House renovations and first trimester - experiences? advice?

[CoralPuffer]

Hello,

First time posting, naturally the pregnancy anxiety brain has set in.

My husband and I are about 7 weeks in to a full house renovation and we found out this weekend that I am 4 weeks pregnant. I've been wearing PPE like face masks and gloves, but there has been lots of stripping of paint/wallpaper, opening bricked up old dusty fireplaces and heavy lifting with moving waste into the skip.

I'm worried about whether all of this will have any effects on the baby this early into the pregnancy.

We also live in the property (all stripped walls and chasing from rewiring, some exposed ceilings to the loft) and have an air purifier in the bedroom to help with any dust particles. We can't afford to stay anywhere else while we're working on it and have no family near by to stay with temporarily.

There is still a lot of work to be done and originally my husband and I were doing a lot of it together, but now I'm not sure how much I can do or be exposed to. But the house has been completely stripped, and needs to be liveable for our surprise guest in 8 months.

Does anyone have any advice or experiences from living in an ongoing house renovation during their pregnancy?

Hey love. I had EXACTLY the same situation happen to me. Fortunately we moved out as had somewhere else we could stay, but I was very involved with all the DIY including stripping, sanding, painting etc. in the first trimester. All my scans have come back that baby is healthy and I’m now 36 weeks pregnant and she seems happy in there! Sadly I have suffered hugely with feeling horribly anxious about the negative effects of the renovation on the baby in the first stages. Whilst there’s nothing to say she was affected I’m still counting down the days until she’s born and I can finally know for sure! I guess my advice would be to not do any more renovating, just for
your own peace of mind - if you’re a worrier like me! I’m sure your baby is just fine, but definitely don’t get into a Google hole like I have been the whole time 😬 I don’t know if this helps, but wanted to let you know you’re not alone in the surprise pregnancy/ renovation scenario xxx