Are any other ladies here struggling to keep up with basic housework?

shani12345 · December 2015

Hello lovely ladies!!
I'm 23 weeks today. My husband works at a very big accounting firm and works very late hours. I'm really struggling to do all the house chores as usual. Work is pretty relaxed at the moment which is good but still at home I can't do as much as before. It puts me on the verge of panic! I have asked for help from my mom and she helps when she can but otherwise feel like I'm stuck in a messy house and unable to have as neat as I am used to

how are you all dealing with your newfound belly and aches and pains?

tripledaggerWed95976 · December 2015

I'm 20 weeks and still clean like I always do, but when it does begin to get more difficult I plan to just do as much as I can and have my husband take over on the stuff that's harder to do

SarahFoley725 · December 2015

I had a similar issue. DH travels a lot for work and I still had to go to work but had miserable MS and such. I did the best I could and DH helped pick up the slack when he was home. I assume that you, like me, didn't want to put the extra bourdon on him because he is working so hard, but you're working hard too. Growing a baby is exhausting. If you have it in your budget, maybe hire a cleaner? We had a lady come out this month and it was definitely money well spent.

jonesl12 · December 2015

Doc has me in pelvic rest and I can't bend, hunch, or lift . What used to take me a few hours to do now takes all day with DH 's help.
I do the wood floors floors, trim, and dust all rooms on Sunday's as well as wash the sheets and clean the bathrooms. It's turned into a all day thing now.
I haven't scrubbed our tile shower in almost a month because I'm not allowed to. It's driving me crazy

shani12345 · December 2015

jonesl12 said:
Doc has me in pelvic rest and I can't bend, hunch, or lift . What used to take me a few hours to do now takes all day with DH 's help.
I do the wood floors floors, trim, and dust all rooms on Sunday's as well as wash the sheets and clean the bathrooms. It's turned into a all day thing now.
I haven't scrubbed our tile shower in almost a month because I'm not allowed to. It's driving me crazy

Wow!! Sorry to hear you're in pelvic rest but glad DH helps

in the end mine came home earlier and put all the shopping away and did all the dishes! What week are you in? Xxx

jonesl12 · December 2015

shani12345 said:

jonesl12 said:
Doc has me in pelvic rest and I can't bend, hunch, or lift . What used to take me a few hours to do now takes all day with DH 's help.
I do the wood floors floors, trim, and dust all rooms on Sunday's as well as wash the sheets and clean the bathrooms. It's turned into a all day thing now.
I haven't scrubbed our tile shower in almost a month because I'm not allowed to. It's driving me crazy
Wow!! Sorry to hear you're in pelvic rest but glad DH helps in the end mine came home earlier and put all the shopping away and did all the dishes! What week are you in? Xxx

Ya he's crabby since I can't have sex with him on top of it all lol
I'm 24 weeks

wildtot · December 2015

jonesl12 said:

shani12345 said:

jonesl12 said:
Doc has me in pelvic rest and I can't bend, hunch, or lift . What used to take me a few hours to do now takes all day with DH 's help.
I do the wood floors floors, trim, and dust all rooms on Sunday's as well as wash the sheets and clean the bathrooms. It's turned into a all day thing now.
I haven't scrubbed our tile shower in almost a month because I'm not allowed to. It's driving me crazy
Wow!! Sorry to hear you're in pelvic rest but glad DH helps in the end mine came home earlier and put all the shopping away and did all the dishes! What week are you in? Xxx
Ya he's crabby since I can't have sex with him on top of it all lol
I'm 24 weeks

Im on modified pelvic rest right now. I was on slight bed rest till 13wks and now i can be more active but still limited. My DH works long hours too and I alternate working from home every other day to get rest. We can't have sex either due to my extra friable cervix and past issues. I do some cleaning but not like before...you can forget about scrubbing the shower. My mom has offered to come clean to help us out but my DH is too proud to accept it. I might just have her come one day while we are out and not tell him lol. But it blows not to clean like I use too. But at least he cleans the cat litter!

jonesl12 · December 2015

I'm thinking mom to the rescue as well

cmerribury · December 2015

I think your husband needs to chip in with the housework and if he can't, you should both learn to live with a slightly messy house for now. It's good practice for when the baby gets here and cleaning the floors becomes the thing you care about the least.

shani12345 · December 2015

Definitely going to have to adjust to a messy house here and there. A friend of mine is mom to 3 kids and she had a rule with her husband that they tidy the house only twice a day. Once during the day and once after the kids bed time. That way sanity is semi-maintained! :-D

jonesl12 · December 2015

DH got me a maid service for 6 months for Christmas !
Problem solved !

