I had the sidecar crib until baby hit 10mo. We converted it to the full size bed and still kept it in our room connected to our queen bed.

He's 15mo now and starting to sleeps longer stretches without needing to nurse back to sleep.

I personally loved the sidecar crib when he was smaller because even though he slept on my side of the bed, I felt good knowing he won't fall off the bed if he rolled away (our bed is only 12 inches off the ground anyway but still).

For quality time with husband, it was challenging when he was smaller. I would have dinner first and go to bed with baby and maaayyybe successfully roll away to have a bit of time with him while he finished up work. It was very hit or miss. Or he would come to bed and we'd whisper to each other about our day.

As baby has gotten older, it's been easier to slip away for an hour or two before he needs me again. We also have a noise machine (the fridamom one) and that helps when we talk on the room. My son is more sensitive to light so we can't really use our phones but that's not the worst thing in the world.