As of Tuesday I have been released from bed rest. I went into my appointment with Dr. B fully armed with a very convincing sales pitch. As I explained to him that Frank and I had been in McCall last weekend & that while he may not be happy to hear this I was "up" more than was prescribed and had no problems or issues & felt great! As I continued to ramble on about why he should take me off bed rest he interrupted me in mid-sentence and said "I was going to take you off bed rest today anyway". Those words were the best words I have heard all pregnancy.
While I had amazing support throughout my time on the couch from friends, family and my dear husband, it becomes a depressing exercise to lay around on the couch day after day no matter how positive of a person you are (see blog entry "It's not always sunshine and roses"). For someone who is used to being busy day-in and day-out just the lack of productivity and social interaction is enough to suck the life right out of you. From the outside I know that some might think that bed rest is a dream come true. In fact, one of my guy friends suggested I take up Xbox 360 gaming to pass the time, clearly bed rest is a pipe dream for him. And, many busy Moms made comments such as: "just wait until the baby arrives, you will be wishing for a quiet day of bed rest". I usually smiled kindly & said, "I know, you are right," but inside my head I was thinking "you've clearly never been on bed rest"! A few hours of down time or a long nap might be desired, but being stripped of all freedom & forced to lay horizontally for weeks on end is not all that dissimilar from a prison sentence (I imagine anyway, having never been in prison).
As tedious and frustrating as bed rest was at the time, I do have to say that the time did go by quickly. In total I was on the couch for 6 1/2 weeks and truly it didn't seem all that long. As always there are many worse stories of women being on bed rest for 16 weeks, or on magnesium sulfate in the ante-partum wing at the hospital for 13 weeks, or worse yet, in ante-partum with the bed tilted so their feet are above their head with no "up" privileges leaving them with a bed pan as their only option for "relief". Yes, I did feel lucky to be in the comfort of my own home for my time on bed rest & for the seemingly short duration relative to other women's experiences. Mostly, I am just ever more grateful to be able to get myself a glass of water, go to the grocery store, & help out at work in-person, while the baby continues to reside safely in my belly!
In fact, I've never been so happy to go to work, or do the dishes, or drive myself to the coffee shop. So next time you have a bad day at work, or your to do list feels overwhelming just remember that you have the freedom to go where you need to & do what you want to without recourse. Sometimes we take for granted the most basic notions & I leave the couch pretty confident that I will never take for granted my freedom again!
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