What 7 Weeks on Hospital Bedrest Taught Me
5 years ago, when I was pregnant with the twins, I ended up spending 7 weeks on hospital bed rest 4 hours away from my husband, 2 yr old Hattie, my family and my life.
I look back and realise in some ways it is similar to what people are experiencing right now during this pandemic. There was a sudden departure from work, I didn’t really have many visitors (purely circumstantial)- one time it was almost 2 weeks between visitors, I couldn’t go outside to go for a walk/get food/fresh air, I couldn’t get access to all of the food I wanted and I had some fear, anxiety and stress.
At 24 weeks I went for my routine ultrasound and was told to go home and pack my bags and go to the hospital as soon as I could. My cervix was very short and it looked like my body could go into labour at any time. As I packed my overnight bag that night, I knew that the next time I would come home and live with my husband and daughter again would most likely be weeks, maybe months away and when I did I would (hopefully) have 2 more babies with me. Although that night, there was a lot of fear because I’d been told that the chances of my sweet little babies surviving healthily at 24 weeks was very slim.
Let me cut to the beautiful part, I now have 2 healthy 5 year old twin girls, who were born at (almost) 31 weeks. And almost 4 months after saying goodbye to my little girl we ended up at home all together as a family of 5….. and the heart filled chaos hasn’t stopped since! 😉
That meant that I spent 7 weeks in a hospital that was about 4 hours away from my home, on bedrest growing babies. When I look back I remember the nurses, that would check on me twice daily, would say how well I was coping. So I’ve sat down and thought about the strategies that I put into place to help me cope because the social isolation, the worry, the limited access to outside/fresh air and the change in work because I think they’re really relevant to what’s happening right now during this time of a worldwide pandemic and widespread change and social distancing.
To hear me talk about these steps in more detail just click on the video below.
1. Meditation- In my early days in the hospital I did a guided 20 min meditation every 3 hours.
2. Routine- I got up, showered, dressed (in clothes that made me feel great), did my skin care routine, moisturised my body, put essential oils on and music to set my self up for my day.
3. Connection- I connected with my family on a phone call each day and would message a few close friends every few days to help support me emotionally and mentally.
4. Food and nutrition- I got on the good side of the kitchen 😊 In all seriousness I was there for so long that they asked what I’d like to eat (within their capabilities). So they’d bring me hardboiled eggs for breakfast, salads for lunch (and I kept sources of protein in the fridge in my hospital room) and dinners would often be re-heated frozen meals that my husband would deliver to me he would visit (which was usually once per week). Then I kept a supply of fruit, nuts, protein bars and licorice (for a treat) as snacks to enjoy.
5. Vitamins: I had a supply of vitamins that I took every day for my pregnancy health but I also added in a really beautiful magnesium supplement which had added ingredients to support my mental health.
6. Reading and computer work- to keep my mind active and healthy.
7. Sleep- I would go to sleep at a similar time each night and then wake up early to start another day all over again (and I would go to sleep with gratitude every night that I’d grown the babies for another day and that we’d all stayed healthy.
