Building work whilst pregnant

[Lookslikelove]

Hi all
I'm near 11 weeks pregnant and we are getting our bathroom renovated and maybe our second bedroom too.
I'm currently staying in the house whilst the work is being done. The builders have taped everything up and we even bought door dust sheets to stop the dust going into our rooms.

Anyone else had work done while they were pregnant? Any tips? Main worry is the fine dust

Yep we had an extension done whilst I was 5-9 months pregnant during lockdown with two other children under 3 and no kitchen. Bloody nightmare but now a distant memory thank god!

@Lookslikelove oh gosh that sounds like a ngihtmare. How did you cope? did you have any issues with fine dust? I'm worried about inhaling it

Going through it atm at 34 weeks. The electrics have been done which I moved out for for a few days, next is plastering the whole house which I'm worried about the dust ! Oh and now we might need a new boiler 🙄🙄

@thunderonlyhappenswhenits Glad you managed to move out. I could go stay at oarents/inlaws but think would stress me out more. I feel your pain. Just had to have out boiler replaced too!

This is going to sound rude but it's not meant to be....

What exactly do you think will happen if you inhale dust while pregnant?

@TheRookie Sorry, what do you mean by it's not meant to be?

Fine dust can cause issues regardless of if you are pregnant or not...

My comment would be better now than when baby arrives. We are doing a loft conversion + 1sr floor renovation (as a result of the mess the loft bit made) with a 13month old and it is HELL! Far easier when they are safely on the inside! We moved out for the 3 weeks we had no roof but are now back in it (8 weeks and counting...).

It's not meant to be rude

Fine dust inhalation can cause issues over many years, in large amounts. Not from being reasonably close to renovation. We had our bathroom renovation a couple go years ago and although yea of course there was dust, nothing compared to what actually causes illness. It's not pleasant but highly unlikely to harm you and even less likely to harm an unborn baby who would never be exposed to the dust.

Also better to do it now while baby isn't breathing the air, and is safely tucked away!! Definitely wouldn't want a newborn near lots of dust.

Just make sure you don’t take on anything you can’t complete before baby is here.

our DC is due this week but our extension still isn’t done and only just got kitchen fitted - had to enlist a lot more family help than I feel comfortable with to get project moving due to very slow builders. Should have all been finished at the start of summer.

It’s caused a lot of stress at this late stage and made it difficult to get everything ready for baby as house was completely upside down.

Now will still be having work done in the weeks after baby is home, which I would rather have avoided.

So probably triple how long you think it will take and if that timescale is ok, only then go for it!

Wouldn’t worry too much about dust - use lots of sheets and vacuum regularly.

Thank you all for the information! It made me feel a lot more comfortable.

We placed dust sheets and door covers where possible and left windows open. It's still all very dusty but my husband tries to clean near our bedroom when the builders go.

So far it's been okay - a few days my throat felt sore or the smell was too much but I've been trying to stay away as much as possible

The work is looking to finish in the next few weeks. Hopefully 🤞🏽

I have a question. I am 10weeks pregnant at the moment with our first baby. We are just converting house at the moment while living in rented house nearby. I gave up my job a few months ago to work in the building full time but stopped one we found out I’m pregnant. I just had my first appointment with my midwife last week and mentioned that I used to do lots of shovelling and wheel-barrowing prior to pregnancy for approximately 8-9 hours a day. I still need to do at least month of bricklaying. My midwife said that if my body was used to this amount of physical work prior to pregnancy there is no reason to worry about it. I’m not sure about this advice and my husband is not very happy about it too. What are your thoughts about it ?

Very old post lucie.
But if you've been doing it before pregnancy then you'll be fine now.
Just listen to your body and be aware of your limits and ligaments being softer and more flexible.
We've been renovating our place for the past forever. Ripping out floorboards, plastering, sanding wood and plaster, less wheelbarrow work these days but when I do I just take smaller loads, and thankfully now we're closer to decorating than destroying lots of painting too.
Babe is doing just fine even with the dust and heavy lifting.
Do what you feel is safe for you, and if that's taking a back seat then so be it.

I have a question I did some renovations when I was pregnant and we tried to stay away as long as we could but work took 6 months to complete rather than 2 months which is what was agreed.Now my daughter is 3 and autistic and I keep thinking is it because of the work(and the stress from it) we did during pregnancy.Anyone had a similar experience?