When there are complications with your pregnancy, you will be told by your healthcare provider to spend most or all of your time lying down. Around one in five women in the US is put on bed rest at some point during her pregnancy, for a few days to a few months, to prevent possible complications. Depending on your condition and its severity, your bed rest may vary from simply resting at home to full bed rest at the hospital with monitoring.

The reasons for bed rest include:

• Preterm labor
• Multiples pregnancy
• High blood pressure, preeclampsia and eclampsia
• Cervical changes including cervical effacement and incompetent cervix
• Vaginal bleeding
• History of pregnancy loss, stillbirth, or premature birth
• Poor fetal development
• Gestational diabetes
• Placenta complications, such as placental abruption, placenta previa, and placenta accreta

The purpose of bed rest is to help your body rest and minimize or overcome the condition that had your doctor put you on bed rest in the first place. If you suffer from high blood pressure, bed rest is used to decrease stress and lower blood pressure. Working, staying active or exercising may provoke or worsen certain situations. Bed rest is necessary to prevent or diminish certain conditions.

It is important to get a clear understanding of what your bed rest restrictions are. Depending on the nature and severity of your condition, the list of your approved activities may vary. If your doctor has not specified what you are allowed to do, make sure to ask about activities such as cooking, light housekeeping, walking, bathing or showering, driving, exercising and sexual intercourse.

While it may sound like resting is a great idea, especially now that you are exhausted because of your pregnancy and may need the rest anyway, you could find it less pleasant than expected. Being restricted to bed for days or even weeks or months can be boring, uncomfortable and inconvenient. However, do not take it lightly. Bed rest is prescribed for your health and your baby’s health.

Braxton Hicks, also referred to as false labor or practice contractions, is usually a painless tightening or hardening of your belly. It may be quite uncomfortable, but is your uterus’s way of preparing for true labor. Braxton Hicks contractions may cause thinning and dilating of your cervix. They usually first appears during the second trimester, around 20 weeks, though they may come earlier (and be more intense) if this is not your first pregnancy.

As your pregnancy progresses they may become more frequent, but before the last month of your pregnancy they are likely to remain irregular and somewhat painless. If you are not sure if you are experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions (false contractions) or true ones, which may be hard for you to determine especially if this is your first pregnancy, call your healthcare provider and ask to be seen and evaluated. Playing it safe and going to get checked out is always better than misdiagnosing your condition, yourself.

If you are less than 37 weeks pregnant and are experiencing more than four contractions an hour, call your healthcare provider immediately. After 37 weeks you may experience more intense and frequent contractions, which may also cause discomfort. These contractions are likely to be true ones, which also help your cervix ripen, by gradually leading to its softening and thinning out, and maybe even dilation.

Braxton Hicks are different from true contractions in that they do not grow longer, stronger and closer together like true ones do. They may trick you into thinking you are in labor, for they may feel frequent and painful. If you are not sure whether you are experiencing true or false labor, call your healthcare provider and get checked. You will likely be connected to a monitor at triage to determine your condition.

To overcome Braxton Hicks contraction discomfort:

• Change your position or activity – true contractions will persist regardless of what you try.
• Draw a warm bath to let your body relax.
• Drink plenty of water.
• Try breathing techniques from your birth preparation classes.

You may not realize it, but it can be easy to get caught up in your daily routine and forget that you are carrying another tiny human inside. Life is busy and staying on top of it all (work, your partner, friends, household chores, etc.) takes much of your time and energy. You were always able to handle it before and you see no reason why your home or social life should suffer now. When you have reached your third trimester, you must start thinking like a very pregnant woman and cut yourself some slack.

Your home does not have to be spotless, or if it does, getting someone to help (your husband or hired help) is not a crime when you are that pregnant. Eating out sometimes rather than having to cook every day should be an option. Leaving the laundry for tomorrow is not the end of the world.

While pregnancy is not an illness, overdoing it may lead to complications, which you can easily avoid. At this point in your pregnancy you should not stand on your legs for too long without a break. The weight of the pregnancy causes extra stress on your body. If you cannot avoid standing for long periods of time, when possible put your legs up and let your body rest.

By now your body may already be signaling to you when you need to slow down and rest. And while you may think, “it is only 6 / 7 / 8 pm,” your body is telling you it needs the rest because it is not only busy with your daily activities, but also working on the development of your baby non stop. In other words, if you are tired, take a break, rest, let your energy rejuvenate. Your top priority right now should be taking care of yourself and your unborn child. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.

You will soon be busy with your little one and will not get much time to rest. Take this opportunity, before your pregnancy is over, to rest up when you can. Later, it will most likely be harder to find the time for it.

One of the highlights of pregnancy is when you feel your baby move. It is unlike anything else and can certainly be described as one of the miracles of creating life. So when will it happen? Will it be a full on kick the first time you feel it? Or will it be more subtle?

