Monday, January 20, 2014

Buying a House

So....we're in the process of buying a house...!

Some people (Tom, my parents, etc.) have been saying "we bought a house", and I keep correcting them.  We haven't officially bought it yet.  I can't let myself get too confident!  But the process is underway.  As long as the mortgage application goes through and the inspection doesn't turn up anything crazy, we will be homeowners in early March! 

...with a baby due March 25th.  Ha! 

Since there will be some overlap between closing on the new house and the end of our rental agreement at our current place, we will have the choice to move either right before the baby is born, or shortly after. 

At this point, I'm thinking after the baby is born would be best.  Trying to pack and move while I'm 8+ months pregnant sounds very unappealing.  I already feel so huge and cumbersome as it is.  And I don't think I'd have the energy to do much unpacking in the new place during those last weeks of pregnancy, which would just make my "nesting" instincts go crazy, and get me very stressed out.  I'd rather not bring a new baby home to a huge mess!  But I figure if we wait until mid-April to move, it would give us some time to fix up a few things at the new place before we get any furniture in there.  When the baby is born, I can bring him home to our sparse (since hopefully some of our stuff would be packed already) yet still liveable rental house, have a week or two to settle into life with a newborn, and then move.

Has anyone moved right before or after having a baby?  Which would you recommend?

29 comments:

  1. I think it depends on how your babies sleep. If you have babies who sleep in swings and cribs and whatnot after he's born is probably easier than big and pregnant. But my babies only sleep on me, so I can't count on getting anything big done for at least six months after babies are born. I've moved twice in third trimesters and it was fine. But I'm kind of a maniac anyway. If I wasn't unpacking I'd be up too late doing something else.

    Congratulations on a new house! Does it have a yard?

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  2. YAY! So excited for you! I'll pray everything goes through as you hope :-)

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  3. If it were me I'd move into the new house before the baby is born. I just know in our house those first six weeks with a newborn are really exhausting and I wouldn't want to move with a little baby.

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  5. Congratulations! (you may save that until it's all final)! That is wonderful news.

    We moved here when I was pregnant with #2 but not that heavily pregnant. I know people who have moved just before birth because they had to but I would choose to do the same, only because it always seems easier to do things when the baby is nestled inside than when you are at the little person's whim.

    Praying for a good closing and stress-free move.

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    1. It's possible I'm misremembering, but in my experience with the other two kids, my last month or two of pregnancy I just feel really huge, exhausted, and useless. And then after the baby's born, I'm full of energy, and feel so physically "free", and as if I can do anything!

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  6. Just remember not to overdo it after baby is born, you can really prolong the healing process by lifting and carrying too much, too soon. Good luck!

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    1. Thanks. I do plan to have the menfolk do most of the carrying and lifting :-)

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  7. We moved a week after #6 was born. He was 4 days late, and instead of the easy labor I'd been planning on I got a (necessary) emergency c-section. So with that unusual experience in mind, regardless of where you are when you move, I do encourage you to get as much done as possible prior to the move, since L&D can throw wrenches in there. We had our packing done but you can imagine I was no help at all moving boxes or really unpacking for some weeks.

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    1. Yeah, this is would be the biggest concern. I'm *hoping* for an easy recovery, as I had with my last two, but of course I can't count on anything. I hope to have all the unnecessaries packed up beforehand, and I won't be physically helping on moving day. I'd really love to do a small kitchen remodel and a bit of painting in the new place, though, and it seems a lot easier to knock that out before we're living there.

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  8. You can always start moving stuff in before the baby gets there--books were a big thing for us, for example. Things you don't need to live comfortably. That way the move is a little easier once baby's there. And either way I'd clean the new house thoroughly before the baby's born so things are just ready for you to move in.

    Personally I can't imagine moving with a new baby AND younger kids (I think with just a new baby it wouldn't be too bad), but I can attest to the difficulty of moving while very pregnant. :-P It's stressful not knowing if you'll get everything unpacked etc before baby arrives ... but at the same time you can harness some of that nesting energy! (Also you get to sit back while other people do the hard work of moving ... ;) )

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    1. Ha - I plan to "sit back" on moving day, regardless! I'll be pretty useless whether I'm huge and pregnant, or wearing a newborn around.

      And yes, I'd definitely want to move things like books ahead of time. My plan right now - assuming, of course, this all goes through - is that after closing day, I will visit the new place with Tom a number of times before the actual move, bringing a carload of stuff each time, and spending some time prepping things in the new house (painting rooms, installing things, etc.)....this might look more like "Christine directs the action, and minds the kids, while Tom does the actual work" - but things would get underway before the actual move.

