Paranoid about bending/crouching - first time pregnant - help!

[zeena83]

Hi all,

Am nearly 28 weeks pregnant and staying with in-laws until at least 30 weeks. Trouble is that their house is like a hobbit hole! The doorways are so low, ceilings are low and shower unusably small so I have to shower in their bathtub with a (you guessed it) low, sloped ceiling above my head. It’s fine downstairs but a lot of the time I am getting ready upstairs, or getting in an out of bed, I feel as though I am crouching and bending as I move around. Husband is helping me shower in the bathtub and I try to only be 5 minutes but still have to bend and crouch while I’m in there. Am so worried - am I hurting my poor baby?

No! Baby is very well protected in there.

Consider I have a toddler jumping on my belly 24/7

Why on earth would you be hurting your baby? Many people have jobs where they have to bend or crouch, or other children. Your baby is fine.

No. You are designed to protect the baby. Stop worrying about normal things. Parents stoop and pick up other kids all the time while PG. I remember one friend telling me she didn't carry her hoover up or down the stairs when PG...unless there is an underlying problem this is just laughable.
I used to do soft play once a week when PG with baby 2 and 3....bending, climbing, jumping, bumpy slides etc etc Babies were fine.

I used to clean for a couple who lived in a tiny cottage like this..all low ceilings, beams and having to duck through doorways. I whacked my head on the beams upstairs many times! Just be careful not to do that.

There's no need to worry about bending and harming your baby though. Why is your husband helping you shower in the bath? Why not just have a bath or shower yourself? Is their actual shower really too small to get in? What's the point of it if people can't use it?

Re: the shower, they have a new cubicle which even husband finds too small and they have so many bottles it’s hard to find places to keep ours. I’ll use it on hair wash days which take longer but if just a quick body shower, it’s easier to ask husband to hold the shower head for me in the tub while I have a quick rinse. The tub is also slippery so he helps me in and out. And their cubicle is in their en suite so requires more negotiating 🤦🏾‍♀️

Thank you everyone for putting my mind at rest. These are things I didn’t think about when we made the arrangement to stay but our bathroom is being refitted so we have no choice but to vacate our house. Apologies if i sound ungrateful - they are amazing people but the house is not the easiest to navigate, especially not with a new body shape that is changing all the time!

Fair enough about the shower. I think you're being a tiny bit precious about being pregnant though

This experience will make you appreciate your new bathroom even more now, so silver lining there..

Baby is well packaged, safe and snug.

I do understand your frustrations though! When you're not in your own home everything seems 10x more difficult! Add to that changing body shape and balance and you're probably feeling a bit discombobulated!

Hope you're back home soon.

You won't be doing the baby any harm at all, your back probably isn't enjoying life too much at a guess though so make the most of any opportunity to 'rest' or 'lie down and stretch' while you can 😂

I do think, gently that you need to be realistic and get prepared for what's to come though, you're only going to get bigger and more unbalanced and 28 weeks without something like SPD or anything like that is still in the relatively easy phase for a lot of pregnancies.

Normal human body movements can’t hurt your baby - don’t worry!