Bed Rest – Really Necessary?

“Bed Rest”. I think that these are two of the most feared words of all pregnant women. Many of us joke about how nice it would be to be sentenced to bed 24 hours a day/7 days per week; one long, uninterrupted nap sounds great doesn’t it?   But the fact of the matter is that bed rest is not only boring as all heck, it can be detrimental to a woman’s emotional and physical health.

I was sentenced to bed rest when I was 26 weeks pregnant with my darling daughter, lovingly nicknamed “P.I.T.A.” during my pregnancy with her. I was 50% effaced at that time, and her head was resting comfortably on my cervix. I was experiencing an immense amount of pressure “down there” and it felt like I was sitting on her head when I sat straight up. Really odd feeling. During my time on bed rest, I also had some bleeding issues but the blood was never coming from my cervix or my uterus, it was coming from my kidneys. I developed kidney stones and passed several grains. Apparently this is quite common in bed resting women.  My cervix grew to only 25% effaced by 30 weeks but my doctors kept me on bed rest, insisting that if I were to get up and move around that I would deliver a VERY pre-term baby. I was convinced that my body just works this way because I was 100% effaced and 1cm dilated by the time my doctor began checking me at 36 weeks when I was pregnant with my son 8 years prior. My new doctors weren’t convinced and they scared me into submission. Luckily for me, my mother-in-law was unemployed at the time and came over to take care of our house, our 7 yr old, and me, every single day of the week. She really saved me during that time. She cleaned, did laundry, and fed me. She picked my son up from school, entertained him, and made sure dinner was lined up for us. What she couldn’t do, was be my emotional crutch every waking moment. My husband was opening a new hotel and was working ridiculous hours as well as finishing his last semester of college. He was gone, on average, about 18 hours per day. When she left, I would immediately begin crying and I would cry, and cry, and cry, and cry until Kyle got home. I sometimes spent 7 hours straight crying my eyes out. I couldn’t explain my crying fits. I just DID. It just WAS. Aside from my mother-in-law, I had maybe 3 visitors the entire three months I was on bed rest. Maybe that had something to do with my crying fits. It wasn’t that I didn’t have friends, I had some great friends in Orlando. The fact was that bed rest was MY life, not theirs. They had lives of their own; children to care for, jobs to work, new boyfriends to entertain, businesses to start-up, schools to attend. People said they’d come but they never did. I don’t fault them for it now, I know that as my life had come to a screeching halt, theirs had continued on as normal. And why shouldn’t they? Their lives were the same, it was mine that had changed so drastically. Knowing that deep down in my heart didn’t ease the pain. It didn’t erase the fact that I felt alone, rejected, and broken; physically and emotionally. I ended up carrying my daughter to term. Rejoice all you want for me, I was ticked. I spent all that time trying to keep her in and when I was taken off of strict bed rest and placed on modified bed rest at 36 weeks, I still didn’t have her until she was 40 weeks gestation. All that crying and time on my back for WHAT?

