The Logistics of Bedrest

Well, the days really seem to be going by quickly, I’m so thankful for that. When people have called and asked if I’m bored, I ponder for a second and usually can honestly say, nope, not at all. So I started thinking about what I do with my day; thought it might be fun to share a day in the life of a “bedrester”.

6:45am – Alarm goes off; I usually spend 20-30 minutes trying to wake C. up; meanwhile, I’ve been being badgered by Gus since 5:30 or so to eat breakfast. He just doesn’t seem to understand that I cannot get up to feed him any longer. He has to wait for Daddy.

7:15 – When C. gets up, I usually mosey over to my “day room” and wait for my cute hubby to bring me my breakfast in bed. I guess I should savor this too since I’m not sure I’ll ever get breakfast in bed again after this….. I spend this few minutes trying to get the kinks out of my legs and back from a long nights sleep – believe me, the body starts feeling “old” really quick when you’re not up and about all day.

After breakfast, I turn on my computer and check my email. Normally I respond to a few messages and do a few things on line. By about 9:00 or so, I motivate to take a shower. This is quite a production in itself. It’s amazing how you learn to think ahead while on the way to do something. In order to minimize time on my feet, I shed my pj's and grab my clothes for the day on my way to the shower and place everything there on the bathroom vanity.

Having a seat in the shower is a godsend so really, I don’t have to do much standing. But let me ask, have you ever tried to take a shower sitting down? Now that is a new experience. Leaning forward to rinse your hair is not exactly ideal – but it works. For now, I’m barely able to bend over to shave my legs – I know my days are numbered with this. I give myself a 10 minute limit in the shower and I’m outta there. My hairdryer is set up outside the bathroom and I just sit on the floor and dry my hair. Then it’s back to bed. All in all, usually a 20-25 minute deal. But boy, does it feel good to be clean and fresh!

So, around 10am, I catch Access Hollywood while I sit in bed and primp (you know, pluck stray hairs, put on a little mascara etc.) a bit. Nothing like hearing about Brangelina and Brittany Spears every day. It’s amazing what makes news these days isn’t it? Kinda sickening actually. Anyway, topic for another day.

By around 11:00, I check email again, and await my first visitor for the day. Somebody is usually here to make me lunch (this sounds so spoiled doesn’t it?). It’s always good to see a smiling face and chit chat for a bit.

After lunch, the tv selection really gets bad. If nobody is here, I usually read (trashy love novels or good fiction, I gave up the pregnancy books for a while) and putter on the computer (update my blog) for a few hours until about mid-afternoon, when Dr. Phil and Oprah come on. By the time Oprah is over at 5, it’s almost time for C. to get home.

Once C. gets home, we eat dinner – he sometimes eats with me and sometimes not; which is ok with me. Since meals started coming in every other day from friends, it’s always fun to have a new meal to look forward to. By around 8pm, once he has finished the house errands and stuff, he comes up to hang with me and watch tv for a while. We usually go back into our bedroom to bed around 10/11pm. And pray for a good nights sleep.

Throughout the day, my gracious friends & family call to check in and I make various appointments for house stuff or doctors. With weekly doctors appointments, I’m always shuffling something around or the doctors are calling to change appointments due to emergency surgeries etc. Actually, the phone seems to ring all day long.

The modern day conveniences & internet make life so easy from bed. I can pay all of my bills on line, order my library books on line, order movies on line, look up anything and everything that I ever wanted to look up; order groceries on line (we haven’t done this yet b/c C. thinks that it’s too risky to have a delivery man come here when I’m here alone – paranoid). But the on line grocery shopping is something I will definitely be doing once the kids arrive! Even our dry cleaner and water service picks up and delivers weekly for free. Epitome of lazy for the average person but if you are stuck in bed, it’s truly a blessing to have such services available. I can’t imagine what women did in the old days when they were on bedrest.

One day a week I get to look forward to going out of the house for a doc appt. I can’t drive myself so Mom is usually the lucky one to taxi me there. I lay down in the car on the way there (bumpy ride for the boys) and then she commandeers a wheelchair to take me in. It’s usually a quick visit, and then back to the car and home to bed. I’ve never appreciated fresh air so much as I do on those days! Just to see the sunshine and take a few deep breaths of fresh air is rejuvenating. Even in the sweltering summer heat.

So there you have it…nothing fancy. As I put it all into words, I do realize that I keep rather busy all day long; it’s really not so bad. One of the plus’s for now is that I’m still not THAT uncomfortably big yet – I think that is coming. Occasionally I get a foot in the ribcage or a twinge in my side but it’s only temporary. From what I hear, I’m going to get pretty large and the belly gets more unmanageable every week. We’ll just keep plugging away though and hope for the best. If all of the weeks go this fast, I’ll be psyched! 22 Weeks on Monday - almost 3 weeks down.