I really debated sharing this. Compared to other pregnancies or problems that could arise, I know I’ve got it easy. I have been on pelvic rest this entire pregnancy, with a week of modified bed rest thrown into the mix. It’s a combination of there being some small complications, and my OB being overly cautious since I had preterm labor with Chloe.
I started bleeding less than a week after I found out about this pregnancy. It was enough of a blood loss that it warranted an early ultrasound, so I went in a 4w6d. My RE wanted to confirm an inter-uterine pregnancy. There wasn’t much to see — just a gestational sac that confirmed the pregnancy implanted where it should have — and nothing was cause for alarm. As a precaution, I was put on pelvic rest. For me, that meant no lifting over 10lbs and no intercourse or orgasm.
I bled again at 7 and 8 weeks, and at my 8 week ultrasound my RE was able to see that I had a small subchorionic hematoma. She didn’t seem concerned about it, and said that it would either bleed out (which it did) or reabsorb by the time I went in for my 11 week scan. I bled a lot compared to the size of my hematoma, and admit that I used my home doppler more than I probably should have. I really needed reassurance that everything was alright!
At my 11 week ultrasound, there was no evidence of an SCH, but I was diagnosed with placenta previa. It’s not uncommon to have previa that early in pregnancy and I was told it would likely correct itself by the time I was 20 weeks along, which it did. But, it explained my ongoing bleeding and I was told to remain on pelvic rest. I bled very heavily at 13 weeks, 16 weeks and again at 20 weeks. Twice the bleeding landed me in the ER, which earned me pictures of my sweet girl, a cervical check (no dilation) and strict orders to be on modified bed rest. For me, this meant no going up or down stairs, no lifting anything, minimal bending, no baths, resting as much as possible and no intercourse/orgasm. At this point in my pregnancy, almost in the third trimester, the general rule of thumb is no bleeding = pelvic rest, active bleed = modified rest & trip to L&D.
It’s been tough, but we’ve made it work. We made adjustments at home to get us through this. But, I didn’t realize how active I actually was until I was told to relax and not do as much!
My no lifting orders were the most difficult to adjust to. I’m a work at home mom, and I take care most of the household chores during the day. We had a really great housework balance until I was put on pelvic rest and modified bed rest. We have a busy toddler who goes to school twice a week, so this meant we had to teach her (and help her) climb into the car and her carseat so I could avoid lifting her 30lb body. It also meant I couldn’t do the grocery shopping or carry laundry baskets up and down our steps. These were simple fixes: I made the grocery list and clipped coupons, and my husband did 100% of the grocery shopping. I would make sure we had a basket of clothes for him to take down in the morning, and I’d do laundry while he was at work. When he got home, he’d carry the dry clothes upstairs so I could fold and put them away.
Once I was on modified bed rest, though, my chores went out the window. No bending meant I couldn’t even empty the dishwasher. I understood why I couldn’t, but I really did feel useless around the house. My husband was quick to assure me that I wasn’t useless, and never once complained about taking care of my responsibilities. Pelvic rest is much easier to handle, and is what I’m “on” most of the time. Modified bed rest only applies when there is an active bleed which thankfully, is usually short-lived.
Here are my do’s and don’ts for surviving pelvic and modified bed rest:
DO:
– drink plenty of water
– ask for help and delegate
– re-evaluate your to-do list. Cleaning the toilet or doing laundry is suddenly not so important. It can wait, or ask for help!
– trust your spouse. My husband may not do things the way I do (I’m a control freak and even the towels need folded a certain way!) but his way doesn’t mean wrong.
DON’T
– push yourself. If your doctor says slow down, then slow down.
– feel guilty.
– read google. Dr. Google makes everything 1,00000x worse.
– eat too much junk food. Pelvic rest means I can go for a light walk, and modified bed rest means hanging out on the couch as much as possible. It’s easy to sit and munch, and no exercise means the pounds can easily pack on.
