Moving to a new home?

mamatowildones · March 2017

I know there are a few of us in the process of moving and I would love to hear everyone's experience with moving while pregnant. We decided to push back our move until baby is born. But DH is concerned about rising interest rates and we just found a home that hits everything on both of our lists for a price we actually like and we are dying to go look. Our house isn't on the market yet though and the thought of having only 4-7 weeks to go before having a newborn is stressful enough. But DH said he would hire movers and packers and make it as easy As possible for us and me. I even dreamt about this house last night haha. It's a big move for us as it would add to DH commute making it an hour and a half most days one way. He doesn't care as he just wants us in a home. Currently we are in a town home with one shared wall and. Small outside area. We are dying for a yard and a single family home for our quickly growing fam. I just remember how stressful it can be! How's everyone's experience and what would you do differently or not change?

fbmandy55 · March 2017

We also decided to put it off until baby was here. But I'm getting nervous because we have to be out of this house by late fall.

I also work in real estate and we are in one of the hottest markets in the country. There is NO inventory and anything decent that comes up usually sells within hours with multiple overs and over list price. Good news is, if you do find something you like, your house might also sell quickly!

kns1988 · March 2017

We're under contract right now, so we haven't actually moved yet. Rising interest rates were a big concern to me! They're just going to keep going up. We're doing a 15 year mortgage, which means the rate is lower, but just in the 3 weeks since our first contract fell through and the new contract we signed yesterday, the interest rate went up 0.25%.

I know you're already a mom, though, and you're almost 4 weeks ahead of me in your pregnancy (I'm due May 29th), so it probably does make sense to wait until baby's arrival. Our closing date is April 28th, which is a whole month before I'm due. I'm not too stressed about the packing and moving part because we're practically professional movers at this point, but my family will also help with the packing and unpacking because I'm definitely less mobile and tire more easily than usual. We'll hire movers for the lifting.

I am so excited to get in there and start nesting! Praying that it works out this time. I hope you find a place you love and that it's a smooth process.

pshaortao · March 2017

We heard there would be an increase in rates back in November so we started looking in case it took awhile. We lucked out and made an offer after one weekend. We moved around the end of January. I did a lot of the packing spread out over a month and we hired 2 men for 3 hours to move all the big stuff and boxes. We had a two weeks overlap between the closing of the house and the end of our lease so it wasn't a huge rush or anything to get stuff done. I'm glad we did it when we did because we plan on having baby in his own room from the start so its nice to have his nursery ready to go. It would not have been a big deal otherwise.

WombThereItIs · March 2017

We are moving mid July so i will be around 6-8 weeks post partum. We know the general area we are going to but won't be looking for a rental until around my due date because we don't want to sign early and pay for two places for several months.

No idea how it is going to go but we don't have a choice so we are going to just get through it. "Embrace the suck" if you will.

nda_roxybabe · March 2017

As a FTM, I've never moved pregnant. However, I think if H hires you packers/ movers you can definitely do it! Make a good list of things that needs to be done (switching over water, gas, blah blah). Could you enlist help to help you unpack as well? Oh! and I like to hire a cleaner to come in before we move in.

llenadevida900 · March 2017

We're in a similar situation - 2 br apartment (and this is DD #2) with two shared walls and no yard at all. Our lease is up at the end of august and we don't know if we can stay (housing costs are astronomical in our area, so buying isn't an option) or relocate until DH's project is completed in June. I do not like not knowing!

good luck to you!

BabyMC517 · March 2017

As many of you know, we lost the house we were under contract with (stupid underwriter). Anyway, we had to find something fast because we were supposed to be out of our current house by the 17th, but we were able to push it to the 26th. Anyway, I hate moving pregnant or not, but being pregnant (FTM) it sucks haha I like to be in somewhere of control and I feel like I don't have much. I've packed what I can over the last couple of weeks and still have the stuff we still need to use for the next 2 weeks to pack. I'm trying to label where everything goes so that will help when my family unloads everything, but I feel bad that I can't do much. I get so tired and my back hurts (not really supposed to lift anything heavy with the history of back issues I have) so I just feel useless half of the time. H, my family, and a friend said they would help us load and unload the truck we will get. Pretty sure my mom will come help put things away. I just want it to be done! I'm anxious to be moved in and start nesting and all that fun stuff.

