 and I'm 4 months pregnant. It's so much harder having DS!

We had our house done when I was pregnant the first time around. We moved out to do the work.

It was hard going because I was so tired and so many decisions had to be made during the work so my husband had to take most of that on.

It would have been so much harder had we waited until baby arrived.

My advice would be to get the work done before baby and do as much of the planning as you can before being pregnant, eg. Choosing tiles, flooring, kitchens, paint, lighting, skirting.... Leave no detail out because suddenly there will be a lot of decisions to make and you'll end up deferring all decisions to your DH and end up with a projector in one room and 16 fixed internet points around the house

35 weeks here. Loft conversion starting tomorrow. We've just finished the extension to the other part of the house.
It's stressful. I want to be able to nap in the day which with builders in is unlikely. But...I would rather it now than with a baby.