Ugh...Bedrest for at least 2 weeks

Hi all -

I just got back from a doctor's appointment (scheduled after having an overnight in the hospital while on vacation last week) and she put me on bedrest for at least the next 2 weeks. I'm 26 weeks, 4 days today. I am normally very active, so this is going to be tough. I brought a bunch of work home with me, so I've got enough to do (thankfully, boss is ok with me working from home) but I am going to be b-o-r-e-d. I am just thankful that I'm not on hospital bedrest!
i'm going to go read some of the other topics in this forum now...

 

QUOTE(pittmane @ Jun 8 2009, 05:50 PM) [snapback]1346450[/snapback]
Hi all -

I just got back from a doctor's appointment (scheduled after having an overnight in the hospital while on vacation last week) and she put me on bedrest for at least the next 2 weeks. I'm 26 weeks, 4 days today. I am normally very active, so this is going to be tough. I brought a bunch of work home with me, so I've got enough to do (thankfully, boss is ok with me working from home) but I am going to be b-o-r-e-d. I am just thankful that I'm not on hospital bedrest!
i'm going to go read some of the other topics in this forum now...

Hello!
welcome hopefully 2 weeks will do it for you!Im also 26.4! Im here due to short cervix,and just happy that Im not in the Hospital!
everyday is an accomplishment Ive found! Today marks my one week in bed on my left side,other than being sore Im happy to still be Pregnant! The first week is hard...make a routine for yourself it helps!

Good luck keep us posted!J

 

Thanks for the welcome! So far so good - though I've only been on bed rest for about 20 hours now. It is rather uncomfortable - I can NOT get comfortable on my right side - contractions seem to happen more frequently then, so I only turn over when my left hip really starts to hurt . Trying to figure out how to type on my laptop while lying down is...um.....interesting! :huh:

Are you taking anything? My doc has me on Procardia - 10 mg every 6 hours - with a doubling-up on the morning dose. Hope it works. I go to the fetal/maternal specialist tomorrow for an ultrasound - hopefully he'll say that my cervix is not effaced and that I'm doing ok in that respect. I forgot to mention that I had a negative fFN test at the hospital a week ago (phew!). Up until now, I have had a completely trouble-free pregnancy; so much so that I was only just moving to every 2 weeks at the OB and was still at every 3 weeks with the specialsit. Betcha that changes now!

 

Yee Haw! I just got back from the Maternal Fetal specialist where they did both an abdominal and TV ultrasound and he said I looked "perfect." Cervix was over 40 mm - he said it couldn't get much longer than that. He thought I wasn't really a candidate for bedrest or procardia but that certainly the procardia was not harmful. He said he would never go against my primary OB's orders, but thought we could make a good case at my appointment next week for coming off bedrest. I will happily take it easy as long as I don't have to lie on either my right or left side 24/7. He said I could have contractions all day long and it probably wouldn't affect a cervix like what I've got - less than 1% chance of preterm labor in his opinion. phew...now I just have to hope my OB agrees. Baby A is 2 lb 14 oz and Baby B is 2 lb 11 oz (26 wk, 6 days).

 

That is Awesome!! Keep up the good work

BP

 

Thats great to hear! Hope all goes well with your OB too!

 

QUOTE(pittmane @ Jun 9 2009, 01:47 PM) [snapback]1347545[/snapback]
Thanks for the welcome! So far so good - though I've only been on bed rest for about 20 hours now. It is rather uncomfortable - I can NOT get comfortable on my right side - contractions seem to happen more frequently then, so I only turn over when my left hip really starts to hurt . Trying to figure out how to type on my laptop while lying down is...um.....interesting! :huh:

Are you taking anything? My doc has me on Procardia - 10 mg every 6 hours - with a doubling-up on the morning dose. Hope it works. I go to the fetal/maternal specialist tomorrow for an ultrasound - hopefully he'll say that my cervix is not effaced and that I'm doing ok in that respect. I forgot to mention that I had a negative fFN test at the hospital a week ago (phew!). Up until now, I have had a completely trouble-free pregnancy; so much so that I was only just moving to every 2 weeks at the OB and was still at every 3 weeks with the specialsit. Betcha that changes now!

awesome news mama!
I went to MFM yesterday as well,and I was 2.93 which is really good for me!Im still on bedrest,but he said I can increase my activity a"little bit",plus Im getting a IHUM so they can monitor me from home twice a day for contractions.I will be getting the P17 shot as well...so hope all this get me where I need to be in August!(we are having a section @ 36 weeks)

Wow your babies are much bigger than mine too.Mine are just right at 2 lbs each,are yours frats or ids?
I was terribly sick and still am Ive had a hard time putting on weight ...seems like I lose a pound or 2 everytime I go in,but my docotor says they are perfect weight for mo/di twins..

Im so glad you had a positive appointment thats great!

 

QUOTE(pittmane @ Jun 10 2009, 01:27 PM) [snapback]1348836[/snapback]
Yee Haw! I just got back from the Maternal Fetal specialist where they did both an abdominal and TV ultrasound and he said I looked "perfect." Cervix was over 40 mm - he said it couldn't get much longer than that. He thought I wasn't really a candidate for bedrest or procardia but that certainly the procardia was not harmful. He said he would never go against my primary OB's orders, but thought we could make a good case at my appointment next week for coming off bedrest. I will happily take it easy as long as I don't have to lie on either my right or left side 24/7. He said I could have contractions all day long and it probably wouldn't affect a cervix like what I've got - less than 1% chance of preterm labor in his opinion. phew...now I just have to hope my OB agrees. Baby A is 2 lb 14 oz and Baby B is 2 lb 11 oz (26 wk, 6 days).