I think hiring packers and movers will be so helpful!

ashleyl31 · March 2017

Lurking from June... we just moved out of our house and into a townhome. We haven't found a house we want to buy yet, and sold ours, so we are in limbo. We had a lot of help moving into the townhome and a storage building. I tried to rest and not overdo it. It definitely sucked though. We will possibly be moving before this baby is born (due June 11) or soon after. Depends on when we find a house and can close. I'm 27 weeks now. You can do it, it just will be tough. Good luck!

mamatowildones · March 2017

Thank you ladies. DH is terrified of rising interest. We may pull the trigger this weekend as we found a perfect home. But it would be contingent on us selling our current place which I hear is usually overlooked for those home buyers that do not hold that contingency. It's so hard! Good to know I'm in good company!

slowmo · March 2017

@mamatowildones -- We moved from an apartment to our house when I was pregnant with my son. It was about 10 weeks before he was born, I think? The hardest part, for me, was not overdoing it with the unpacking. I hated waiting for my husband to carry boxes upstairs so I could unpack. If you can, try to be as organized as possible where you want things to go so the movers can do most of the work for you. We weren't organized at all (and are the worst packers ever), so we ended up having the movers put most of our boxes in the empty dining room and figuring it out later. Try to get a cleaner over before you move in, so you have a nice clean blank slate. Overall, it was tough but doable. Frankly, I'd rather do it pregnant than with a newborn!

cclaineDC · March 2017

We're moving this Saturday, with about 8 weeks to go before my due date. We've hired 3 guys for a few hours to move the boxes and furniture and drive the truck ~5 miles to our new house. Packing has been a total boon (going on 3 weeks surrounded by boxes in a 1br apt), but we've been labeling everything by room, so hopefully that makes unpacking a little less frustrating as long as we can direct the movers to the right places without breaking the bank (our movers work at an hourly rate). Like @slowmo said, asking DH to move boxes around will be a nightmare, but getting the movers to put things on the right floor of the house will be super helpful.

mamatowildones · March 2017

Looks like at this point we will be moving very shortly after baby arrives. Which terrifies me. We are gluttons for punishment over here.

vrj0522 · March 2017

We actually closed on our home a month before DD was born but chose not to move in until after the birth because the hospital was less than a mile away from our apartment. We moved when she was 2.5 weeks old and it actually worked out just fine.

My recommendation would be to pack as much as you can before baby comes... the kitchen for us seemed to take forever so it helped to have about 1/2 of it done beforehand. If you have a friend or two, a sister, SIL, mom etc who would be willing to come help pack, enlist their help for a little while a couple of days before the move. I also second staying very organized so the boxes and furniture go in their respective rooms and unpacking is much easier for you.

I was very fortunate to have my mom help with packing/unpacking so the move for me didn't feel horrible.

Louise_Belcher · March 2017

I am not moving and haven't while pregnant so I do not have any words of wisdom for that, but I did two multi-state moves two years in a row rather recently. One thing I did was color coordinate box labels with the room they needed to go in at the destination. I used something along the lines of these taped to the sides of each of the boxes and assigned a color to each drop location or room and then made a few keys to be hung at the destination. I wrote on the label for some, but others as long as they made it to their spot it didn't really matter what was inside.There was no reading boxes to determine where things went. It certainly sped up the process! Good luck everyone with their upcoming moves!! I also greatly preferred purchasing boxes from somewhere like home depot that way I knew they could stack well and take up the least amount of space. Sorry if the photo is huge and a bit AWy and I will note this is not even close to all of our things and was just the beginning of packing during the second move.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/kz/1xh64hmil6n0.jpg

saric83 · March 2017

@mamatowildones - We haven't moved yet with a little human, but if I had movers and everything, I think I totally could be cool with it, especially since DS definitely did not need a nursery, and the transition would have been easier while he was super little since sleeping was already random versus once we had him locked into a specific routine.

The only thing that would make me a bit nervous is any impact your husband's commute would be. DH works 10-hour days four days a week (with a 15-minute commute). While on maternity leave, I absolutely struggled towards the end of the days M-H before he got home, and I was counting the seconds, especially with glorious witching hour(s). If he was gone an extra three hours a day commuting, I would have gone nuts. I'm sure it's something you guys have already figured out, but just something to keep in mind on your day-to-day impact if you're at home and/or daycare drop-off and pick-ups if you will be at work. Good luck!!

nda_roxybabe · March 2017

We did pretty much what @Louise_Belcher suggested last time we moved. We liked having all the same size boxes to stack and then color code labeling really helped us and the movers ensure they went to the right spot. I also kept out a bin with toilet paper, important papers, coffee mug and coffee, etc. for immediate use.

mamatowildones · March 2017

@saric83 his commute now is 40 minutes and it will likely be 1.5hours with the move with traffic. We've talked about it and to him it's totally worth it. I feel like I'm already used to him being home just in time for bed. It doesn't make it easy. And will only be harder with 3. But we've kind of done it already as far as late hours. He may be able to go to work earlier and then come home earlier once we move too.

JCWhitey · March 2017

My suggestion is to NOT plan. Just look and if you find what you love go for it. When I was pregnant with #2 We had to be out of our rental by May 31 and I was due March 24, which didn't leave much wiggle room for doing it after. So we started house hunting in October. We finally got an offer accepted on a house in December with a closing date in January. Plenty of time to move and not stress over it. Until there was a property line issue and a well issue and then some weird county law that came up in regards to our house. We closed on March 12th. My daughter came early on March 2nd. We got our closing date while I was in the hospital!!

So, plan all you want, but buying a house SUCKS and may not go how you plan at all. So if you've found the perfect house I say go for it.

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