The big comfy couch-the joys of bed rest

It was December 26th, the day after Christmas. As others were out chasing down after Christmas bargains, I was sitting in the examination room of my midwife. With my feet dangling off the table and sweet "baby Linkletter" squirming all around inside of me, I watched as my mid-wife took my blood pressure. My mind wandered to all of the sales that I would be bargain hunting for in just a few quick minutes. She loosened the cuff on my arm and started the process over again. I watched her forehead crease as a frown filled her face. With just once sentence, "Beginning today, you will be on strict bed rest for the duration of your pregnancy." my little world changed and all of my plans flew out the window. It took a minute her words to register as I tried to form some kind of a response. She went on to say that my blood pressure was getting dangerously high and my kidney's were not performing as they ought. That was it-bed rest. I was 32 weeks along and still had 8 weeks to go. Justin and Sarah were with me in examination room and I prayed that they weren't paying too close attention to our conversation, I didn't want to worry them.

I calmly called Tim on my way home and informed him that bed rest it would be. I'll admit, for the first few hours, I wasn't too overly concerned because I was tired and I thought it might be nice to rest for a little while. After an hour of that, I was ready to get up and go...but there was none of that! The tears finally showed up when Tim got home and I realized I wasn't going to be able to make dinner for my family, do laundry, or organize another thing. No more nesting, just laying around on the couch or my bed. My heart went out to Justin and Sarah because their little world was rocked too.

And so the days continued, long, long days. I have known several people that have been on bed rest and I had I known then, what I know now, I would have done so much more for them. It is a very helpless feeling to depend on everyone else to do the simplest things for you. Sweet friend from our Sunday School Class brought meals several times a week and one person even cleaned our house-that was incredibly humbling but highly necessary, you should have seen our bath tubs....There were many nights when I was up at 3:00 a.m. and unable to sleep and is seemed at those times the Lord was so very near to me. His word was the only thing that brought me comfort. Tim was working two jobs and I missed him terribly. Every moment with him became even more precious and meaningful. He was exhausted as he had taken the bulk of household chores as well. He never complained.

Time slowly passed by and my blood pressure continued to rise. There was no going to the store, no driving, and no church for me. I couldn't sit for long periods of time (no more than about 5-10 minutes) or the blood pressure would creep up. It was laying on my side, mostly on the couch day after day. Each week at my check up appointments, I had to give a detailed report of exactly what I had eaten, how often I was resting (when was I not?), and what my readings were at home. Have I mentioned how swollen my feet were? They were quite the site! I had no ankles to speak of and my face was so puffy it almost hurt to smile!

I was finally at 36 weeks and being examined but again. After taking my blood pressure and looking over my lab reports, the mid-wife informed me that it was time to induce! I had such mixed emotions, I was afraid that our little one wouldn't be ready and at the same time so excited to finally get to hold our precious one. Thankfully, Tim was with me at this appointment. They gave me a little pill that would ripen my cervix that I was to take the following morning at 6:30 a.m. We drove home excitedly with great anticipation of the arrival of our third child.