You're Not Crazy, It's Only Bed Rest

By Phyllis Davis, bed-rest survivor

Are you on bed rest? Is your doctor thinking about putting you on bed rest? After having a preemie (check out our story for the details), I knew that keeping my baby inside where he belonged was the best possible thing.

With our second little boy (and my first managed high-risk pregnancy), our great OB, Dr. Michael Katz, did a fetal fibronectin (fFn) test at 24 weeks and it came back positive. Now, fFN is a better negative indicator (of no preterm labor), than a positive one, but Dr. Katz wanted to cover all the bases. And when the fFn test came back positive, even the possibility of preterm labor was enough for him to say "down girl!"

And, down I went. At first I was placed on modified bed rest. This means that you need to lay in bed (or on the couch or any other horizontal surface) most of the time, but you can get up for meals, the bathroom, and a shower. At that point, our first little guy Julian was three years-old and it was pretty hard for him to understand why Mommy couldn't get down on the floor and play with him anymore. But, we came up with a routine--Julian declared that he was on bed rest, too, and brought his blanket and pillow to my bed so he could lay down, also. I would read to him while we lay there, we drew pictures and told stories to each other, and we had naps together. All-in-all it was pretty sweet.

Then, the poop hit the fan. I started having painless contractions at 28 weeks (just when Julian had been born). Harold rushed me to the hospital. Dr. Katz (bless you!) was able to stop the contractions and with a mix of tocolytic drugs, including indomethacin and terbutaline, I was able to go home after an overnight stay. However, Dr. Katz placed me on strict bed rest. I was only allowed up for 10 minutes each day. Guess what I did for my 10 minutes? I waddled to the bathroom and had a shower. What bliss to get clean (and stand up!) each day.

This strict bed rest continued quietly for 4 more weeks. Granted, I had the terbutaline shakes and had to take the drug every four hours day and night. I had an alarm clock I dubbed "Nurse Diesel" after the character Cloris Leachman plays in the Mel Brooks movie High Anxiety. I even made a little paper nurse hat for the clock--too much time on my hands.

I made it to 32 weeks and again the contractions started. This time they were excruciating. When we got to the hospital, Dr. Katz checked me out and decided to take the cerclage out. At that point the cerclage was holding my cervix together, I was about one centimeter dialated, but that was probably due to the weight of the baby. Dr. Katz normally would not want to remove a cerclage until 35 weeks, but the force of the contractions and the cerclage stiches pulling on my cervix were immensely painful. Dr. Katz snipped out the cerclage and unbelievably everything settled down. The contractions slowed and stopped and my little baby was still right where he needed to be--inside.

So, after another overnight at the hospital, I went home with my terbutaline and returned to the quiet land of strict bed rest for another two weeks. At 34 weeks, Dr. Katz let me get up and return to a more normal schedule, though I still wasn't allowed to lift anything or do much. He wanted me to stay pretty quiet. Just to finish off the story with the birth of our son, the scar tissue that had formed around the cerclage actually held my cervix together for another few weeks until it dissolved. And our healthy, wonderful son, Nicky, was born just at 38 weeks. Our first full-term baby.

What can you do on bed rest? The trick is not to go too crazy, try to keep yourself busy and relax. It is so important for a baby to stay in the womb for as long as possible and not end up in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). I had been through 2 1/2 months in the NICU with our first son (who was born at 28 weeks) and I didn't care what I had to do, but I didn't want that to happen again. Afterall, it was only 10 weeks of my life, but it would effect the entire life of my baby.

What did I do to stay busy? Here's my list:

I finished sewing a Christmas stocking for Julian that I had wanted to make for two years (:
I caught up on a ton of movies thanks to Netflix
I did a lot of reading
My husband set up a laptop that was connected to the internet so I could surf, send email, and generally dither about
With that laptop, I also started researching high-risk pregnancy, looking for answers and finding few. The answers that were out there were scattered about. So, it got me thinking about creating this website.
I discovered the joys and woes of counted cross stitch and worked on an impossibly hard, large reproduction of Tiffany's View of Oyster Bay window. (Still unfinished--probably will be until I'm 80.)
I made sure I had a good supply of snacks and water near my bed.
I got a set of walkie-talkies. My husband (thankfully) works at home. So if I really needed something (I didn't want to bother him too often), I would call him up "breaker, breaker, good buddy, big mama needs ya'.
I had enough naps to last me for a lifetime (or so I thought). After having my third little boy, man, I sure could use some of those naps!
The families at my son's preschool set up a meal list. Unbelievably, every night a warm, fresh-cooked dinner would arrive at our door. I am still so greatful for everyone's help--thank you so much!
Um, the necessaries. Well, if you aren't allowed to walk to the bathroom, you've got to do it somewhere. We bought a portable commode from a local medical supply store. Not so pretty, but it got the job done. My three year-old thought it was hilarious.

If you are on bed rest and are going stir crazy, here are some bed rest resources that might help. Afterall, you aren't alone--there are plenty more women out there on bed rest.

Do you have any resources you would like to add to this list? Please email me! Thanks!