First and foremost, you have to mentally prepare. Calm your mind. Don’t go into the “what if” mode and freak out. Practice “mind like water”. Picture a calm lake early in the morning with no ripples at all. Keep your mind in that state. Whenever you feel your mind going into the dark place, picture that lake, calm and glassy.
There is really nothing you can do other than lay in your hospital bed. What is meant to be will be. You are in the best possible place when you are in the hospital on bedrest so have peace in that.
Call in support…family, friends, co-workers. People really do want to help you so let them. Your husband can really do it. Mine did. Was it hard? Yes! But you are also doing the hard work trying to keep a baby (or babies) in your belly so why not split the work. It might actually bring you closer.
I was very fortunate to have family and friends that helped. We rotated visits…one week my mom, one week my in-laws, one week my dad, one week my friend, then back to my mom. Even a few days of getting someone to help with household chores or to bring you a decent meal helped in more ways than you can imagine. Mealtrain.com or Mealbaby.com is a great website that can help organize meal deliveries.
What to pack?
Well, honestly everything that is on www.bedrestbutler.com were the ESSENTIAL things that made hospital bedrest bearable for me. (which is why we started this business)
- Bed pillow
- Bed tray
- Bed jacket
- Comfy blanket
- Comfy PJs, tank tops and underwear
- Bedrest Kits…everything in those kits I used first hand!
- Grooming kit
- Spa/pedi kit
- Entertainment kit
- Treats kit
- Small cooler for food
- Laptop, ipad, smartphone
If you have kids at home, you can make your hospital bedrest into an adventure. Make their visits fun. Order in pizza and let them climb into your hospital bed with you. Yeah, there may be crumbs in your bed later, but you can get a nurse to change your linens later.
Use a DVD player to watch a movie with your little ones. You can snuggle while you watch it. It is calming for you and fun for the kids. Let your kids know this won’t be forever but that you are making sure their little brother or sister is going to be healthy. Give your kids special treats for behaving while they are in hospital. Maybe they can go to the gift shop and get a piece of gum or a candy when they leave. If you can go out in a wheelchair, you can do little excursions around the hospital with your kids. Trust me, it is harder on your than on your kids. They will hardly remember this time. So make the most of your visits and know you are doing this for your family.
Things that really got me through my days were:
- Zoning out on tv and movies
- Mini mani/pedis my mom gave me
- Meals and treats from friends
- Surfing the internet (Facebook mostly)
- Kindle (didn’t have the Ipad then)
- Legs/eyebrow waxes from my good friend who is an esthetician
- Massage (my nurse was also a masseuse and gave me one!)
- Journaling
- Talking with friends (I had a friend that called me every morning and every night)
- Online shopping (I was on bedrest during Christmas)
Remember that you are strong and you can do this!
Sincerely,
As a Guest in the Stork’s Nest~
BedRest Butler Kelly
Bedrest Butler LLC is an online store for pregnant moms on bed rest. Bedrest Butler offers hand-picked products recommended most by moms on bed rest. Kelly Gould and Pamela Marie Meyer, a mother and daughter team, created this company after Kelly was in the hospital for 63 days on bed rest and pregnant with twin boys. We relieve the constraints of bed rest and make it easier. We know that being on bed rest can be miserable, so our mission is to bring our Mom’s comfort and joy while they await their girl or boy! We offer bed pillows, bed trays, comfy blanket/throws, bed rest kits, lounge wear, radiation belly blankets, and bed jackets.
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