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Pregnancy

How on earth do you clean for baby when you can hardly bend?

17 replies

squizita · 28/07/2014 18:23

I'm pretty fit and healthy for 33 weeks. But I can't bend down/crouch long enough to do low level cleaning, DH is wary of my going up on stepladders for high level, I can't lift heavy objects/furniture to clean behind them/hoover.

DH helps constantly when he is not at work but the problem is some of these deep cleaning jobs can't be done in a couple of hours in the evening- leaving them half done and I try to do them but get exhausted almost instantly and the house looks terrible. Also he is painting the nursery -and is self employed in the middle of a contract with relatively long hours (often he works closer by). He says don't worry, he's got over a month to get it done and it will get done even if I can't do much because he will use weekends.

I just feel so useless: I know what needs to be done, I just can't actually physically do it in any kind of reasonable time. The house looks like a student house or a squat with furniture from the room being painted stacked up etc'.

Unwisely read a 'first time parent' book aimed at dads who stressed the importance of deep cleaning but well before due date as cleaning residues in the air could upset baby... Hmm and managed to get myself in a right tizz. I mean the book is for dads, it's probably got stuff in to encourage less 'hands on' men to do the cleaning in good time. But I feel like an unfit mum (in both senses of the word) already!

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PinkSquash · 28/07/2014 18:25

Crikey. I was on crutches and barely managed day to day cleaning. Do what you can and rope everyone else in to help. My nursery is still unpainted and that 'baby' is 2.5.

Listen to your body, if it's telling you to stop, stop.

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LittleBearPad · 28/07/2014 18:25

You don't. Don't worry about deep cleaning. What book was it?

If you can afford it, get a cleaner if it's upsetting you.

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parallax80 · 28/07/2014 18:53

Washing floors is meant to be really good for getting fetus into optimal birth position Wink

Seriously - don't stress. Baby will most likely be in with you for a while and it certainly won't give a monkey's about nursery. Almost certainly you notice the state of the rest of the house more than any visitor will. I'm hoping that applies to my landlady too, as toddler has realised I'm a slow heffalumpus and is taking delight in trashing the place

If you do need to get low, the only advice I can give is to try channelling John Wayne and do a sort of knee bend wriggle.

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mssleepyhead · 28/07/2014 18:58

I needed a nap today after changing the bedding! I don't think there's going to be much deep cleaning going on here but I've decided that's ok. Sure, I'd love a clean oven and to clean behind all of the furniture before he comes, but what's the worst that can happen if it doesn't? Better that we're feeling strong and fit for labour, I think : ) plenty of time for cleaning and sorting after he's here and things settle down a bit.

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GlaikitFizzog · 28/07/2014 18:59

Get some one in! I got my mumdownfor a week before ds was born and my house has never been so clean! I did not inherit her cleaning gene!

Ignore books, the deep clean they are telling dads about is probably to make the do some housework!

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ThinkIveBeenHacked · 28/07/2014 18:59

Why is this deep cleaning so necessary??? surfaces wiped over, throw the vac around, put away clean clothes, do the dishes.

Anything else can be done by dh as and when he can. Cant remember the last time I pulled my sofa out!

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squizita · 28/07/2014 19:01

Grin

Thanks ladies. My DM just rang me and understood the problem (being a DM) so I have shamelessly bribed her with a naice lunch out if she'll help out with more pressing jobs one morning. Brilliant any excuse to stuff my face with cake.
She also said not to worry about making it spotless!
DH also texted to insist once again that he would be sorting all lifting jobs out and the house will look normal again next week.
I may be being a bit pregzilla!!

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HomeIsWhereTheHeartIs · 28/07/2014 19:02

What kind of 'high level cleaning' do you mean? I've never used a step ladder in my life.
It is helpful to feel as though the house is 'clean' before baby comes, and even more so if it's something that is stressing you out.
Have you got any family/friends that might help, or are you able to get a cleaner for a few hours just to do all of those difficult jobs?

