Good luck, Elysia! Things like that happen. Hopefullly this is nothing serious.

With both of ours kids, my wife had mid-term symptomps like yours, including sporadic bleeding. Needless to say, we were scared. Notably, second time we were just as freaked out and nervours as the first time. Both times we rushed to a hostpital, both times sonograms confirmed that everything is OK, my wife was given some tabs and injections (vitamin K I think, although I am not sure), and sent home after a few hours of monitoring.

Needless to say, she bore them both full term without any further complications. Our sons are 12 and 4 years olf now, and we're recalling these incidents with a mixture of amusement and "that was close" relief. We joke sometimes that our kids have showns themselves to be unruly and misbehaving even before they were born.

Wow, that really sucks. My wife is 36 weeks along, and the Doctor wants her to take it easy...that's hard enough on her, could not imagine what forced bed rest would do to her.

At 23 weeks....that's way too early. I'm sure the Doctor told you all the issues you and Elysium would face if the little one made his appearance into the world now...if it survived.

A month, maybe two, would be better...but I understand how difficult this is.

Our prayers are with you.

Hi, I am LockAndLoad's wife. I have had two preemies, a 27 weeker and a 29 weeker. I was curious if your doctor put gave you terbutaline or procardia for the contractions? I might ask about that. I was on a weekly injection of progesterone called 17P to prevent contractions. My children ended up being born early due to an incompetent cervix.

Also, I know the bed rest is going to be difficult but you will never forgive yourself if things don't turn out as planned if you didn't do everything you possibly could.

The good news is that a fetus is considered viable at 24 weeks and if you can make it to 28 weeks you are almost guaranteed to take home a healthy baby after a few months in the NICU.

It does seems like you caught things early and there are so many things that can be done today to help you carry to full term.
Good luck, stay down, drinks tons of water and bake that baby:-)

I had so much go wrong with this last pregnancy so I know how the high risk game goes. If you have any questions you can message me at http://www.myspace.com/perrinspreemies

Sorry to hear that, Elysia. My wife also went through the same kind of thing with our son. She was put on bed rest for about a month, then she was okay to resume most of the things she was doing before, aside from her job and anything involving being on her feet for any significant length of time.

Judging by the comments here, you are not alone in this experience, by any means. This is a great chance to catch up on some reading, and my wife found that a laptop helped as well.

Take care, my thoughts are with you and your family.

You'd not believe the quantities of good thoughts I'm flinging through the airways toward you. Please keep us informed if you can.

Glad to hear about the update. Moms do indeed "rock," as it were.

Elysia,
I hope everything works out well, this gives you the perfect excuse to talk Elysium in to buying you some new games to pass the time

My thoughts & prayers are with you. Try to counter any negative thoughts with your ultimate goal. In the larger scale of things, bed rest is temporary, but leverage is forever. Just think of the wonderful Mother's Day results from not only X hours of labor, but also Y weeks of immobilization.

Elysia, take care and try not to worry so much about nesting and over-exertion. That's just mental stress you don't need. I'm not a doctor, but my wife did all sorts of construction projects and exerted herself during pregnancy with no ill effects, and the doctors said it was perfectly safe. Lifting heavy objects, going up stairs, all that stuff. Of course, if they tell you to stay in bed for four months, wow, that'll suck, but that's what laptops are for. Good luck, our thoughts are with you.

My wife went through something similar with our first son. They ended up giving her some kind of medication to stop the contractions, but they said that the ultimate cause was dehydration. For the remainder of her pregnancy (something like 3 months) you could not find her without a water bottle in hand (and two by the ready).

My sister had also had a similar experience. Initially she was given some drug that slowed the contractions and was given 48 hours of bedrest. After 4 days she finally got to go home for another 5 days of bedrest. I feel for you Elysia. Best wishes.

We're keeping you guys in our thoughts, Elysia! Hope all turns out well after all!

Tips for making bed rest fun!

Eat crackers on Elysium's side of the bed and watch him squirm all night.

Lots and lots of books.

Now's the time to level up a character in a MMO! Plenty around to choose from!

Ask for some sort of weird combination of food that will have Elysium running all over the place trying to get and than demand some other weird combination of food when the first finally arrives.

Try and see if you can astral project!

Seriously, I hope things turn out well. It sounds like you and your doctors are on top of things which is great. Oh, and enjoy the rest while you can get it! Seriously, it's on doctors orders, take full advantage!

Just throwing my reassurances in the hat, my ex was having contractions at about 28 weeks, needless to say we were concerned, (called an ambulance, in fact.), she went through the usual poking, and prodding, and monitors, and they sent her home awhile later, with orders for bed rest for a week or so, (which she had substantially less trouble than you with), and she was fine, in fact, he didn't want to come out.

And think of it this way, when you have a new baby, in addition to a toddler... you're going to need all the energy you can get. Relax while you can get away with it.

This certainly puts my own little problems in perspective. I wish you and your growing family all the best, Elysia.