A Better Bed Rest

Tips and Advice for Surviving Pregnancy Downtime

By Sue Marquette Poremba

Susanne Gilliam of Wayne, Pa., was told she had to be on bed rest during her third pregnancy. She got the news a few weeks before Christmas and just days after her husband had begun a new job.

During the first three weeks, she was allowed to be in a sitting position, and she could even join her family for dinner. But then her doctor put her on what he called "profound bed rest" because of heart problems that developed during her pregnancy. At that point her movement was strictly limited.

Gilliam's doctors allowed her to stay home because she wanted to be with her two young children, but she had to undertake extreme measures to protect her health. Her son was born after she had been on bed rest for 16 weeks.

No matter if it is three weeks or 16 weeks, at home or in the hospital, being put on bed rest for the duration of a pregnancy not only can be scary, but it is a major disruption to your life. It may mean going on maternity leave months sooner than planned or finding someone to help care for an active toddler. Mentally, it is difficult to realize that your normal activities are put on hold for a while.

"It's so hard to comply with the rules of bed rest even when it's for your health or the baby's," says Gina Ritter of Wappingers, N.Y., who was on bed rest with all three of her children. "It's easy to cheat and regret it later."

"The best thing you can do right now is practice personal acceptance of what is," says D'Amico. She recommends the following techniques to help respond to the challenge of bed rest:

• Gripe about it. "Talking about how it feels can bring support of others and minimize that alone feeling," D'Amico says.
• Stop the struggle and start the acceptance.
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