Bedrest
There are times a pregnant woman is encouraged to go on bedrest. I was on strict bedrest with my first pregnancy due to preterm labor and modified bedrest with my second pregnancy. It is not an easy thing to do.
The best place for information and support is www.sidelines.org
Here is my story about being on bedrest.
Preterm Labor Starts
Our fairly uneventful pregnancy got very exciting in my 26th week. I woke up on a Sunday morning, November 11th feeling a bit weird. We had gone to see Air Force One the night before and I had a backache through the whole movie. So when I noticed I was having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions I got a bit nervous. Our friends Carrie and Christian had experienced preterm labor with their first baby, so I was aware of the symptoms to look for. I drank a big glass of water and laid on my side and started counting. The contractions seemed to slow down and I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so I decided to go to church as normal.
At church I kept having contractions and decided it was dumb to have gone to church. I left my pager with Rob and hitched a ride home with a friend. Once home I drank more water and laid on my side and started counting the contractions again. When I had 3 or 4 contractions in the first 30 minutes I knew I should call the Doctor. For some reason I was nervous too, I didn't want to "bother" her on a Sunday. So I called Carrie instead. She yelled at me and said to call the Doctor right away and call her back to let her know what happened. When I called the Doctor she said to meet her at the hospital. I paged Rob, and he hurried home from church. I was still thinking it was somehow all in my head and was in total denial, which I demonstrated by making him lunch and then insisting I drive to the hospital while he ate.
When we got to the hospital, they put me on a monitor to track my contractions and check the babies heart rate. I was having a small contraction every minute or so. I hadn’t been noticing all of them. I was given a shot of Trebuteline (Brethine) and sent home after the contractions slowed down. My Dr. didn’t really give me any good explanation of what was going on, or what I should do. Irritable Uterus was the diagnosis. She did give me a prescription for some Brethine….. just in case. I decided to call in sick for Monday and just take it easy for a day.
I called Carrie back when I got home and she seemed surprised by my DR’s cavalier attitude. I was hoping everything would be fine and the contractions wouldn’t start again. But, Monday morning I started having them again and the Dr. said to take a pill. Every day I seemed to be having more contractions and I would call the Doctors office. I was never "allowed" to talk to the Doctor, rather I talked to the nurse (who didn’t seem to speak English very well) who would call me back and tell me to take more medicine. I was getting very frustrated and felt as if the doctor didn't care what was happening with me.
Finally by Thursday, I freaked out. I knew for my sanity I had to change to a new OB. This was very traumatic. The drug I was taking, Brethine made me very emotional. It turned out I had to change my primary care physician to get the OB I wanted. I cried on the phone to a lot of people that day; the insurance company, my new OB's office and poor Rob, I called him crying hysterically at least 3 times. But by the end of the day, I finally had a new OB.
Bedrest is Boring
By now I realized I probably wasn’t going back to work. My co-workers were sad, but dealt with it, by promptly forgetting I existed. At first they would conference me into team meetings by phone. But after they left the room once at the end of the meeting without saying goodbye or hanging up the phone, I realized that they really had forgotten me. They came to visit one time about 5 weeks after I started bedrest. I was so darn lonely any outside contact would have been nice, even a phone call to see how I was doing.
Well, bedrest was long. It wouldn’t have been to bad (it was very boring) if only we hadn’t had to go to the hospital so many times because my contractions kept going out of control. We went to the hospital a total of 7 times for contractions. The longest I ever had to stay was 12 hours. My OB had me taking steroids in case the baby did come early. By the time I was 33 weeks pregnant I was on 5 mg of Brethine every 2 hours and taking Nyphedipine every 4 hours. I laid in bed (actually on the futon in the living room) all day long. I couldn’t concentrate to read because of the medicine, so I mostly watched TV and napped. I also spent time on the internet every day. It was a great link to the outside world and to other pregnant people. There were even bulletin boards where I "talked" to other people on bedrest. It helped me feel less alone.
I think in many ways it was harder for Rob. He had to do all of the housework and then keep me entertained when he was home. Then of course each time we went to the hospital, there was always the fear that this time the contractions wouldn’t slow down and the baby would come early. I typically had 3-5 contractions an hour, even on the medication. But if I was late taking a pill then I would have 7-10 contractions an hour and we would head to the hospital again.
One day Rob and I were talking, and we both agreed that there was a reason I was on bedrest. All ready the experience had made us turn towards our faith in the Lord for comfort and support. So if nothing else we were learning a lot and developing our faith. But we both knew that there was a greater reason as well. I said, that maybe if I was still working, I would have gotten in a car accident on the way to work or something. It turned out we would find out there was a very good reason.
On one of my trips to the hospital one of the nurses had mentioned, if you can just make it to 34 weeks, the baby would most likely be fine. He would probably need to stay in the hospital to grow, but he would make it. So I had set a goal to make it to 34 weeks. I would pray every night, let us make it to 34 weeks. Jan. 2nd marked the 34 week goal. Rob’s 30th b-day was Jan 15th. His Dad and Grandpa have the same b-day, so I was going to set a new goal once we made it to Jan 2nd to make it to the 15th.
On Jan 1st I sent e-mails out to family saying we made it to 34 weeks!! We also had Carrie and Christian over to watch a movie and play a game. I remember feeling Hootie move, because Carrie and I talked about how the baby moving would sometimes contractions. Hootie was busy rolling around in my tummy and making me contract.
The Birth – this is a bit scary and involves a c-section
I woke up on the 2nd and went downstairs, ate a breakfast burrito, drank some juice and was watching the Newlywed Show (you can tell how bored I was) Suddenly I realized I hadn’t felt Hootie move that morning. Because I was on bedrest I was very familiar with his movement. I called the Dr, they said drink more juice and call back in an hour if he hasn’t moved. I already knew something was wrong. I still wish I had told the Doctor I wouldn't wait another hour, because I just KNEW. But I obediently waited the hour, crying for most of it. I really thought we had already lost the baby.
