Construction noise during postpartum

[Anonymous]

I am currently 8 months pregnant. The city is redoing the street outside our apartment, and while they had told us that it would be finished by May, it's becoming increasingly clear that this construction will be continuing for the next several weeks at least and likely the next few months. The noise was really loud, with jackhammering and drilling down to pull up the road, a couple of months back, but has since settled as they put the "finishing touches" on that half of the road. Now it's time to begin the other half, which will likely mean the drilling will start again, and the noise of bulldozers and heavy construction machinery will be an almost certainty.

This is causing me a lot of stress, as it's suddenly dawned on me that I will be dealing with this with a newborn at home (my first baby). I've obviously heard horror stories about being sleep deprived, exhausted and sleeping "when you can" so the idea of having several hours of the day "off limits" beginning at 7am every day is making me really anxious. I'm a light sleeper in general and get anxiety around sleep on a good day so this is really doing a number on me, and I also dont want it to have ill effects for the baby.

My question is... how bad will this be to deal with in the postpartum trenches? When the drilling is really bad you can feel the vibrations inside the apartment, even though the windows are fairly thick, and certainly you hear the noise all day when the construction machinery is out there. Should we get an Airbnb or... and this would not be my first choice, go stay with our inlaws several hours away? I really dont want to have to figure out travel arrangements after giving birth so I would love to plan this out now if it's going to be an issue.

[Anonymous]

You need to deal with your stress now.
Get an airbnb if it makes you feel better.

[Anonymous]

We lived in the city when both of my children were born, and no, construction did not bother me. Pollution did: we refused the annual fumigation of our apartment, and I was careful about all sorts of toxic products. We moved to greener suburbs as soon as we were able. And what did they do: replace the sewer lines on our tiny street, with a noise that literally shakes the entire house! But it's not a "problem". I can live with that, since it's temporary and will benefit us in the long run.

[Anonymous]

Your newborn will sleep through this and as tired as you likely will be, you may well too. There are so many things to stress about but this wouldn’t make my list. But since it’s an issue for you, you’ve
Already identified your options so pick one and make your plan.

[Anonymous]

Ear plugs

[Anonymous]

Can you stay with your parents the first month? I was not sleep deprived with a newborn. Im more sleep deprived working. But it might interfere with baby sleeping.

[Anonymous]

See how it goes. You may be too tired to care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your husband think you are as crazy as we think you are?

Come on. No need to be nasty. I'm sure you've been in stressful situations where you asked questions that others thought were a little silly.

[Anonymous]

I would make plan A staying at home and see how it goes. Plan B sure take a look at airbnbs. My in laws were awesome but l would not have wanted to stay with them for the first couple weeks.

[Anonymous]

And yes ear plugs for you, they work well for me for travel.

[Anonymous]

Newborns can sleep through almost anything. Your baby will likely be unfazed by the noise. Even though you may be napping at times, the construction noise will be mostly during your waking hours. You can also try napping on the other side of the apartment for a few weeks until the work is complete. It's really temporary.

[Anonymous]

Get a portable white noise machine and bring it with you around the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Newborns can sleep through almost anything. Your baby will likely be unfazed by the noise. Even though you may be napping at times, the construction noise will be mostly during your waking hours. You can also try napping on the other side of the apartment for a few weeks until the work is complete. It's really temporary.

Unfortunately all of our usable rooms are next to the road with very large windows. We have our bathroom and storage along the other side but there really is no escaping from the noise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a portable white noise machine and bring it with you around the house.

White noise is not good for babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a portable white noise machine and bring it with you around the house.

White noise is not good for babies.

In what way?