That is awesome news! I'm so jealous as I'm looking at about 2 1/2 weeks more of bedrest until I get to 34 weeks. My cervix had improved to around 3 cm (certainly not as much as your improved!) but that just solidifed their thought process that bedrest was working. Those are great weights for around 27 weeks so you sound like you are in good shape and all of this will be worth it in the end!

 

Mine are identical boys. It seems like every time I go in, they've gained a pound - it's amazing!

I have to admit, since seeing the M/F specialist yesterday, I stopped being a good patient and haven't been lying down 24/7. I *do* lie down for a couple hours here and there, and stay off my feet and quiet, but I'm not doing the real bed rest thing. I've still been tracking contractions and even considering the sitting position/more moving around, they're now spaced out to about an hour, sometimes more, sometimes less. The M/F specialist thought that the contractions were probably due to exertion and high altitude. I live at sea-level, but visited my home state of Colorado - at one point up to 9000 feet. I didn't go on any hikes or anything but he said the pressure change alone could have done it. Not a good idea to go to the conference at 9000 feet, in hindsight.... :fool:

I'm honestly not sure what I'd do if the OB says to continue bed rest (M/F specialist will send a full report to her and it will include cervix measurement, other comments but he said he doesn't interfere -understandably- with OB orders). My husband thinks we should look for a new OB if that turns out to be the case, but I actually really like this one in all other respects. I'm not sure how easy it would be to find a new OB at this late stage. What I would probably end up doing is just ignoring her orders for bed rest. :diablo: :stir:

AmyL and OrlandoJen - GOOD LUCK!!! Keep those babies in there!!!!!

 

Sooooo....went to my OB appointment on Wednesday and not only did she not take me off bedrest, but she extended it to 30 weeks (I'm 28 now) though she did say I didn't need to be in bed 24/7, she just didn't want to see me weeding the garden if she drove by my house. She said I'm doing great, have great measurements, was glad to hear that I was only have 1-2 contractions an hour. Thursday, I spent mostly on my left side - why? Well. I got some pretty bad gas - nearly diarrhea about mid-day and that started some seriously frequent contractions. By 6:00, there were more than 6 per hour, so the on-call doc had me go to triage where they measured them at one every 1-4 minutes. Thankfully, terbutaline and 1.5 bags of fluid stopped them dead. No change to the cervix still (phew - maybe the M/F specialist was right - I could contract all day and not change that cervix...since that's basically what happened). I got sent home at about 9:30 pm with order to stay in bed over the weekend and go back to my OB on Monday for a follow-up. So far this morning, I've had 1 and that was about a half hour ago. The on-call doctor thought the gas/diarrhea probably irritated my uterus and that's what started it all. In the end, I'm still not convinced that bedrest will do anything (especially since I've pretty much been in bed most of each day - not constantly, but certainly not moving more than 20 feet from my resting place and not for more than about 2 minutes when I do move). Lying on my left side while I was having the contractions didn't do a darn thing to slow them down either. I want to fast-forward about 6-9 weeks and have these boys healthy and not be pregnant anymore (I do NOT want them born early - especially just for my own comfort - they need to cook as long as possible, I want them "well-done."). Sigh....

 

:hug: Sorry you didnt get taken off bedrest. My dr hadnt given me the news i wanted to hear either. Glad to hear your cervix hasn't changed though! Bedrest is enough to drive you nuts, but you gotta do what you gotta do right? I'm hear with ya girl! Keep those lil ones cookin! :good:

 

:umm: GAH! I had an OB appointment yesterday as a follow-up to the L&D visit on Thursday. She extended my bedrest yet again...to 32 weeks. Said all else looked good. Today was my appointment with the perinatologist and he, like last time, said I didn't need to be on bedrest. My cervix is still long and closed (3.7 cm) and he said the contractions I have been having were unlikely to cause preterm labor (still said less than 1% chance of it). In fact, he said if I start having close contractions again like last Thursday to get up and walk around for 15-20 minutes because that would likely slow them down - if it didn't, then go to L&D. He said that if the research supported the use of bedrest for my particular status, he'd be the first to recommend it, but that all they (my doctors) have succeeded at so far is to make me more anxious. Very true. Sigh.... hubby would like to just switch to this practice entirely, but I don't know if that's possible. I do have PPO and don't have to have referrals, but I'm not sure they act like regular OBs here or just specialists for consulting to other OBs.

 

I would hate to tell you to go against Doc's orders but it does seem to be quite extreme with your cervix at 3.7cm. My doc doesn't even like to call it bedrest for me and still wants me to get up and move around and have showers, make stuff to eat and so on. My cervix 2 weeks ago was .9cm.

But like I said it is hard to go against what the Doc says!

 

Yaaaayy!!! Bed rest orders have been officially lifted! Not that I'm feeling all that interested in moving around a lot. OB visit today went well - but baby brain got me and I forgot to ask the results of my GD testing. I'm assuming that since she didn't say anything that I'm all good in that respect. I told her about the horrendous heartburn I've been having and she put me on Zantac - hope that'll work; she'll re-evaluate that aspect in 2 weeks. Phew. :yahoo: