How to Handle Pregnancy Bed Rest While Caring For A Toddler

I am currently 37 weeks pregnant and on bed rest. I was on bed rest during my first pregnancy and I absolutely loved it. I got to lay around and watch movies while other people waited on me. It was fantastic! Now that I have a toddler running around, bed rest is not so much fun.

Let's face it, things don't always work out the way we want them to. I am on bed rest and am not supposed to be doing anything, but that doesn't mean the rest of the world is going to be able to stop everything to help me. My husband is not able to take off work right now and there is no one else who can help. So we are trying to do the best that we can. I might not be following my doctors orders of "complete" bed rest, but it is as close as we can get. Here is what makes bed rest while caring for a toddler much easier.

The first thing we had to do was to set up a room where I could lay down that would still be entertaining for our son. The living room is the perfect spot. I have the couch, he has the tv, and we can bring in all of his toys for the day. But we needed to make it so I didn't have to chase him around or try to keep him in the room. The solution? Baby gates! We needed two baby gates to completely keep him in the living room. After the gates were up we had to make sure the room was absolutely child proof. I just can not get up every few seconds to keep him away from things. So we made the room absolutely child proof so that he could play safely.

Okay, so we made the room safe and brought in his toys to entertain him. But what about when he needed to be changed? Easy! We brought a diaper bag into the room that contained all the diapering essentials and whenever he needed to be changed I would just change him right on the couch and put the dirty diaper into a bag and put that bag back in the diaper bag. When my husband got home he could take that bag out to the trash.

What about feeding the toddler? This was another easy solution. My husband packed my son a lunchbox of lunch, snacks, and plenty of drinks (he packed me one as well). When it was time to eat, I asked my son to come sit beside me on the couch and I helped him eat his lunch. I didn't let him run around with the food, but if he got down in the middle of eating, that was okay. It actually wasn't even that messy.

Nap time was pretty simple as well. I let him lay with me on the couch while we watched Toy Story and we both napped together. I actually enjoyed the extra snuggle time I got to have with my son.

In a perfect world, my husband would be able to take off all the time in the world. But if he took off now, he would not have any time left for when the baby is born. I wish I had others around who could help, but there just isn't anyone. Sometimes you may find yourself in a situation like this, and you just have to do the best you can. Don't stress about it too much, just work out the best solution. For us, this was the best solution. I didn't have to get up at all. I did have to sit up, but I didn't leave the couch at all, so I was still resting.

Throughout the day, we had lots of fun reading books, singing songs, and watching movies. My son, of course, made a huge mess of the toys, and he is a bit too young to clean up by himself. I just let him make a mess and my husband got to clean it up later. You do what you have to do.

Do you have any suggestions for caring for your toddler while on bed rest?