You just got the dreaded news from the doctor – it’s bed rest for you for the next bunch of days, weeks, or months of your pregnancy. Get help – make sure your home isn’t deteriorating around you – invite friends over to do a load of laundry. They can keep you company while it’s in the wash, or even cook you a meal and sit and eat with you. Alternatively, if money is in the budget, hire a cleaning service. Once you know everything is taken care of, you can snuggle up with a great body pillow and make the best of your time on bed rest with these ideas!
How to Keep Bed Rest During Pregnancy from Driving You Insane
Read
Read pregnancy books, birth books, and breastfeeding books so you’re ready once the baby is born. AND don’t forget to read just for fun! What genre is your favourite? Get lost in a fantasy, romance, or a mystery and forget your own woes. If you have an e-reader, you can download endless books at the touch of a button, right from the comfort of your own bed!
Play
If you enjoy some online gaming, pick up a gaming laptop, if you don’t already have one, and enjoy! If you aren’t a hardcore gamer, Facebook has some great games that suck up a LOT of time! There are also some fantastic game apps out there if you have a tablet or a smartphone. Play some Scrabble, keep up your own farm, or city, or castle…the possibilities are endless.
Engage Your Mind
Play some old fashioned pen and paper games that engage your mind. Give sudoku a try or some good old fashioned crossword puzzles. Get a newspaper subscription if you don’t already have one – online or a physical subscription – and keep up with what’s going on in the outside world.
Create
What creative hobbies do you love to engage in? Perhaps you enjoy knitting, crocheting, or drawing. What have you always wanted to start? Do a YouTube search and start learning how! You can make things for the baby, the baby’s room, or for yourself. Maybe you can even get started on homemade Christmas presents. Perhaps you have neglected your scrapbooking habit – this is a great time to get back into it.
Plan
Make meal plans in advance for after your child’s birth. Rummage through your recipe box (and perhaps organize it while you’re at it) and choose some great slow-cooker meals, microwave meals, and anything quick and easy. Write up your birth plan so you’re ready when the big day comes at the end of your pregnancy.
Socialize
It’s easy to socialize online in this day and age – thank goodness for technology! Skype, Facetime, or enjoy some Google+ Hangout with your friends and family!
Netflix
Time for some binge watching with Netflix! Remember your favourite tv series from years ago? Rewatch the whole thing – enjoy the episodes you missed and those old favourites.
Have you ever been on bed rest during pregnancy? What is your best tip for others on bed rest? Please share in the comments below!
Aw great ideas! Especially Netflix! 🙂
I think that’s my favourite one, too 🙂
those are some great tips
Thanks! Glad you liked them!
I have to imagine that bed rest is much easier today with the invention of tablets.
And Netflix 🙂
Maybe you should do another article on what people can do for someone who is on bedrest. That drives a woman just as nuts, needing things done but not being able to do it.
Yes, so true! That’s why Get Help was my first suggestion.
I had a high risk pregnancy and almost had to be put on bed rest. Thankfully, I did not because I am sure I would have gone stir crazy! Great tips.
Thanks, Kelly!