Why is bed rest required during pregnancy?
Bed rest is a general practice during pregnancy to ease certain pregnancy complications. Some women know it is coming because of their medical history, while others are surprised during a routine checkup. Bed rest is common, so there’s no need to alarm.
Bed rest differs from woman to woman and may range from simple periodic resting at home to complete bed rest and monitoring in a hospital. Some women may discover that their health care provider places them on bed rest for a short period to help a complication stabilize, while other women may be placed on bed rest through most of their pregnancy. Bed rest can be anything from being confined to bed to just taking it easy in the house.
Reasons for bed rest during pregnancy
There may be several possible reasons why your physician can put you on bed rest during pregnancy. Possible causes might include:
- Preterm labor
- Multiple babies
- Low amniotic fluid
- Unexplained bleeding
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Preeclampsia
- Incompetent cervix (when the cervix opens too early)
- Gestational diabetes
- Premature rupture of membranes
- Placenta previa
While bed rest may not be ideal, it is known to prevent a lot of difficulties during pregnancy.
Once you have your baby and are no longer on bed rest, you might find that you have difficulty resuming your regular activities like driving or grocery shopping. It is important to resume these activities gradually. In addition, you may find that it takes weeks to get back the energy levels you had before pregnancy. During such times, it is important to remember that taking care of your new born may be all you can handle for a while, but that it is sufficient. As you gradually begin to gain more strength, you can add activities one at a time.
How will bed rest help?
Bed rest is used to help the body normalize. Bed rest is usually recommended for women who have conditions like high blood pressure in order to decrease stress and lower their blood pressure. Activity, work, lifting, or exercise can worsen or provoke certain situations, so bed rest may be prescribed to decrease vaginal bleeding or decrease the chance of preterm labor. Bed rest can also be necessary to help increase blood flow to the placenta.
What is the best position for bed rest?
The best position for bed rest depends on your situation and what complication your health care provider is trying to deal with. In many cases, your doctor or healthcare provider will ask you to sleep or rest on your side, usually with the knees or hips bent, keeping a pillow between your knees. You could be asked to lie on your back while being propped up with pillows or to lie on your back with your hips or legs higher than your shoulders.
How to deal with bed rest discomforts?
Bed rest tends to cause the muscles to lose tone and also make some of your joints ache. If you lie down for long periods of time, it reduces your blood circulation. Changing from side to side helps stimulate muscles and relieve pressure. For proper blood circulation, exercise is very important, but make sure you consult your doctor before you begin any exercises. Following are common exercises that can be used:
- Squeezing stress balls
- Pressing your hands and feet against the bed
- Turning your arms and feet in circles
- Tightening your arm and leg muscles
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