I think you might have time between now and then to get things together if you want, there's preconception, 9mos, my babies always slept in our room for the first year, then moved out, some people co-sleep and make it longer.

But me, I wouldn't center my house buying choices on skids that are barely there, anyway... most especially since I imagine your DH is dishing out a ton of his paycheck in CS to BM to do that for them.

Put all the kids in one room, give the skids a bunk/ bed with trundle, baby has a crib/toddler bed. You don't need a nursery packed with all the fancy furniture and toys babies r us sells.

I don't think anyone is going to fault you all for bunking siblings together in the same room, especially when it's just for a weekend.

Why not keep the baby in your room those 4 nights a month? Get the girls bunk beds and put a crib on the other side. You use the crib in the second bedroom when the SD'S are not there but they still have their room when they do visit.

The first year, many babies are in the parent's room in a crib/bassinet for convenience (worry, multiple nighttime feedings) anyway.

I say proceed with the way it is. Everyone is right here. Yes those girls HAVE to have their own room at dad's house. They were here first and they're his kids. I also believe that OP should have her kid as well.

Last time I checked, babies sleep in the parents room for at least the first 6 months. So the time it takes to get pregnant vary a couple months or longer.

3months + to get preggers 9 in the oven+ 6 months in your room = 18 -24 months. If planned right, thats plenty of time to get some credit under control.

I wouldn't worry about the hospital bills, as long as you setup a payment plan, there's no interest applied, right?

What about equity in the current home, is there any? Hell, it could take a long time to even sell that house + find a new one.

The point I'm trying to make is there's no point waiting on so many variables. Get pregnant and enjoy your life!

I would do the bunkbeds/crib in the same room option mentioned above. Where I live, kids don't have to have a dedicated sleeping space or even a room, and I totally understand that.

In this case, the older girls are already here and a baby may or may not ever come to be. OP - you've got at least two years before you have to worry about this. Work your ASS off to make sure you can buy a house that everyone can fit into when that need arises.

I wouldn't wait on having a baby. The longer you wait the harder it gets to conceive and you want to grow old with your kid, not be old growing older.. So you should have your kid now. I wouldn't get rid of their bed but section off the room, baby's room and a extra bed and dresser for personal things. They sleep on couch anyway because they are guests. Do it! Do your thing!

If they don't permanently live in the home they ARE guests.

I'm not saying they have to get permission to eat or take a bath, at least not in my home. If I were to have a child then I would use the bed room as a nursery and have a spare bed In there or a futton that can fold into a couch and toss some stuffed animals on it .

I haven't read all the comments, but I would not take away their room. However, for a while the baby can sleep in your room. If circumstances haven't changed, then you can put a crib in the girls room, get bunk beds for them to save space. When they are over those 4 days, the baby can sleep in your room in a portable bed. Either way, they need their own space. My little one had his own nursery, but for the first year he slept in our room in a crib, because our home is really big and all the kids bedrooms is at the opposite end of the house, so I was more comfortable with him in our room, I just made a corner that was his little room.

Just whatever you do, don't take away what they have had all along. It could make them feel like you are replacing or moving them aside for the new baby. If you decide to go ahead with plans for baby, while baby is on the way, you could let them help you redo the room and let them pick out new bunk beds and even help with the corner for new baby. That way they feel included with the new make over with the room.

I'm torn on this because it bugs me that your stepchildren will have two rooms, and your LO won't even have one, but at the same time, speaking as someone who had the full nursery, with the name on the wall, and the rocker glider that matched the crib etc, I kept DD in our room with me until she was 9 months and her room went pretty much unused.

SD has her own room at our house as well (we rent a 3 bedroom) but right now refuses to spend the night at all. So her room just sits empty all the time. DH is actually the one that wants to turn it into an office, but I want to give it a bit more time, before we do anything drastic lol. The point is I get how frustrating it is to have a room that sits barely used, especially when it sounds like it is a large percentage of your actual space.

If you don't want to set up a nursery corner in your bedroom (or if you done;t have the space in there) you can set up a change table etc. ion the living room and decorate a small area there as your LO's. I wouldn't recommend waiting since you are already in your early 30's and it might take you upwards of a year to actually conceive once you start trying.

If I were in your situation, and the living room was a space that the girls could go to bed at a normal hour and wouldn't be disruptive to / disrupted by me and DH staying up later, then that would be a reasonable solution.

But to have your living room taken over to the point that YOU can't use it comfortably half of all your weekends wouldn't be nice.

Even though I see your point that the girls are guests - they are regular guests, and I would assume have stuff they keep at your house. And you need a space for that.

Look at how your family dynamic is, how people currently use your space, and what you all need. Don't worry much about right or wrong, no one else lives in your shoes. I'm a Canadian living in the Netherlands - a country with half as many people living in 1/250th the space. I've been crowded since I got off the plane. I don't like how teeny-tiny all the rooms and stairways are, and that closets do not exist (you buy furniture for that). I prefer open concept and lots of space - but we don't have the money to buy that in this country. So we live small, have less stuff, and keep everything neat. I've adapted. I really don't see adjusting to changing circumstances as a hardship for children.

I would look on Pinterest for ways to make a bedroom shared between older kids and a baby look nice and functional. Invest in space savers like bunk beds. Get into the habit of clearing out clothes, toys, and clutter often so you don't end up with too much stuff in too little of a space. I have three kids in one bedroom now, a benefit for me is that they're all around the same age. Your benefit is that two of yours are hardly ever there. Unless the room itself is tiny it's totally doable to have three in a room. No, you will not have the adorable nursery you always dreamed of for your baby but I can promise you as a btdt mom that you'll hardly ever use the nursery for anything at first.

I thought I read further up that there is a basement? If so - can you do some work to finish (part of) it to be a living space for the girls?

While getting it approved as a bedroom for a certificate of occupancy (i.e, if you advertise it as another bedroom when you sell), you would need to have an exit apart from the stairs to the main part of the house and a bathroom, to do some finishing work as a "play space" you likely need only some permits to do the work. When the inspector comes, you don't have to tell him/her it will be used as a p/t bedroom. Just a thought.

They can share a room with a younger sibling like most of us had to growing up. Bunk the girls up or do a trundle bed. They're kids, you're the adults...remember that.

In my opinion. SO and I have full-time custody of SD, but if BM went ahead and had a baby, we would likely be fine with her taking SD's room and making it into a nursery and having SD on the couch when she's there. SD only spends about 2 weeks a year at her BM's, so we wouldn't mind at all. SD is old enough to understand the concept of having a room for someone full-time, even if it means giving up her own room that she barely uses because she has a room at our home.

Just seeing it from another point of view... It's nice and all to have bedrooms for stepkids who only sleep at your house on weekends/once in a while, but it's not a necessity. I think most children might initially be hurt, but if explained properly, can understand they only need ONE bedroom in their actual home. Anywhere else, they are a guest, even if it's a bioparent's house.

Also just to add, I think in general, society does far too much "making up for divorce" when it comes to stepkids. Growing up, I had one bedroom because my parents were together. If they separated, I would've been fine having one bedroom with the parent I resided with and a place to sleep when I went to my other parents house. Sure, it might've stung a bit at first, but come on... Just because your parents separate, does not mean you are entitled to two bedrooms.