Light at the End of the Tunnel
Comments (10) As my bed rest time draws to a close (a week or two depending on my doctor’s appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday), I have a few thoughts:
- The first few weeks were the hardest, particularly emotionally. Emotionally it was hard to go from running around and doing everything to doing absolutely nothing except what I could do from a side-lying position. Thinking about the possibility of delivering a 23 week old baby was stressful beyond words. Dave kept reminding me that my only job was to be still and keep this baby in!
- Physically it was hard to adjust to inactivity. Every part of me ached for a few weeks. The Terbutaline made my heart pound out of my chest for the first few days. Thankfully, I got used to the medication and have only dealt with a slightly higher heart rate and hot flashes.
- Regarding Carmen, I found it very hard to no longer be Carmen’s primary care-taker during the day. Particularly the first week when she was really sick. I can suction her but have to ask Dave or someone else to change her diaper, start her day feeding, give her medication, reposition her, etc.
- Lauren has thoroughly enjoyed having me on bed rest. I am a captive audience!
- I initially thought that I would read and read. I found that my attention span for reading is very, very short. Before bed rest, I would read a book in a day or two. For the past 11 weeks, I don’t think I have gotten through a single book! I will pick one up and then put it down.
- I also thought I would watch every great movie I ever wanted to see. For some reason, I found watching TV/movies to be tiring. I have watched a few good movies here and there.
- It takes a village. I’m not sure my sanity would have stayed intact without a super-duper husband, in-laws always willing to jump in the car and drive 7 hours to help, friends bringing meals and running errands, friends helping with the girls, an online bed rest buddy, a nurse to call 24/7 with any questions or concerns, and friends to call/email when everything seemed overwhelming.
- It takes a lot of grace on the part of the healthy spouse to deal with the bed-ridden spouse! Thanks, Dave.
Yesterday, I suddenly realized that this baby might be born and we will have no pregnancy pictures except for a few we took at 20 weeks. So, Dave got out the camera. This is the most accurate depiction of the past 11 weeks, ha!
Me at 34 weeks and 5 days.
I am having contractions every 10-15 minutes, even on bed rest and Terbutaline. I am still being followed by the home contraction monitoring company so I send in my results twice per day and my nurse calls and tells me what to do. That’s good because, otherwise, we might be running to the hospital every day. I am 34 weeks so we would like Hope to stay in for a few more weeks. We shall see!