PrimRoseMama · December 2015

cmerribury said:
I think your husband needs to chip in with the housework and if he can't, you should both learn to live with a slightly messy house for now. It's good practice for when the baby gets here and cleaning the floors becomes the thing you care about the least.

This. If both of you work outside the home then it should be 50/50 when you work inside of it. IMHO.

I work in the home for a living-- my husband STILL helps when he can because we are a team & that helps this ship plug along. Division of labor is important but honestly, you are a living medical condition. Take it easy or divide each chore up into little chunks.

I did cleaning one job at a time then rested in 2nd & 3rd trimester.

kalanieileen · December 2015

I'm 22 weeks and I was fine up until a couple of days ago. I was in a nasty car accident and my car was totaled

I haven't been able to move without any help so DH has definitely picked up the slack. Between him keeping up with house work and being my nurse, I couldn't ask for anything more.

He's a neat freak too, but under circumstances he understands if the house isn't picked up. Same when the babe gets here, we both have to find our balance and lean on each other when we need it.

arcanejinx · December 2015

I work part time, I was in school full time, and I tore muscles in my right hip at 14 weeks. I am a lacklustre housekeeper at the best of times and DH is worse than me. Our house is a mess. We have fought about it a lot but we both agreed we have been in the wrong by passive aggressively not cleaning. We have 4 cats and DH is still upset that I can't help with the litter-and he won't let me take the garbage out. That's the thing, I start cleaning, he tells me to stop as I'm just stressing myself out and then nothing gets done.

We are moving in the next month but we have till after the baby is due in our current lease. We have agreed to use this time to really pair down our crap (we are moving in with my father who lives 2 minutes away). Hopefully by doing it this way our rooms will be easier to keep clean.

My parents are both neat freaks so I never became too concerned with keeping things neat but with baby on the way it needs to happen! Plus I keep my daycare classroom so clean and organized I know I can do it, I've just let DHs laziness affect me for too long.

jonesl12 · December 2015

How are you doing @kalanieileen ?

ladylolly89 · December 2015

It's definitely getting more difficult to do housework with a bump in the way! I'm a neat freak though, so I've only slowed down a little. DH has stepped in for things like scrubbing the tub, mopping, cleaning underneath things, etc. We're moving on Friday (yes, NEW YEAR'S DAY, of all days) so that has definitely added to my general work. Thankfully, I teach, so I'm taking advantage of Christmas break.

kalanieileen · December 2015

jonesl12 said:
How are you doing @kalanieileen ?

Moving around is getting easier day by day. But lifting myself up when I'm laying down is a definite no go. Also, I have forbidden anyone to make me laugh, cry, sneeze, or cough because when I do it's like I bruised my ribs all over again lol

I'm passing the time by window shopping for a new car

Daenaria86 · December 2015

I'm 16 weeks, a SAHM to a feisty almost 3 year old, DH works all day, I have zero energy and a ton of RL pain. What I like to do is turn on a TV show and during commercials, I clean, during the show, I sit. I'll do this for an hour or two and at least I can say I did something. I just do what I can, and I try not to worry. I know there will be a surge of energy and since I'm having a repeat c-section, I plan to have a cleaning lady come a few days before delivery so I can come home to a clean house.

My toddler has been up since 6, didn't go to bed until 12:30. I try to make sure dishes are done every day (I have a pile on the counter right now calling my name).