This pregnancy, I was concerned that the same thing would happen. I spent the first 26 weeks of my pregnancy constantly worrying that I’d wind up on bed rest again with positive FFN tests and short cervix problems. 26 weeks came and I was doing perfectly fine. My cervix was a solid 5cm thick, which is GREAT! I was SO excited when I realized that every pregnancy truly is different and that this time I was going to be fine. That is, until 2 weeks later I wound up in the doctor’s office having the tell-tale cervical pressure that landed me on bed rest with the previous pregnancy. Sure enough, I had thinned out to about 25% effaced and was already 1cm dilated. The news rocked my world before the doctor could even talk. I began to cry, slipping back into a dark, dark place. But when my doctor opened her mouth to tell me my fate, it didn’t include strict bed rest. What she said was that more recent research shows that bed rest really has NO effect on whether or not a baby is going to be born early or not. She admitted to me that my time on bed rest with Madilyn was likely all in vain. She said that she wanted me to “take it easy” and for the sake of not having anything else to call it, she termed it “Modified Pelvic Rest”. My sentence was less like a high-security federal prison and more like being on parole. She did throw out my trip to the National Championship game (which we couldn’t have afforded anyways). She nixed our nightlife. She vetoed my vacuuming. She forbade me from lifting anything over 20 lbs. And she denied any more trips to Disney – just TOO much walking for one day. But she didn’t confine me to my bed, or even my house. She told me strolls in the park were fine. She said that light housework was fine. She simply told me to listen to my body and to keep myself hydrated and rested. She said that if I were producing the enzymes necessary to start pre-term labor, that I would go into labor whether or not I was on bed rest. The ONLY thing she would have done differently had my FFN come back positive this time, would be to give me a shot of steroids for the baby’s lungs, but my sentence would have never included “bed rest”. As we talked further she confided that often bed rest can be more detrimental for the mom and baby than beneficial. Kidney infections are rampant in bed-ridden women (I can attest to that), they tend to not be as hydrated (check), they suffer from depression that can affect the fetus negatively (debatable for me – Madilyn was PAINFULLY needy after birth), they are at risk for atrophied muscles (yep, as my knees scream in pain from my non-existent quad muscles), and according to her it really won’t make or break an early term labor (aaaaannd check).

I am SO, SO, SO thankful that my new doctor is up to date on her research. I would have absolutely bucked a “bed rest” prescription this pregnancy either way, but I didn’t have to and I can’t say enough how glad I am that she is a new doctor who is willing to embrace new ideas. I am beyond grateful that she trusts me enough as a patient to listen to my own body and decide when I’ve done too much for one day. It feels fantastic and empowering to have a doctor listen to me and to allow me to keep my pregnancy, largely, in my own hands. And I’ll say it again: I’m SO very thankful that she is up to date on her research. Her knowledge and education have perhaps saved me emotionally AND physically. I feel blessed to have found her, and I tell her that every time I see her.

If you’re on bed rest, talk to your doctor about the “new” findings (one study I found was from 2005, not really NEW information if you ask me). Take your own pregnancy, emotional, and physical health into your own hands. Connect with your body. Learn to listen to it and know when you’ve done too much. And never, EVER take what your doctor has to say without getting a second opinion; especially when the effects could be so detrimental. “When Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy“, believe me. I have suffered for the past year and a half with pretty serious depression but didn’t face it until very recently, and it all began when I was on bed rest.  I’ve struggled with very weak knees that threatened to blow out every time I stood up due to extremely weakened quads.  I’ve had two pregnancies with very similar issues in each. I am now 34 weeks pregnant, NOT on bed rest, and thriving. I fully believe the same thing could have been said during my pregnancy with Madilyn but I’ll never know. I’m now left to deal with the depression I acquired while on bed rest, all the while trying to raise two other kids and maintain “good wife” status while adjusting to life in a new state. While I may not be a doctor, I am an advocate for taking your health into your own hands. I firmly believe doctors all-too-often try to cover their asses in situations without considering the real problems at hand, the latest research, or the ill-effects of their medical advice.

I’ve included a few websites with more information on the new bed rest recommendations. Print them out and take them to your doctor. Take the initiative in your health. If you don’t agree with your doctor’s opinion or want a second one, GET ONE! Your doctor isn’t going to advocate for you; you have to.

Bed Rest May Not Be Helpful for Threatened Miscarriage

Bed Rest to Prevent Preterm Labor

Bed Rest For Pregnant Women May Be Harmful

Placenta Previa: Mamas on Bedrest, what it means when the placenta presents first.

Bed Rest May Not Help and It May Actually be Harmful

 

I’d love to hear your own bed rest stories or your own triumphs with pregnancies that were deemed high risk and then carried to term. If you have no choice but to be on bed rest or you decide that it really is best for you, make sure you connect with Keep Em Cookin.  It’s a fantastic resource for women on bed rest with lots of information on the signs of pre-term labor.

Good luck and healthy pregnancies to ALL!