Doctor's orders

Bed rest does not a happy athlete make.

If you were to tell me 8 months ago I would be on bed rest during my pregnancy, I would have laughed. But fast forward to today, and here I am - on bed rest. Have been for the last 3 weeks. Oh sure, baby is doing great - she hasn't missed a beat. It's just baby and body are not cooperating and I someway, somehow went into early, preterm labor. It must have been all that shopping I did earlier in the day on a day off from work.

From all the reading and the childcare classes and all the stories, I always swore I wouldn't be "one of those pregnant ladies" who mistook Braxton Hicks contractions or think every pain or twitch was something important enough for a run to the hospital. I started having horrible ab pain on Friday late afternoon, the last weekend of September, and tried to feel better. I finally decided to look up what ab pain in pregnancy could mean (I was thinking more along the lines of stretching pains, but in the back of my head contractions). I found that if I'm still hurting after a period of rest, to call the doctor. So I figured I'll go to bed and if the pain is still around in the morning, we'll call the doctor.

Long story short, we wind up in the hospital to get checked out "just in case," though while walking in to the hospital I felt like such a lame duck and embarrassed and thought we would be out of there in a few hours, and a few hours turned into a few days. Turns out my body was gearing to go, and at only 32 weeks! Now we're just trying to make it as far as we can. I'm at 35 weeks tomorrow and I'm just waiting to make it to 37 weeks - after that, I'll be happy for Baby R to make an appearance any time!

In one day, all my efforts to have an active, fit pregnancy with any hope of bouncing back 'fast' after childbirth flew out the window. In a few short days I felt like my muscles were in atrophy and weak. But now, with some breaking of the doc's orders, I've been doing some cleaning and stretching that makes me feel a little bit better. An endurance athlete forced to do NOTHING has been interesting, challenging and difficult. Through this pregnancy, I've not only had to overlook the others going for long bike rides and runs but now I've had to step back completely and do absolutely no sort of working out.

Maybe it's good to have a break in training after 4 years...