You baby started moving around at about week 7 or 8, and you may have even got to see her acrobatics in an ultrasound if you had one. However, it will take a little while longer before you will feel these movements where they will be readily apparent. Most women feel those first flutters and kicks sometime between 16 and 22 weeks. This also depends on your size. Slimmer woman may feel baby movement earlier.

If this is not your first pregnancy, you may feel your baby earlier than first time moms, mainly because you know what to expect and can recognize them as baby movement, something that the first time mom may not recognize yet.

When you first feel your baby move, women describe it being like a fish swimming around, popcorn popping, butterfly flutters and bubbles. You may mistake these first movements to be gas, or hunger pangs in the beginning, but will soon learn the difference once they become more frequent. You are more likely to feel these first movements when you are resting, as opposed to when you are active (say when you are walking) and your hips movement put baby to sleep.

Later in your second trimester, your baby’s gentle movements will become stronger, and you will feel them more frequently. At that point you will need to pay closer attention to his kicks and let your healthcare provider know if movement has decreased. During the third trimester your doctor may ask that you devote up to an hour a day to monitor your baby’s movement (usually after a meal).

Your baby’s movement will change in character and intensity over time with your baby growing bigger and the space in your uterus growing smaller. Later on in your pregnancy you may even see a small hand or foot pushing your belly in his attempt to stretch or move.

Enjoy this amazing experience while it lasts. There is no feeling like it!

Pregnancy is not an illness, yet your first trimester may feel more like an illness than not. While there are no known ways to eliminating or avoiding morning sickness, vomiting and fatigue, there are ways you can help your body feel more refreshed as well as some tricks to feeling better overall.

No method is full proof or guaranteed. But if you feel yourself struggling to stay awake and alert throughout the day or morning sickness is lingering past the A.M., these tips may help you regain some control over your body and will hopefully make you feel better, even if it is a little bit.

So what can you do?

To get over fatigue, exercise is the name of the game. You’ll be surprised what a 30 minute daily workout can do. Besides it being healthy, working out will help get your body stronger to carry the weight of your growing baby thoughout your pregnancy. Exercising stimulates your energy, as well as strengthens your cardiovascular system which in turn helps you feel less tired.  Exercise also releases endorphins, which can help you feel relaxed. Working out can also help with body aches (like the ones that keep you from sleeping) and it can actually help with falling asleep if you frequently experience discomfort throughout the night hours.

Overcoming morning sickness may be a bit trickier than minimizing fatigue. Still, there are things you can do. For starters, eat five smaller meals though the day, rather than the typical three meals a day. Drink plenty of water (about 8 glasses a day) and avoid caffeinated drinks such as soda, tea and coffee. If you are not too keen on water, try adding a slice of lemon or orange to your water for flavor, or try carbonated water.

Keep crackers handy. Eating something first thing in the morning can help prevent nausea caused from an empty stomach.  Avoid greasy and spicy foods, which are more likely to cause nausea. Eat foods that are high in protein and carbohydrates. Also avoid strong odors or any familiar smells that induce your nausea.

If you find that you are vomiting excessively, speak to your doctor about it. Sometimes morning sickness can turn into a severe condition that poses a risk to both you and your baby. If you experience a combined lack of appetite and excessive vomiting, you should be monitored by your healthcare provider, since it can result in malnourishment and dehydration. A short hospital stay may be required.

And remember, at about 13-14 weeks, you should be feeling much better!

Our daughter Afik is celebrating six months today. What a joy! And what a journey! It is hard to believe so much time has passed since she was born.

When they are in the uterus, we are consumed with the different stages of pregnancy, doctors visits & lab tests, what we need to do or avoid in order for the embryo/fetus growing inside to get the best environment we can provide them with and all kinds of other medical concerns.

At the same time, the realization that we are about to become parents starts growing, and we find ourselves trying to guess what we are having, and then later we try imaging what they will look like. Oh, how far that stage seems now in retrospect. And again, Afik just turned six month today! Time flies, and between the lack of sleep and everything in between, the pregnancy part may start to fade (yes, it is possible! Just give yourself time).

But when you are there, it’s a whole other story. Especially when the third trimester arrives and it seems like time refuses to progress till the much expected due date, which may come and pass, with no delivery (not to worry, by 41 weeks you will be induced unless otherwise recommended by your doctor). But that’s a different story.

Now, six months after delivery, I don’t have many words of wisdom, just a recommendation to enjoy each phase while you are there. Yes, 9 months of pregnancy may seem like a real long (and uncomfortable) period of time, but it’s a once in a lifetime experience (considering that each pregnancy is unique). So embrace it and enjoy it as it comes. Your baby will be here faster than you can imagine!