By Holly Engel-Smothers
Ahhhhh, bed rest! For some strange reason, almost every woman who has spent days, weeks, or months on bed rest during her pregnancy describes it as "horrible," "lonely," "boring," and/or "dull." I was on bed rest for about two months when I was expecting my twins, and let me report that it was the best experience of my life. It was wonderful, magnificent, and brilliant! Whoever thought up the concept should win lots of awards and be paid gobs of money.
Being pregnant with twins is not a walk in the park. My babies were growing so fast that my skin couldn't keep up, resulting in horrendously sore stretch marks across my belly. My feet and ankles felt like pins and needles were running through them. Driving made me nauseous.
Going to the store was horrendous because there were no "pregnant mother" spaces. One day, I couldn't bear the thought of walking from the back of the parking lot to the store, so I parked in a handicapped parking spot. I know, that's a terrible thing to do, but if I wasn't handicapped at that point, I challenge "Officer Friendly" to strap on one or two of those sympathy bellies for a while! But, as we all can predict, I got a $200 ticket.
The bathrooms were always too far away, no matter where I was. And when my babies were awake, the karate kicks made my tent-shirt pop up like I had a popcorn popper slipped underneath. Imagine the stares!
So when bed rest entered the plan, I was overjoyed! Bed rest allowed me to lift my shirt a bit so my stretch marks could "breathe." I could lay in bed all day and all night with my cats, adjust the house thermostat according to my inner temperature, read, watch TV, eat, drink -- now who wouldn't like that?
One night, my husband came home and encouraged me to come down for some dinner. As I got up, my loving husband fixed all the blankets and fluffed the pillows. Lifting a pillow that was on "his side," we discovered another animal in bed with me -- a mouse that had hidden under the pillow, probably in hopes of nibbling some crumbs from my sandwiches! By the looks of the little "mouse pellets," he had been there all day, lying there right next to my cats. I'll tell ya, you have never seen such a hugely pregnant woman move so fast! It was like "Big Belly Olympics"! No need for a stopwatch because it only took a second to run, yes, run, from the little grey mouse and its pellets.
That was the only glitch during my wonderful bed rest. I savored every minute of it. I bonded with my babies. I read stories to them. I watched all the talk shows.
So, you poor ladies on bed rest, be assured that it is a good experience (especially keeping in mind that you will get no sleep for at least the next eighteen years!). But you just might want to refrain from eating sandwiches in bed.
[NOTE: This column is one of many from talented writer, mom and educator Holly Engel-Smothers, who will be sharing her tales of life with twins (and a twingle) with readers through this "TwinGrins" column, which will appear on a regular basis on TwinsTalk.]