Were you put on pelvic rest or bed rest during your pregnancy?
honeydew / 7916 posts
Oh the modified bed rest…you know, I don’t think any of my doctors ever put together my bleeding and irritable uterus and placenta previa that went on until 34 weeks. As you remember, shifting the responsibilities in our home took a lot of work. And we learned what was really a priority to us and how much we care about things being clean (not that much). I learned that as long as clutter has a place to go, I can ignore the rest. Now that I’m off the bed rest, I’m amazed at how much more productive I am than before everything happened because we learned how to streamline all of our chores!
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
Ughh…that sounds so hard to adjust to. I feel like it’s probably all the little things that you don’t even think about at first but later realize you can’t do that would add up to major frustration. As for feeling useless . . . when I was pregnant with the boys and feeling bad about not doing much around the house, my best friend always said, “When you’re sitting on the couch, you’re doing more work than most of us do in a whole day. Growing a HUMAN BEING isn’t exactly nothing.” It always makes me smile to think about me “working away” while sitting on the couch.
Hope the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly with no more modified bed rest!
pomegranate / 3225 posts
I don’t envy you mama! That must be so hard with a toddler to chase! Prayers for a healthy term delivery to you and baby girl!
guest
Yep, pelvic rest throughout my twin pregnancy. With my first I had two weeks of complete bed rest in the hospital (not even bathroom privileges and bed almost completely flat) followed by six weeks hospital bed rest with only restroom privileges, and then two weeks at home on bed rest only getting up for the restroom and to move twice a day between rooms. Brutal but easier in a certain sense because I didn’t have a child to worry about like I did with my twin pregnancy.
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
Ugh… that sounds tough! I really like your do and don’t lists. Important points to remember. (Although I too am a control freak and would have an adjustment to make as well.) Keeping you gals in my thoughts!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Wow that sounds tough! I hope things are getting easier. I had bleeding with Drake for 7 weeks but I never was on pelvic rest
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
I was on pelvic rest for the first tri last time and ended up having a miserably painful pregnancy because I stopped exercising. I get bad back pain without exercise, so throw in the weight gain and oooooww. Hope you’re feeling ok. Not too much time left!
blogger / cherry / 113 posts
Hope things are getting easier! I’ve never been on bedrest for pregnancy, but while I was really sick I was completely bedbound and stir-crazy. Delegating definitely helps, but boy is it hard!
guest
Thank you for sharing your story. At about 5 weeks I started having bleeding. It only lasted a day and it was on the weekend, so they told me to get rest and drink water. Getting ready for work on Monday I had some spotting so I had an ultrasound and they found a SCH. I had more bleeding after the ultrasound and then spotting on and off for a week. Luckily I can work from home, but the yesterday I went back to work and started bleeding again. So here I am, resting and working from home, trying to wait 3 days until my next ultrasound. Hearing your story is really reassuring. This is my first pregnancy and I have no idea what to expect, and I haven’t even told family/close friends yet, so I can’t get any reassurance from them.
guest
I was surprised at work with a waterfall of blood came out of me at 71/2 weeks prego. I had no idea what was happening. So I took myself to assessment, called my husband and after 4 hours found out the baby was fine and the bleeding was a normal thing. Really? Why didn’t anyone tell me about this? I felt lied to. The doctor made me feel relived and stupid at the same time. Then the bleeding happened again at 91/2 weeks. I knew what was going on then so I didn’t freak out. But the t was a lot more clots and blood than the first time. Now I’m on pelvic rest. My doctor didn’t even explain what that meant. Just no sex or heavy lifting. Super vague. So I’m glad I came on here and have seen that I wasn’t alone. She was even annoyed it seems that I went back after the second bleeding episode. She wanted me to! I understand she is busy but really? I’ve had a miscarriage already. Can’t she understand I’m nervous? Ok, I may have asked to audio record her. Only because I was so frazzled I wanted to remember everything.