Bed Rest

That was the bad news on Monday: I've been put on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy, due to very early signs of preeclampsia. My understanding is that I don't actually have preeclampsia yet, since my blood pressure is still fine (it was 126 over 70 this morning), but my doctor wants me to take it easy in the hopes that it won't progress to that.

Personally, I'm interpreting "bed rest" more as "restricted activity." The goal, according to my doctor, is NOT to keep me from going into labor, since I'm only a week and a half from my due date (yay!). In fact, going into labor would actually be the best possible thing at this point. The goal of the bed rest is to limit my "stress" so that the preeclampsia doesn't get worse while we are waiting for me to naturally go into labor. (Not that I felt stressed out before, but whatever.) If the condition DOES get worse, then I will probably have to be induced right away. I said to her, "Well, that sounds okay! Sign me up for that!" but she managed to convince me that it wouldn't be in my best interest right now. : ) She said induction at 38 weeks, especially since I'm not dilated at all, would be long and difficult, and I would be more likely to end up with a C-section.

So, my interpretation of "bed rest" is: No more working (I had to tell my two freelance clients that I was done), no major cooking or cleaning, no yard work (though I'd given that up weeks ago, thank God), and no shopping/errands. I am still doing little things like laundry, putting dishes in the dishwasher, vacuuming, etc. My rationale is that NOT doing that stuff really would stress me out more. Also, I'm taking this opportunity to FINALLY organize all of our photos and put them in albums, something I've been wanting to do, I don't know, my entire life, but never got around to it until now. I figure I can organize photos and still "be a couch potato" (per doctor's orders) at the same time.

Also, I have to go for "non-stress tests" twice a week until I do go into labor. This is where they hook me up to the same monitors they use during labor, to make sure the baby's heart rate and movements are still going strong. I've had two non-stress tests so far and Elsa passed both with flying colors. She still seems perfectly happy and comfy in there, which I guess means she's not coming out any time soon—unfortunately for her mommy.