Some Thoughts on Bedrest, Part I

Yesterday, February 21st, 36 weeks along

I've been thinking that I really should write down some thoughts about my bedrest experience. Now that I'm back up, I'd better do it before I either forget or have a baby to keep me busy!

So, some things about bedrest are obviously awesome. I read a few books, watched 3 seasons of Psych (one of the few shows that is interesting to me without being inappropriate for my 3 year old companion), and played some Super Mario Bros on the Wii. We had dinner brought in MWF, with 10 total meals that I didn't have to make or worry about (or pay for, for that matter)! I even had several different people come over and help clean my house while I relaxed (attempted to, at least) on the couch. When you first think of bedrest, these are the wonderful things that initially occur to you.

A weekend of bedrest would be really great. Or maybe part time bedrest - do chores & errands in the morning, be on bedrest the rest of the day. But full time bedrest for 3.5 weeks was much less awesome than one might expect.

I've never been a great housekeeper. Over the years I've gotten better at keeping the living room clean...but don't look past that one room! I had 3 different ward members do some dishes when they were over for various other reasons, and I kind of felt bad that they assumed the mess was due to my bedrest! The truth is, it is pretty common for there to be dishes in my sink, piles of laundry waiting to be folded and/or put away, etc.

The irony of the bedrest situation was that then, when I was supposed to do far less than usual, I wanted to do WAY MORE! I've decided that there are 4 main reasons for that:

1. First of all, I noticed it a lot more while laying on the couch. I don't know where my days usually disappear to (something I hope to be more aware of PBR - post bedrest), but I certainly don't spend much time just sitting there looking at the mess! So even though I had several things to entertain myself with on the couch, I was definitely way more aware of the mess in that part of the house!
2. Also, I wanted the house clean because of all the people that kept coming over! Most of the people that brought us dinner came in to put it on the table and chat with me for a few minutes. Even though they obviously knew that I wasn't supposed to be cleaning (and probably would've felt bad if I'd gotten up and cleaned while they were making me dinner!), it was still hard to let people, several of whom I don't know very well, see the messiness. Add to that people coming just to visit or something, and we had someone in our house at least 4 or 5 times a week, when it's often not at all or only once.
3. I think there was some "I want to do it just because I'm not supposed to." Having it feel rebellious to hurry and clean off the table was a lot more exciting than usual! Maybe we should find a way to incorporate that into regular life..."No, Rachel, DON'T vacuum!"
4. And on top of all that, it's nesting time for this pregnant lady. Sometimes I had a really hard time relaxing (sleeping at night was particularly difficult) because I couldn't stop thinking about organizing the playroom or some similar project. Something about being close to having a baby makes your brain go crazy and notice all sorts of messes that usually don't phase you. So the whole not being allowed to clean would've been hard enough without that nesting instinct, but with it, it was even more frustrating!

I have my weekly checkup in 13 minutes, so I'd better run. Rather than save this for later and end up with a superpost, I'll just post what I have now, and (hopefully) do another one (or two) later!