This day was one of the happiest days of my life. It was the day that I went into labor with my first child on April 8, 2014. She was born at 12:14 am on April 9th. The anticipation of meeting my baby girl for the first time wasn’t the only reason for my joy. It was because I successfully made it to the 38-week mark. Attaining that goal was a major accomplishment due to medical challenges I experienced mid-pregnancy causing me to be placed on medical bedrest for ten weeks. Yes…ten whole weeks of unexpected isolation from the world. But it was worth every second to get my sweet precious baby girl here safely.
So, what happened you ask? Well, on the day of my 28-week appointment, I went to the doctor’s office for my routine check-up. Imagine my concern when the stenographer quickly left and returned with the nurse and doctor. I will never forget the words the doctor spoke that day: “Mrs. Wilkerson, you are in active labor. We will have to admit you right away.”
What?! What do you mean? I thought I was experiencing Braxton-Hicks, not contractions! A stream of tears quickly covered my face. My mind was flooded with questions about the well-being of my unborn child. I was placed in a wheelchair and rolled through what I always refer to as the ‘bat cave’– the side passage to the back entrance of the hospital from my doctor’s office.
After a four-day admission in the hospital where they gave me steroids and successfully stopped the contractions, I was cleared to leave. However, it came with the orders of remaining on strict bed rest for a mandatory ten weeks. The hope was that with limited movement and standing, the baby would settle in place and grow to full term. She did!!! When my 38-week appointment came, she was perfect! I was cleared to return to normal activity–whatever that was after being in the house for ten weeks. To celebrate, my husband took me on a lunch date and to get a new outfit for my baby girl. Though we were completely showered with EVERYTHING we could possibly need for her, I just really wanted to be able to go to the store and personally pick something out for her prior to her arrival. By the time I returned home to get some rest, my water broke! The day I was cleared is the day that I went into labor. My baby girl was born within six hours later as beautiful as she could be.
This period of uncertainty in the midst of the coronavirus is similar to being on unexpected bedrest while preparing to birth your child into the world. Though the conditions are different, the importance of keeping your spirits high and staying encouraged and stimulated during this time is the same.
Here are a few things I did while on mandatory bedrest:
- Read and sang songs to my baby- every day I engaged my baby with a read-aloud and song session
- Studied my bible
- Read for pleasure books- especially the What to Expect When You’re Expecting book and everything by Victoria Christopher Murray
- Wrote books- I worked on my children’s book series and continued to develop
- Taught an online course- I converted all of my courses from in-person to online. This is also the perfect time to enroll in an online class as well.
- Organized photos, deleted old emails, and cleaned out phone storage and text messages
- Created hand made books for my daughter’s home library
- Created our baby registry- through Buy Buy Baby and Target
- Listened to music- developed playlists and explored new genres and artists
- Called and face timed family and friends to maintain connections
- Did electronic volunteer projects for organizations that I am affiliated with
- Goal setting- the unexpected time from work and life caused me to re-evaluate current and create new goals (stay tuned for blog posts on my tips for delaying some goals for the best of our family)
- Scheduled an in-home maternity photoshoot
- Wrote thank you cards- we literally received a gift for our baby girl every single day that I was on bed rest. It was an amazing feeling to receive that level of love and support. I took the time to write handwritten thank-you notes to everyone to express my heartfelt gratitude.
Hang in there, momma. You can do it! I promise you…it will be worth it!
Until next time,
Xoxo