"You must be bored," my friends have said. Having been confined to the horizontal position for the last five weeks, with another eight to go, everyone seems to feel sorry for me. It's difficult to imagine how you're going to pass the time when you'll be laid up for three months. If this should ever happen to you during your pregnancy, you mustn't think of it in weeks, or months, or trimesters for that matter. Take each day as it comes.
You might be worried about missing work. You're accustomed to filling your days at your job, and you're fretting about foregoing your pay cheque. If you're told by your obstetrician to keep off your feet for as long as I have, then there goes your maternity leave before the baby is born. You might have a sympathetic employer, or there might be conditions in your contract that allows for extended sick leave. If so, lucky you. Find out what you're entitled to though.
Another option is to ask your boss if you can work from home. If a computer is needed, and you don't have one, then perhaps they can bring you a laptop from the office. The same applies with a phone. I have been quite productive, sitting amongst my duvet and pillows, writing up all my columns. I have even managed to conduct three essential interviews from my bedroom! (Get your minds out of the gutter!!)
If you don't work, or can't continue doing so because your job requires you to be on location, then how are you to overcome the tediousness of bed rest? I write fairly fast, so my afternoons tend to remain 'free'! However, boredom has not hit me yet. I have been lent so many DVDs that I'm beginning to wonder when I'll find the time to watch them all. The table beside my bed is laden with magazines like Hello and Time, and with books such as Restless by William Boyd and Coming Home to Teach by Anthony C. Winkler. Not to mention an entire shelf dedicated to pregnancy and motherhood literature! I'm even thinking of writing my own book one day.
The idea of watching television and reading for so many weeks is a little scary. Let's assume that one sleeps eight hours per night, spends two hours per day eating, and another hour in the bathroom. That leaves 13 hours per day, seven days per week, for 13 weeks, which amounts to an impressive 1,183 hours with which to come up with things to do! There's no doubt you'll have a few visitors, so that'll while away some 83 hours, which will leave you with 1,100. What else to do?
I searched on the Internet. I was curious to see other people's suggestions: knitting and sewing were among them. Not so bad, and I'm certain that friends and family would willingly organise and bring me the tools required. Then my mind wandered around my house, thinking of all the unessential chores I'd been delaying since my husband and I got married.
Photographs, of course. While not in control of when we're going to have our wedding album in hand, I believe that there are a few hundred honeymoon pictures on my laptop which I should get printed and then spend some of these hours placing them in the beautiful albums we were given as wedding gifts. Also, if memory serves me correctly, there are numerous photos stashed away in folders that warrant attention as well.
Just think, if it weren't for the unfortunate fate of having to lie down for a whole trimester, I might never have got around to doing any of this. There are bonuses of bed rest after all!
Emmadaltonbrown@gmail.com