The art of loafering

So, here I am again, back on full bedrest at 25 weeks pregnant. This has happened before, with my last pregnancy, but it has still come as a shock.

I'm on bedrest because of complications with my pregnancy. Here's a brief history of my pregnancies. With my first, in 2006, all went well, except that I went into labour at 36wks. Our son Matthew was born healthy and well, and as we had just moved house 2 days prior to the birth, we just put his early arrival down to me doing too much in packing, unpacking and cleaning.

Our second pregnancy in 2008 was going well til 19weeks when we had our routine ultrasound. It was discovered there that my cervix was dilating and shortened. I was told to go straight to hospital to have an emergency stitch put in my cervix to stop it dilating any more. From that point I was on strict bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy. There were a few more scares with that pregnancy, with Jessica almost born at 26wks. We were given a tour of the NICU and told to prepare for the worst. Praise be to God who kept Jessica inside my body until almost 39wks,when she was born, a beautiful healthy girl.

We were told that I have what's called an "incompetent cervix" (such a lovely name) and that with subsequent pregnancies I would have a precautionary stitch placed at 14wks. After that I wouldn't be able to do any heavy lifting, but besides that it would be a relatively normal pregnancy.

So, when I fell pregnant this time, all went as planned. The stitch was put in at 14wks, the cervix was looking closed and long on the scans and I avoided lifting anything over 3kg. They did regular checks and all was going well til last week. At 24wks, my cervix was dilating internally (above the stitch), and my cervix had shortened to a length of 7mm below the stitch. (Anything under 2.5cm and they really worry)!

So back on bedrest, hence why I am the loafer on the sofa.  I feel like I'm getting pretty good at the art of loafering, although I really dislike it!

But I am thankful to God for so many things so far in my pregnancies- 2 beautiful children so far and medical intervention that helps me and others in my situation.

So this blog is an attempt to keep my mind busy and active and to share some of the random things that pop into my head as I go along this journey.

BTW - the blogs won't usually be this long - just wanted to share some background!