And to all those wondering why women need cleaning help…imagine if you will, (in the days before computers) you spent nearly 3 hours completing a particular draft for an upcoming deal. Unfortunately, your spouse came along and spilled coffee on it. Argh! So you sit down to do it again. Ahh! Finished! Only to have your five year old use it as scrap paper to practice cutting with scissors. Argh! So you do it again. Another three hours. Whew! Oh no…the baby just threw up on it! You cannot believe that you have to do it all over again!
My point? cleaning a house is an endless job. As soon as you finish cleaning it, someone is messing it up and you have to do it all over again. As opposed to your 9-5 job, this one is 24/7. If you dont want to hire cleaning help then agree not to EVEN SLIGHTLY mess up any of the cleaning work she already did. Doesn’t sound liveable? Then hire a cleaning lady so you wont be constantly ruining you wife’s hard work. Imagine how frustrated would you be with your wife if she kept deleting the files you were working on and then asked how come you still have work to do?
Newhusband, you only know the house of your parents from when you were old enough to remember it. You don’t know to what extent it was clean when you were little. Unless your mother had cleaning help, chances are pretty good the house was not so pristine.
Pregnancy is tiring. You will never be able to imagine what it is like. And since your wife never experienced it before, she can’t yet distinguish between what feelings will last forever and what will pass as she regains her stength. Yaakov Avinu also asked to sit “b’Shalva” but IY”H you are on the cusp of what will become the busiest and messiest period in your life. But mark my words, these days fly by and when it is again only the two of you in the house you will be begging for the grandchildren to come over and mess it up a bit! Maintain shalom bayis over everything else and don’t stop thanking Hashem for your amazingly good fortune!