The adventures of bed rest :)

As most of you already know, I was placed on bed rest starting at my 20th week of pregnancy. Prior to that, I had been working as a nurse practitioner at Renown Regional Medical Center here in Reno. Although my official due date was January 1, 2012, due to the high risks associated with a multiple gestation pregnancy, my obstetricians recommended that I be placed on home bed rest at week 20. So, the adventures of laying in bed, reading books, watching TV, eating as much as I wanted, and for those of you who know me most...cleaning began! Although I was supposed to be sitting or laying down for most of the day, I couldn't help but do my usual activities such as vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, and mopping! Some things never change regardless of doctor's orders! Here are a few belly shots along the way.

15 weeks

20 weeks

24 weeks

26 weeks (at Lake Tahoe)

Don't laugh too hard but this is my idea of grocery shopping while on bedrest!

At 28 weeks, I was placed on hospitalized bed rest to help ensure that my babies stayed inside for as long as possible. Fortunately, I was never placed on strict bed rest so I could still go for short walks on the Labor & Delivery Unit, go for wheelchair rides outside the hospital (thanks to Seth who always had to push me), and I could visit the nursery or chat with other moms who were also on bed rest like me. Overall, it was a good experience and I look back on those days fondly...especially since I could sleep as much as I wanted! But really, I couldn't have endured such a long hospitalization without the love and support of my family and friends. Thank you to everyone for cheering me on and keeping me entertained, and for all the phone calls, texts and visits...I couldn't have done it without you all! A big thank you to my sweet husband for enduring the 8 LONG weeks with me! :) Here are belly shots from my hospital stay.

30 weeks (looking down at my belly)

32 weeks (start of 8 months)

33 weeks (on the contraction monitor)

34 weeks

36 weeks (night before C-section)

Here is a sweet video that Seth made while I was at the hospital to also help document our journey.

 

Here is a video of one of the two wonderful baby showers that my family had for me. This video shows the baby shower I had while on bedrest in the hospital. Despite the joyous occasion, this day ended up being really stressful. Prior to the baby shower, Dr. Oki, one of my obstetricians, had done an ultrasound earlier that morning. For some reason, baby C (Mischa) was not very reactive and he didn't see her moving that much on the screen. He thought about actually doing a c-section that very day, but in the end, decided to wait because he finally did see her moving. How stressful! I was 31 weeks and 6 days at this point. Well, here's the video of the baby shower and me strapped to all the machines to monitor the babies. Thanks to my step-mom Lynn and my aunt Sharon for throwing me the baby shower and thanks to everyone for coming! Hope you enjoy the video...

Much to our joy, I was able to make it past 35 weeks, so my doctors decided to schedule a C-section on the day I turned 36 weeks, December 4, 2011...a day that I will never forget. Check out the next post to learn details from that day and to see pictures and videos.