I just set goals, I do what I can, and I forget the rest. Once you have a kid, the house goes to hell anyway. Happy family, sanity, clean home - pick the 2 you can live with.

shani12345 · December 2015

True! I ended up in emergency with fast heartbeat and now I'm on heart meds to keep my pulse down

mum has stepped in to help big time. I feel lucky

PrimRoseMama · December 2015

shani12345 said:

True! I ended up in emergency with fast heartbeat and now I'm on heart meds to keep my pulse down mum has stepped in to help big time. I feel lucky

Where is your husband?

shani12345 · December 2015

He works 12 hour days at an accounting firm

dancingsphinx22 · December 2015

I've never been the best at being domestic, but I try. Nowadays, im exhausted and out of breath just from doing the dishes.

I try to break chores down and do a little each day. I do the dishes everyday, but I'll dust and vacuum one day, clean the entire bedroom the next day, clean the bathroom the next day, etc. Otherwise, I'm just too exhausted to do a decent job.

*whispers* I haven't mopped in quite a while and I keep putting it off because I'm scared to see what the mop heads will look like.

GinnyJ2012 · December 2015

With two little kids and a dog the house gets messy fast! Since it's the Christmas holiday I have a mothers helper come play with the kids while I clean. Other days I do what I can. I also schedule different cleaning tasks for different days. DH is on bathroom duty, for deep cleaning, because I can't handle the smell of bleach at the moment.

shani12345 · December 2015

I have to share this very handy trick I have found for picking things up off the floor without an effort. I have this stick that grasps things off the floor when you click the top part. So good! That way I just pick up hubby's socks and undies off the floor with stick and plop them in his pile of messy clothes hehehe. but really it's very handy!

dancingsphinx22 · December 2015

@shani12345 haha I love it! That's a great idea!! I need one of those.

Just today I was saying to myself how bending/squatting low is getting to be utter bullshit. I feel like im 90!

Daenaria86 · January 2016

DH and I decided to take the extended weekend and clean the house. We did the kitchen one day, the living room and den the next, and our bedroom and bathrooms are tomorrow.

Our house looks tons better and I think having the help to get things under control was a huge help. I didn't feel alone and he was able to do the things that I couldn't do. If you can get your husbands on board to help you for a few days, it may help. Upkeep is far easier than getting going with cleaning, especially if you already have a LO like we do!

m8881 · January 2016

I have a roomba for the floors, honestly couldn't live without it. Well I could but it'd be a lot messier. We have to keep the clutter away or he gets stuck so it's pretty tidy around here. Now I need a dusting dishes and laundry robot....

UseTheTriforce94 · January 2016

I've gotten supremely lazy. Mostly from being absolutely exhausted and partially from either feeling nauseous or having the cold from Hell. I'm trying to get better at it, but god it's just overwhelming seeing as we just moved into a 1 bedroom and we have boxes EVERYWHERE.

PhoebeJune1984 · January 2016

I still have bouts of MS, so I have been having a hard time keeping up with the housework. From Nov through last week, I just kind of let it go. We were busy with the holidays and hardly home, and when we were home, we were crashing because we were tired from being on the go (and I was also trying to hold back vomit, so the last thing I wanted to do was clean house). Our house finally got a deep clean this week, ONLY because MH's friend called us and told us he was getting a divorce, and asked if he could come visit to get away for a bit (he didn't know we were expecting until he go here). Our guest room is a disaster, so we put him on an inflatable in the bonus room, but at least the rest of the house is clean.

I have come to terms with the fact that I just need to get done what I can get done. When the MS starts going away, I start doing more on those days...and rest more on the days when I feel like poop.

Knottie3146640 · January 2016

I love this thread it makes me feel not so alone. I am struggling big time to do housework. My husband says "just let it go babe" but doesn't help. So when will it get done if I don't do it?

I wish a cleaning service was offered for free by the doctors office !

ashleyrobertson0113 · January 2016

Reading the title of this post I'm like "Me! Me! Ooh ooh that's me!" I have zero desire to do anything except sleep. Housework? Ha! What a joke. And we are moving at the end of the month. You would think I would be working on boxing everything up. Nope! It's all gonna get done last minute. And I'm gonna hate myself for it. But oh well...

wildtot · January 2016

I'm giving in to my mom's offer to help do a deep cleaning at least once a month. Looks like I'll be put on bed rest again and DH works long hours.

noelietrex · January 2016

I feel no obligation whatsoever toward housework of any kind.