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  9. We moved two weeks before Matthew was born, and it was awesome! Such a good decision. First of all, I got to do a lot of directing and not so much lifting. Perfect for me. Plus, since I was so pregnant, I had a few close friends who came and unpacked and put away my entire kitchen. The next day, I had every single box unpacked. Brian helped a ton, but it went quickly because my nesting instinct was sooooo strong. Setting up the nursery was also nice to only do once. Once both my kids were born, we spent lots of time not sleeping and not functioning. If I had to move on top of that, I would die. Literally have a huge meltdown. I find it is much easier to accomplish anything while the baby is still snug inside of me. After the birth, life is chaos and I would never, ever have time to unpack with a newborn around. The unpacked and undecorated house would drive me insane. The most awesome part about us buying our house right now is that no moving is required. I love it. :)

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  10. Hi, Christine! Longtime reader, though not much of a commenter. My husband and I are in the process of moving into our first house right now with our two-year-old and our four-month old. Take it slow and give yourself until April to get moved out--there are always things you need to get done before you move into a new house. Even if it's "just painting," it's more work than you think it's going to be! :) Ask for help from family and friends, and accept it if it's offered!

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  11. That's very exciting. I hope it all works out. We're also in the process of buying a house. We have to prepare ours to sell, also. We have twins who are 3 months old. I am honestly not sure how on earth this whole thing is going to happen. I'm thinking slowly. We haven't closed on the new place yet, but I'm already trying to clean and purge with packing in mind. If you have occupancy of your new house before the baby is born, perhaps you could send some stuff you don't regularly use over there gradually while you're waiting for the baby. Such as books, hand-me-down clothes no one is currently using, fancy dishes and entertaining stuff, etc. One of my friends moved when she was 37 weeks with her second. If I was you, I think I'd seriously consider trying to move before the baby. You can't do lifting either way, but at least you have two free hands now.

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    1. I know how you feel! Since things aren't totally certain yet, I don't want to start the actual packing, but I've been purging and organizing a lot. I spent a lot of time making postings on Craigslist this weekend!

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  12. Congratulations! I hope it works out!
    Personally, I would prefer to move while very pregnant rather than with a newborn. I don't think I could handle the double stress of new baby and moving house. But then, I tend to like nesting, so I would love the opportunity to put that urge to good use by getting the new place set up. But either way, you'll get moved!

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  13. Both times we've done it we chose to move before the baby. I think it helps the last trimester go faster, having a big project to focus on instead of just waiting around for the baby to be born. Both were cross country moves, and that influenced our decision, because who wants to establish breastfeeding at Applebees in the middle of 10 hour car day? And strap my newborn in a carseat for that long? nope.

    With this past baby my husband had a business trip sceduled for a week after my due date. I was considering asking for an induction, something I had never ever imagined I would ask for, but thankfully I went into labor naturally on my due date. My 3 previous babies had all been born at least a week early so I was seriously biting at the bit to get the baby out by this point. I cannot imagine waiting for labor to happen if I were also waiting to move right after. I would feel so much pressure to have the baby.

    It's a gamble either way of course, it's all at the mercy of the baby''s timing. :)

    I'm excited to hear more about the house you found. I hope closing goes well.

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  14. How exciting! I've moved while hugely pregnant (8 months with #2) and with new babies (the twins were 3 months old) - I think moving while pregnant was easier but that might be because I only had one ex-utero child to deal with and we had less stuff! If you're still pregnant, I highly recommend seeing if you can just take the kids somewhere that's NOT being moved into/out of for the day of the heavy moving so that you can all be out of the way - trying to keep them out of the way of the movers is the hardest part!

    When we moved into our new house, we moved enough toys and swings and noise machines and a futon over so that I just set up shop and nursed the twins all day and the big kids played until it was time for the movers to move the stuff into the new house, and then my mom took them out the rest of the day while I sat on the couch and nursed the twins... Either way you aren't really doing much besides keeping out of the way, you know? So I guess it depends on how your recovery goes!

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  15. Congratulations! That's so exciting!

    Personally, I'd much prefer to move while the child is still in utero. Everyone's different, but I can't imagine moving with a newborn. We had carpet installed when I was 8 months pregnant with Iris, and with all of our second floor furniture displaced to the third and first floors (and the living room furniture displaced to the kitchen and dining room). I felt like we were moving. But I was heavily nesting and so glad to have our house back to (mostly) normal by the time she was born. I had the most trouble recovering with Iris, but we found out later that was due to part of the placenta being retained.

    Prayers for a smooth sale process!

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  16. Being military I have moved a lot. We moved when our oldest was right at a month old, when he was 13 months old (did it on my own), cross country when he was 18 months old and I was 5 months pregnant. We then moved with a 2.5 year old and 6 month old. This last time we moved (by myself) I had a 5, 3 and 1 year old. We will be moving again this summer when I am 37-38 weeks pregnant. With all my experiences in moving I would move with a baby in utero than a tiny one again. In those first few weeks baby needs to nurse so much that it makes moving and unpacking very very hard

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  18. This is a major milestone for you! Congratulations! Well, moving before and after giving birth both have their advantages and disadvantages. If you can afford to hire professional movers, then it may be better to move as soon as possible. That way, you won’t have to deal with the stress of moving after your child is born, since moving and taking care of a baby at the same time will leave your hands full.

    Barry Sutton

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