If you're experiencing a high-risk pregnancy and resting at home with frequent medical check-ins hasn't improved your status as hoped, bed rest in a hospital setting may be necessary to extend your pregnancy and monitor your health. Although not common, bed rest in the hospital may be able to extend your pregnancy, watch you for complications and give the baby more time to grow in utero, thus minimizing or preventing issues associated with premature births. There are many challenges associated with the need for long-term bed rest, so the following information will be quite useful as you plan for and experience your time away from home.
#1—Plan For Some Fun...Even If Your Definition Of It Needs To Change For A While
Although a day or two of napping often seems like a great idea, it can get very old, very fast when napping is a primary source of entertainment. The same is true of daytime television, so it is a good time to consider acquiring new hobbies or improving the skills you have with an existing hobby.
You might also consider giving yourself an approximate daily schedule. Knowing what will happen throughout the day can give you something to look forward to.
#2—Schedule Family Or Friend Time
If you already have children at home, it is easy to see how scary and nerve-racking it can be for them to see you in the hospital, especially given that you probably have a fetal monitor and other machines attached to you. In order to make the situation easier for them, you may find that allowing them to eat dinner, watch a movie or get your help with their homework or projects allows them to become more comfortable with what can be an uncomfortable position for everyone.
In addition, many facilities offer extended visiting hours or can make occasional exceptions to the rules. Therefore, asking for your child or children to stay the night with you in a roll-away bed or on furniture that is present in the room will be helpful. If you opt for that, you should consider that your status as a bed rest patient is likely to prevent you from providing adequate supervision, at least in the eyes of hospital staff. Therefore, your spouse, partner or another responsible adult may need to stay the night as well and staff members are likely to require that your guests provide their own food.
#3—Choose A New Hobby (Or Two)
Knitting, crocheting, sewing, and macrame are common, useful hobbies that can help you prevent boredom when you are required to stay in bed for a while. However, there are also many free tutorials available online that will help you to hone your computer skills.
If you don't have a laptop, you're likely to find that getting one is of the utmost importance. Even an older, used model can be invaluable when you are stuck in the hospital for an extended period of time. Even if you are only using it to email your friends and family members about your experience or to binge-watch a few of your favorite shows, escaping into the internet on your computer might be the closest you will come to freedom for a while.
In conclusion, a high-risk pregnancy can result in premature birth, disabilities and lasting health challenges to your child, as well as many other maternal medical issues. In addition, death to mother and/or child is also a possibility. One way to closely monitor you is bed-rest in the hospital for the last weeks or months of your pregnancy. Therefore, it only makes sense that you will benefit from the aforementioned advice if you're currently or will soon be experiencing that level of care.