Image: https://49.media.tumblr.com/eb55e63e8b12af084b12ce0216559a93/tumblr_nozjbvm7LK1uwf8qdo1_500.gif

VTutwiler35711 · January 2016

I've just felt tired and had to eventually take nausea meds daily, it for that bad. Thankfully my husband only works half days on Fridays and didn't mind helping out... Which usually ends up him cleaning the whole downstairs. He's done so willingly. Crazy thing is I clean as a part time job. Only 3-5 houses 2 times a month, so not a whole lot but they utterly wipe me out! He tells me, "I don't pay you to clean, therefore I believe if I helped make the Mess I should be just as responsible to clean it up." I do try to help out, but no where near where I was. Nothing gets extremely deep cleaned but it's visitor clean, which helps me stay sane.

DominiqueU · January 2016

My husband definitely picked up my slack during the first trimester. He cleaned and cooked everything. I could barely sit up without vomiting, especially after working all day. He was awesome.

Now that I feel better, we're back to our regular routine. We pretty much split the house work 50/50, because we both work and it's 2016 and I can't imagine being in a marriage where the house work was all on my shoulders. Generally, he vacuums and I do laundry because we both hate the other chore.

We're not really obsessive cleaners, but we keep the house pretty tidy (except the bedroom, where I throw all my clothes into the floor like a slob). It's a lot easier when there's not a lot of junk to pick up and we can just do the floors and wipe up every once in awhile.

All that being said, we're snowed in for the weekend and I know I should be cleaning, but it just sounds awful so I'm watching a lot of mindless tv instead.

LinzerBinzer · January 2016

noelietrex said:
I feel no obligation whatsoever toward housework of any kind.

This. DH and I both work outside the home full time and had outside help with cleaning before we moved away. We started to understand that when we walk in the door at 6 or 7 and have to think about cooking and cleaning, it simply isn't going to get done except in marathon cleaning sessions before company comes over.

We've been in our new home 1 month so housework is a total joke - we haven't even fully unpacked our own bedroom yet! When we get enough unpacked we'll get help again I'm sure. But being pregnant in this situation is odd - I want to nest and get everything put together in the new house, but I also really want to lie in bed and watch figure skating while eating Chinese food... Oh the dilemma!

whataboutscience · January 2016

We're okay at keeping down the clutter here because we keep it a habit, but I think I may catch something walking into my bathroom...eek. Just starting to maybe feel better at 13 weeks so I will really try to tackle the tubs and toilets. They've been bugging me like crazy but I just haven't been able to get to it. DH has been good at doing a lot of the dishes lately, which I really appreciate. There's usually clothes in my dryer though...

LinzerBinzer · January 2016

And ON the dryer at my house!

austinjl · January 2016

I'm now to the stage of not even caring that the house is messy. Which is strange for me since my pre-pregnant self would get anxious if the house was a mess. Oh well, I'm just gonna go with it!!

flowerpower5838 · January 2016

DH just texted me after he cleaned our master bath could I maybe please start cleaning up after myself a little better since my makeup was caked about 1/2 on the sink. Le sigh. At least he said please.

I have been super bad about all things house work but by some miracle DH has totally picked up any slack I've left even though we were pretty 50/50 before I got KU. Gross mushy moment warning, but I am feeling pretty lucky to have him.

CecilB93 · January 2016

I've never been someone to clean and keep up with housework, so pregnancy is just making it ten times worse and I seriously feel bad for DH. We agreed that I'd cook and he'd do dishes, well then I got a new job and don't usually get home till about 6:30-6:45, so he's taken on the cooking too, and I still don't do dishes. He usually ends up doing laundry but lately I've been taking loads over to my moms house where it's free rather than $3 per load. DH will vacuum occasionally, usually when we're expecting company or there's a big mess. I don't think we've deep cleaned our apartment since we moved here in June, but I'm feeling like we probably should soon. We're moving out in June to a two bedroom, so we'll have to at some point!

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Are any other ladies here struggling to keep up with basic housework?

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