13 weeks

Moms all know that motherhood isn't for wimps!  We wake up early, make and clean up meals all day long, clean dirty handprints off our walls, sweep the floor 10x a day, kiss owies, settle disputes, keep our washing machines constantly running, wrestle children through grocery stores, read books, find lost shoes, and on and on and on... It's a physical job!  ... Until you get put on bed rest.

Then what?

Then you are forced to sit still and listen to the chaos your children provide.  And at times, you just have to accept the fact that they are making a mess that may not get cleaned up for five days (or ever).  You have to hear them fight, and tell yourself not to stress about it... they'll work it out.  You ask them to empty the dishwasher and later that night you walk into the kitchen to find all of the clean dishes stacked into the Eiffel Tower on the kitchen counters, hanging out amid all of the dirty dishes that never got put INTO the empty dishwasher.  You roll your eyes and shift into survival mode.

And you count your blessings instead of falling into a pit of despair.

That is what this blog is for.  I was put on bed rest at 24 weeks pregnant with this one.  (With previous pregnancies, bed rest started at 34 and 30 weeks, respectively.)  At 24 weeks, my goal was 13 to go!  I have been striving to be positive and keep my head up.  So far, I have made it to 28 1/2 weeks, so I am hoping to hang in there for 8 1/2 more!  Today I had a funny moment that made me decide to create a blog of the rest of my journey, and to document anything funny, positive, optimistic, or hopeful about this bed rest experience.  It is HARD, but if even one bed rest momma reads this and gets a little bit of hope out of it, it will be worth it.  (If not, I will just make my baby read it some day and tell him how "fun" it was to be pregnant with him.)  

Here's to the next 8 1/2 weeks...