Staying Sane on Bed Rest

While I’ll wait until my turn in the How I Became a Mother series to share my whole pregnancy story, I do want to discuss a small part of it now.  That part is the day I was told that my blood pressure was getting high and I needed to stay on bed rest.

I know I’m not the only mom who has been there – in complete nesting mode, feeling perfectly fine {albeit, slightly swollen}, and endless amounts of energy – yet told to stay in bed.  If I’m being honest, I didn’t exactly listen the first time my doctor told me to take it easy.  Luckily the second time, she scared me enough to stay in bed.  I ended up on both strict at-home bed rest, followed by hospital bed rest before it was all said and done.

Surviving Bed Rest

So today I’m sharing my tips for staying sane on bed rest ::

1.  Netflix

Ever been interested in a show but never had the time to get caught up on it?  Well, now is your time.  Start that show and go ahead and watch the series from beginning to end.  It is doctor’s orders after all…

2.  Crafting

You’d be surprised how much crafting can get done while sitting in bed.  I made hair bows, poms to hang in the nursery, and had my fingers not eventually swollen to the size of polish sausages, I would’ve taken up crocheting.

3.  Video Games

I hate video games. HATE them.  Mostly because I don’t know how to play these newfangled games.  But give me old school Super Mario, and I’m down.  In fact, I saved Princess Peach while on bed rest.  No big deal.

4.  Blogging

Duh.  I wrote more blog posts while on hospital bed rest than I’d ever written.  And wrote more comments on friends’ posts.  Caught up on my tweeting.  I was the best blogger ever!

5.  Reading

This was actually my favorite way to pass the time.  I’ve always been a bookworm.  But I had three months worth of book reviews scheduled on my blog by the time my little one was born!

I’d love to hear how you stayed sane on bed rest!  Did you eat, play, sleep?  Leave your story in the comments below…

7 COMMENTS

  1. I found bedrest so hard. Like you, I didn’t take is very seriously until the doctor really scared me. I read a lot and caught up on sleep, but it did get old very fast. My tip is to ask for help! Something that is very hard for me. I had people run those last minute shopping errands that I didn’t have a chance to do. Was it totally necessary that they get done? No, but it helped me put my mind at ease. Great post!

    • I was the same way! I stressed so much about the little things that weren’t getting done! Thank goodness for friends and family helping out.

  2. I can’t imagine how old bed rest would get so quickly. I feel like I would be bored by day 2! But those are some great ideas to pass time. Love the idea of crafting! I am not much of a crafter but if I couldn’t go anywhere, I would do something like that!

  3. Taking time for those five things sounds amazing! Is there a way I can get my doctor to put me on bed rest even though I haven’t been pregnant now for over six months???

  4. I spent 94 days on bedrest in the hospital. I couldn’t agree more with all that you said and I actually did all of these myself! The best thing that kept me going was making things for my little man. I learned how to cross stitch and made 2 bibs and a quilt for him. It was definitely hard but, in the end, it was very much worth the wait.

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