Bed Rest During Pregnancy: 7 Tips to Survive

Keep your eye on the prize when you’re put on bed rest. Credit: peasap

7 Tips to Survive Bed Rest

1. Not working out is not the end of the world. Sure, you might have dreamt about being the fittest mama ever, but sometimes your body just can’t keep up with all of your desires. Each and every time you think about that race you can’t do or that class you can’t take or that goal you won’t reach, say this: “Yeah, but I get a BABY.” And isn’t that what you want most from your body at this time?

2. If you’re already a mom, days in front of the TV will not fry your toddler’s brain or undo all of their physical development. I was kind of lucky in that my son had seen so little TV prior to me going on bed rest. He was completely entranced, and I finally learned our public broadcasting channel’s schedule and now incorporate one hour of TV into our lives wherein I can cook dinner in peace. Yes, the couple of days after bed rest ended, he whined and stood in front of the TV saying “TV, TV,” and I thought his brain was indeed fried, but I held firm and we got back to our active lifestyle!

3. If someone offers to help you say “Yes and. . .” Fellow Fit Bottomed Girl Tish offered to come and clean my house, I said no. Then an hour passed, and I asked myself if I was crazy. My friend offered help. So I called her back and said “Yes and…” asked her to do it again three weeks later. She was happy to oblige. Other friends offered food, childcare and company, and your answer has to be Yes. Yes. Yes. My mom offered to cancel her vacation and fly 1,500 miles to help me and, although it was hard, I said “Yes and can dad come too.” He did.

4. Bed rest is hard on your partner, too. If you’re like me and take care of all of the childcare, housework and majority of the meals, these duties now fall on your partner. He may or may not do them as timely or as well as you would like, but if he is at least doing them, then let it be. You do the dishes every night, he does them every other night or every three days or once a week and that has to be OK. Let go and relax, your baby needs you to.

5. Talk to people. I spent so much time judging myself for my selfish resistance to my medical needs and yet still was continuously consumed by all the things I wasn’t getting to do and all the ways my pregnancy wasn’t going as I wanted. Don’t keep all that crazy in your own head. Talk to friends, your mom, your sister, your therapist, your journal, but don’t keep it inside; it will consume you.

6. Tell people what you NEED. Family and friends were kind to bring me food, comfort food, AKA fattening food. I ate it. I have always been a comfort eater, but over time I no longer get the same comfort from bad food. The comfort is short lived and the regret and sugar crash often negate the comfort. Speak up and ask people to get you fresh fruit, vegetables and hummus from the little Armenian market around the corner, as opposed to the chips and candy that may have comforted you in the past. And be specific. If you only like on-the-vine tomatoes and despise roma tomatoes—I learned this the hard way—say so! Once I communicated my needs, people were happy to oblige.

7. Never forget that in the end of all of the stagnant, monotony and depressing stillness, when you get a healthy baby, it will all be worth it. Once the baby’s born, you can tend to your thighs, correct your husband’s efforts at the household chores and buy the right tomatoes. Or you might just want to hold that baby in bed and rest.

Ever been on bed rest? How did you survive? —Dara