Pregnant and moving house? Uprooting during pregnancy can mean undue stress for your baby. On the scale of stressful occurrences, it’s second only to losing a close relative. With your hormones already out of control, the last thing you want is the pressure of moving to a different location on your mind.
As a vessel for your new bundle of joy, it’s up to you to remain as stress-free and well as possible. In the face of this monumental task, that may seem impossible, but relax – we have advice from real mothers who, so you can lessen the stress when moving – relocate without a hitch.
Table of Contents
Preparations Before the Move
Moving house with a bump, may not be the wisest move to make, but we all know, life sometimes makes these unavoidable decisions for us. It’s all in the preparation. Like with your own pregnancy plan, it’s crucial that you take the right precautions. Starting to pack weeks ahead will lessen the stress.
For parents in Australia, an additional consideration is the availability of child care in the suburb you’re moving to. Thankfully, Toddle provides all the important details parents need to find the best child care for them in their new area. Toddle shows availability details, the centre’s child care rating and there is the option to contact the centre directly.
Make an inventory of your belongings.
It’s a really big task but by doing so, you can find out what you need to keep and throw.
Do a KonMarie.
It may not be easy but detach yourself from items, shoes, clothing that you do not need. Moving house is the best time to declutter. You can donate or throw away stuff, if you’re at it, you can also hold a garage sale and earn extra money for items you find that you don’t need, but others might.
List down a timeline of what you should pack.
Planning on what to pack will save you both time and money. Start with the least used room or the one with the less items. All the boxes can be placed in this room as well to avoid having boxes strewn around the house.
Hire Professionals and Ask Help From Family and Friends
You can’t do the heavy lifting, so get someone to do it for you. Compare online the quotations from removal companies, avoiding Fridays and weekends, as they are the busiest days. House Removals in London, for example, provides quotes via an online home survey. Something that could take you an entire day can take these professionals a couple of hours. So relax with a cup of tea whilst the guys struggle with your bookcases. Don’t be afraid to make them do all the work – it’s their job. If possible, avoid accidents entirely – get away for the day and have your partner or close relative manage the move, whilst you go to a spa and relax!
If you are doing your own packing, start months in advance, ask help from family and friends. Box up things that you won’t need to hand first, like clothes you can’t fit in anymore. Make sure that you invest in a set of high-quality boxes, so you don’t have to face the disaster of the bottoms falling through.
Label each box clearly or color-code boxes so you know which essentials you need to unpack first, and you can stagger the unloading process over a number of days or weeks. If you have a spare room or a garage, leave all the boxes in here so they’re not under your feet, and get your house in order.
Do not exhaust yourself and don’t bed down too much. Never pick up heavy things. Bribe relatives and friends with a nice meal, baked goods, and wine, so they will help with the organisation and packing/unpacking. Plus, nothing beats that fresh cookie smell in a brand new house.
At Your New Location
Do a test-run to the nearest hospital and familiarise yourself with its set-up. This will avoid extra complications when you go into labour. Map out where all the necessary shops are, like supermarkets and pharmacies.
Make a “survival pack” the day before the move which is full of all the essentials like food, clothing, baby essentials. Keep your hospital bag in the car at all times – don’t pack it.
Register with your local medical centre immediately. Get your files transferred and develop a relationship with your new midwife.
Moving House with Children and Furbabies
Don’t forget your furbabies, make moving house less stressful for them by taking them to a pet hotel, or ask family to take them home so they don’t get agitated by too many people coming in and out of the house. It will also take time to adjust them to the new house, but let’s tackle that next time.
Involve your children in the moving process, and stay positive. Arrange a trip at your new location, so they have something to look forward to. Also make them pack their own belongings, especially toys. Later, if you get them on board with the decoration of their new room, this can increase their excitement for a new home.
Moving house with kids can be easy with a plan. Doing an inventory of items, packing ahead, choosing a mover, asking a hand from family and friends are some of the things to consider on your moving house checklist.
|
|
|
I agree, moving house needs proper planning especially if you have little ones in tow.
We moved when I was two months before the due date. It was stressful indeed. But with the help of family and friends, the move was very easy for us.
Marms
moving house is really a tough job and not advisable for pregnant women to participate too much especially in lifting heavy stuff. It is also stressful that’s why when we need to move on to a new abode I carefully plan and label all the boxes
That is a practically good idea Joy – label each and every box first before moving out, I’ve added it on the post.
Moving house is already difficult on its own but with a child to worry? It’s horrible. I feel like we’re moving houses whenever we are evacuating our area when there’s flooding of the river, not fun. I like the idea of survival pack.
How about the idea of rolling house. I mean those kind of houses on wheels?
Making this task of moving in one house to the new one is indeed very stressful and tiresome more so when kids are too young to offer any help and even more difficult because they still have to be attended. They are still dependent on our attention.
Agree! Planning and preparation must take place first before anything else.
Agree that you can’t move all your things all at once unless you are forced to.
Good thing you can easily cope up with new environment everytime you guys move to a new house.
Indeed it is challenging. Much more with a baby in the tummy.