Bed rest blues, week one

This is not renee! She's in hospital on pregnancy bedrest

As many of you know, my husband and I are expecting a bouncing baby boy in early January. Or, at least that was the plan.

On September 13th at 23 weeks pregnant, my water broke. Not a full break. It is more accurate to say that I’m leaking amniotic fluid. The diagnostic term is Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes or pPROM.

If all goes well and according to my doctor’s plan, I’ll stay pregnant, here in the hospital, on bed rest until 34 weeks and deliver. Either way, we know we’re expecting a preemie. As for how preemie, that is the question.

For those of us who are on bed rest, whether at home, or in the hospital, the feeling can be overwhelming. You know you are doing this for the heath of you child and like any parent are willing to do anything it takes to ensure your child is healthy, but that does not make the difficulty go away.

Once, you were an active pregnant woman. Perhaps like me, a mom of other children. Suddenly, you can’t even hold your child. In some instances, you cannot even get out of bed to use the restroom on your own. You feel as if you have lost all control over your life. Like a prisoner, people bring you your meals at a set time. If you are in the hospital, you get no sleep on top of your ‘rest’ because people are checking in on you EVERY HOUR.

Bed rest….week one….

Room is very small. Slept in small increments as nurses had to come in and give me IV antibiotics, steroid shots to help boost the baby’s lung development (you get these shots in the hip/back above the bum. In my case at 2 a.m. two days in a row).

Nursing assistants are constantly taking temperature to ensure that I’m not spiking a fever (sign of uterine infection that will cause me to have to deliver) and blood pressure.

Meet my new high-risk OBs. They have the MOST wonderful nurse (I’ll call her Ms. M). Meet the head of NICU who explains a bit of what will happen if I deliver now.

Schedule tour of NICU with Ms. M in the event we deliver so we know what to expect.

Husband and I scramble to try to find child care (grandparents are many, many hours away). Husband is off for first two days of the week. Child care found. Spend next few days trying to call everyone we know to develop child care schedule for the next three weeks.

Miss our good friends wedding. The bride, was one of my bridesmaids. The groom was the best man at my wedding. My husband and I introduced them.

I miss my little girl. This is a hard, hard week.

Photo, courtesy of Flicker Creative Commons, by threedayblog

Filed Under: Featured • Moms Health • What's On Your Mind • Working Moms Diaries