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nyldn · 28/07/2014 19:03

I agree with a comment up thread, if you can shell our for a cleaner, even if it's just once for a several hour deep clean, then you just do light maintenance cleaning afterwards, you'll feel so much better!

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May09Bump · 28/07/2014 19:04

The worst thing I did was make my life fit with the babies - you are having difficulties, your health and the babies come first. Cut corners where you can - cook do really good meals that you can pop in the oven. Rope in anyone who will help with housework ,or if you can get a cleaner for a couple of hrs instead of ordering a take away do it. Do not try to be superwomen as it always has consequences. I regret not taking enough maternity leave and not taking it easy after the baby.
Best wishes for the birth and try to relax!

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Redling · 28/07/2014 19:05

I just think that I'm not going to put the baby on the kitchen floor, or behind the fridge, or in the toilet, so as long as I'm going to be stringent on surfaces when he's here and sterilise everything that goes in his mouth that's fine! Yeah if love to Hoover behind the sofa but really it doesn't matter to the baby. Also my husband is determined I don't in his words turn baby into 'a bubble boy', but he was brought up in the country and his mother is big on things like telling is to get a dog so the baby has dog hair all over it from an early age etc! So my house is as clean as it would be for us but not sterilised. Also if I 'deep cleaned' now, it would only need it again in a few weeks! I do have a mother visit at the weekend though and she is one off the cleanest people in the world so something will get done. I'd chill if I were you, I'm sure many babies come into non 'perfect' households! It's hard not to want it all perfect but stressing about it and spoiling these last weeks isn't good. If you really want reassurance though, get a cleaning company to do a one off deep clean/spring clean. The money would be worth it if you were happier after!

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squizita · 28/07/2014 19:20

High level = Cobwebs up high (older house) basically!

May09 umm in the nicest way possible - your post reads like a massive anxiety trigger (words like 'consequences' and the 'health of your babies' sound like a veiled warning - dust and your children might die/come to harm) ...I have pregnancy related anxiety. But I'm not being unbalanced: objectively my house is dirt/messy by most people's standards right now.

I'm not looking for show home. I have never lived in a show home type house: it's always been one of those hand-me-down-things-don't-match houses with a bit of dust.
My house just is, objectively, all stacked up and rather dirty at the moment. Honestly it is. I was working 12 hr days at a school and letting the house go a bit (as I was tired after work) until about week 32, when given the school holidays I thought I'd get everything fixed in a week... not to be, I am not flexible enough anymore! :) Usually I could blitz it in 3 days!

For example, the bottom of my fridge is unhygienically dirty - you can see drips and old stains. My kitchen is an awkward shape and I can't hunker down to scrub it! That's the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Hence my DM is now going to help with jobs like that, thankfully.

Redling Yup good point about 'behind things'!! Grin If no one has seen it for a couple of years... no one's gonna see it!

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ThinkIveBeenHacked · 28/07/2014 19:45

I have an old house (ceilings are 8ft high), and I just wave a broom up at the cobwebs omce a decade

Seriously theres no need for stepladders!

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May09Bump · 28/07/2014 19:52

No problem - exiting thread. I have a period house - cleaning spider webs from high ceilings is the bane of my life! consequences = bad back, exhaustion and not enjoying last of non-baby life.

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PinkSquash · 28/07/2014 19:59

I have an extending duster which helps reach high corners and dusts coving really well. It's a lambswool one. Saves using ladders

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squizita · 28/07/2014 20:04

pink wow yes, never thought of that, might see if Robert Dyass have one! Doh!

May09 sorry I was being a drama llama. Have had many a RL doom-laiden prediction so get freaked out easily!!

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crazylady2013 · 28/07/2014 20:32

Squizita you are not the only one wondering this. My DH has been doing his fair share so house is not a total dump but there are the odd things I've noticed that need doing. Normally I would just jump up and do it and it would take me a few minutes now it takes ages if I can even managed to do it. I know DH wouldn't mind if I asked him to do it but it just frustrates me being so useless.

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