I woke Rob up (he was taking the morning off). I told him to get up, because we were going to the hospital again. I called the Dr. back and they set up an apt. at the outpatient center for 1:30. Rob gave me a blessing before we left. He blessed the Hootie would be ok and he would come when he was ready. As soon as he said he would be ok, I felt a large weight come off of my shoulders, I KNEW that the baby was going to be ok.
We got to the outpatient center early, but they were still at lunch. When they finally got back from lunch, they hooked us up on the monitor. When we saw his heartbeat, we figured, everything was ok. They used a little noisy vibrator on my belly to try and wake him up. Hootie kept on sleeping, but it made me have contractions. After 3 tries, this mean nurse came in and said, "It looks like you are going to have your baby today." and then She tried to wake him up with the noise maker again. Rob and I were wondering who this strange nurse was and we didn’t believe her at all. I thought she was in the wrong room or something.
Then the nice nurse came in and explained much more nicely. The baby was under stress and we needed to go straight to Labor and Delivery, they would probably perform a c-section. The baby’s heart rate was not changing, except it did drop during contractions. They would be better able to help the baby outside of me than if he stayed inside. Rob and I were shocked. But we dutifully headed over to Labor and Delivery. Rob asked if I wanted another blessing. I said no. I felt really calm. I knew that the baby would be ok.
We got to Labor and Delivery and there was a room full of DR’s and nurses waiting for us. I still didn’t believe it was real, until when I got undressed and on the bed, the nurse started shaving me. I got an IV in my right arm, but it didn’t go in right and got all swollen, so they switched arms. I got a fast ultrasound. Rob watched, but I was busy listening to the Anesthesiologist explain about the spinal. He asked if I had any allergies. I replied, "Just to cats." :)
I think we got to L&D at 2:30 and into surgery around 2:40 or 2:45. I remember being pretty out of it. Rob came in and was holding my hand during the c-section. Everything seemed so surreal. My nurse was really nice. She asked if we knew what we were having. I said a boy. She asked if we had a name. I said not yet, but we called him Hootie in utero. At 3:05 he was born, I felt them pulling and then the nurse asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?" "It’s a boy" She said, "Hi Hootie"
I didn’t hear him cry at first. But then I heard a mewing sound and that was the baby crying. He weighed 4lbs 3 oz and was 18 inches long. They let me hold him, but it was hard while I was lying down and then the nurse came over and said, "He is still pink" that freaked me out, so I told Rob I was tired and I didn’t want to hold him anymore. So Rob and the Neonatologist went to the NICU with the baby.
I couldn’t believe I had the baby already. I was feeling a lot of pain and I didn’t really care about the baby at that point. It just was so unbelievable that we had him already. The nurse told me when I got up to the maternity floor they would give me a morphine pump. I was just focusing on surviving until I could get those drugs. It was funny, they finally brought me up to my room and I called my mom to tell her what happened. I told her we had the baby and he weighs…. and then the nurse came. I thought she was bringing my drugs, so I told my mom, "I have to go, they are bringing me my drugs." and I hung up the phone. Boy was I disappointed when the nurse didn’t have my drugs.
After the Birth (aka pain killer days)
To be honest the next few days are quite blurry. I was in a LOT of pain. I was taking some good drugs to help with the pain. This caused me to be living in a cloud for a week or so. We finally picked a name for Hootie 3 days after he was born. We chose Devon Scott. It seemed to fit him and it was nice to see them cross off Baby Boy R and put Devon Scott R. It seemed more official.
I don’t think I realized the seriousness of what had happened until a Dr. who was checking me asked how he was doing. I said pretty good but he was going to have to stay in the NICU for awhile. She said we were lucky he was here at all. I know now that is why I was on bedrest. I have had so many people say they wouldn’t have noticed their baby wasn’t moving. We are all told to do kick counts, but most people think they don’t have time. The best advice I got was to pay attention after you eat, make sure you feel the baby move 3 times within 30 minutes after you eat, if you don’t they lie down and count. Being aware of his movements saved his life!!!
My mom came out to help us right away, which was so wonderful. She drove me to the hospital once or twice a day to visit with Devon. She cooked for us and cleaned like I’ve never seen her clean before. We would be exhausted by the end of the day. I was still recovering from surgery and walking through the hospital and being up and about so much just wore me out. I longed for Devon to come home. . When I would visit him in the NICU, it was like visiting A baby, not MY baby. I was pumping every 3 or 4 hours and bringing in my Breastmilk for Devon to drink. He was having trouble eating and digesting his food, so that is what kept him from coming home. His lungs were great, I kept thanking my Dr. for giving me the steroids.
Then on the 14th of January the nurse surprised us by saying he was going to go home that day. I was thrilled, he would be home just in time for his Daddy’s birthday. My mom was really nervous because he was still so little. He weighed 4lbs 5 oz when we brought him home. I didn’t care how big he was, I was just so excited because he was finally MINE.
I was nervous about breastfeeding, that it would be hard for him to adjust to the breast. I had only breastfed him 2 or 3 times before he came home. We were so blessed because he adjusted just fine. I supplemented with Expressed Breast Milk for a day or so, then my Pediatrician told me to try a week with out supplemental bottles. He did great and when we weighed him a week later he had gained a pound. J
Devon is 8 years old now and doing great. He did have some minor brain damage due to the stress. He has left hemiplegia (his left side is weaker than his right side.) He wears a brace on his left leg and is a little more clumsy than kids his age, but other than that he is right on target. I am so grateful that I was on bedrest and that I was aware of his movements. I know that awareness saved his life.