4 months pregnant - move to a house or stay in flat??

Frugalbride

Thanks for the ideas. My husband doesn't mind doing the shopping as he says I dither when I come with him! -He tends to go by himself now with a list and then I help him up with the bags and unpack.
I am guilty of shopping for bits and bobs throughout the week but maybe I could get a backpack for carrying those things. Or maybe I should look at this as a reason to stop bad habits!
I will think about whether the garage is dry enough or whether the boot of a car would be a good place to store the pram.
Has anyone ever had experience of how much crying noise carries in flats? This is the part that is making me the most anxious.

paulineb_2

I live in a flat and have done for almost 20 years, there are several kids in the block and there have been babies as well and its never caused me any concern whatsoever. Lots of people bring up kids in blocks of flats.

Rummer

We lived in a flat when we had our DD and it was great as all on one level so no need to run up and down stairs to look after her and when she was learning to crawl and walk there was no need for worrying about stairs.

Once she was a bit older we moved to a house as planned.

barbarawright

I live in a flat in a Victorian house. There's a baby on the same floor as me which I wasn't aware of for several weeks. It might be worth thinking about which bedroom is next to another bedroom (the baby lives next to my bathroom which is why I don't hear it) but I'm sure you won't be the first person to have had a baby in this block. You'll be fine

nimbo

If you have a car could you keep the pushchair in it? It might save lugging it up the stairs... you'll need to check it will fit in the boot though - although this would be an issue anyway...

A friend of mine swears by slings - and where she lives has a sling library - it helped her to find the perfect design for her, without having to but half a dozen before finding one that was the perfect fit...

noise can carry in flats, BUT it also carries in semi/terraced haouses too... a bit of baby noise is normal, and a fact of life... How much can you hear from your neighbors? Currently I can hear my neighbors if they shout, and noisy elements of films - in an exes flat I could hear his neighbors sneeze, and pee... The more you hear of them the more they hear of you - unless you find it unbearable hearing them they may feel it's an issue, if you can't hear much of them, they shouldn't be too affected...

You're talking of moving in 18 months - that will only be one year (ish) with the baby after they are born - which is a lot less to be worried about...

congratulations.

lostinrates

Frugalbride wrote: »

Oops forgot to say it was a two bed flat! Thanks for the advice so far. I would like to take the full year of maternity leave, and as you rightly said it probably will fly by anyway.

Just wondering about the stairs and noise factor really.

My mil had three kids no more than two years apart in a fifth floor walk up....it was in a tremendously fashionable area of London there was no way she was losing her view and address! I still think getting three kids under four up all those stairs must have been a feat.

Makes one baby and two flights seem manageable though, huh?

With noise, you just do what you can do. Its tough living next door to babies, but not like living next to noisy music, or people who argue or cry. Its natural and you know that we all did it once. Be gracious and apologetic to your neighbours, they'll be short sometimes, they're unlikely to be saints.....

fran-o

We're 8 months pregnant and in a two-bed first floor flat. Our plan is to keep the buggy chassis (frame) in the entrance to the block (under the communal stairs) and take the seat upstairs with us. We have our supermarket shop delivered so the poor delivery guy brings the bags up.

We hope we'll be ok where we are for another year or so, at which point we'd love to be able to move to a house to give baby a garden and all that goes with it (ride on toys etc). Baby won't be walking til then anyway. For us it doesn't make sense to make the financial commitment to a new place when we don't know for sure what I'll be earning post-maternity (eg if I go back part time) and whether we'll want to move to a cheaper area or try and stay near family support. Everyone says life changes when babies arrive so we don't want to make such a big decision til we've settled into it all.

Good luck with your pregnancy

Frugalbride

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I feel much better about things now. I can even see some positives!

I think I will swap our bedroom and living room, at least at first, as this means we will be furthest away from the bedrooms of the other residents.

Frugalbride

fran-o wrote: »

We're 8 months pregnant and in a two-bed first floor flat. Our plan is to keep the buggy chassis (frame) in the entrance to the block (under the communal stairs) and take the seat upstairs with us.


great idea! When is your due date? Must be soon - how exciting!

Frugalbride

lostinrates wrote: »

My mil had three kids no more than two years apart in a fifth floor walk up....it was in a tremendously fashionable area of London there was no way she was losing her view and address! I still think getting three kids under four up all those stairs must have been a feat.

Makes one baby and two flights seem manageable though, huh?..

Certainly does! I used to live in London - now in North West - and I thought if I was still there I wouldn't think twice about being in a flat.