Nursery Painting

[Anonymous]

We are getting really close to d-day, I am at 31 weeks. DH is very busy at work and has not had time to finish the nursery painting and I am hesitant to push him into finishing it as I feel he works so hard all day and all week. Then when it comes to the weekend, he is exhausted, which he has the right to be. He will not let me finish the painting which I can sort of understand but I really dont want to let this drag on until baby arrives and then have paint fumes lurking around the house. Plus, we have family coming in for the holidays and i can just see already that this is going to linger on and on and not get done. MOST IMPORTANTLY! I really want to finish decorating (aside from the painting) so it feels like a baby is going to be living here soon! Argh... Any advice on what I should do? I really dont want to bring it up with DH because I dont want to make him feel like hes not doing anything (because he is) and aside from hiring someone to finish the job (I am pretty sure DH will strenuously object to this), what should I do? During all of this I just feel like a blob who cant do anything!
Thanks

[Anonymous]

We just got a quote to paint our nursery for $250. I know if I don't hire someone I'll be in the same boat as you - - so if you can swing it, it might be a good solution.

Also - you can buy a low emission paint(I think it is called low VOC) for the nursery.

[Anonymous]

The way I see it you have four options:

1. nag your husband until he does it
2. get low VOC paint and do it yourself
3. hire someone and consider it a Christmas gift to yourself
4. Let it go. Seriously, this is one of many things you will have to let go of around the house once the baby comes. And babies don't care what color their room is! They are lucky to even have two healthy, happy parents and room of their own. Just some perspective.

[Anonymous]

Have you asked your OB/Midwife about painting? Mine had no problem whatsoever with me doing interior painting with latex-based paints (almost all are). She even said low-VOC was not neccessary as all paints have much lower fumes than they used to.

Perhaps you could discuss it with your provider and then relay the info to your husband. Something like "Honey, you've been working so hard lately, I thought I could take this one thing off of your plate." or better yet, do it together. DH and I find it much easier to get things done around the house if we do them together - its not as efficient as the "divide and conquer" mentality but its a lot less lonely!

[Anonymous]

Would any of your friends be willing to help you all out? My friend and her husband fell way behind painting their new house before their first baby arrived, so they called some friends and scheduled a "painting party" one afternoon. They bought everyone lunch, played music, basically made it a fun party. May be overkill for one room, but truthfully we were all happpy to help and had a great time. Good luck!