[Submitted Question]

Due to complications I have been on bedrest for the last three weeks and will probably have to stay there for the rest of the pregnancy. I feel like I am going crazy, lying in bed all day with nothing to do but worry. I would love some tips on how to make this time more bearable.

[WombToBloom]

You may have already tried some of this, but here are my ideas:

• Join some message boards to “talk” with other expecting mothers and others on bed rest. You can peruse Womb to Bloom for all kinds of information about childbirth and newborns. You can research preemies – just in case. Or you can do a little online shopping for those last few baby things you won’t be able to get out and get at the store.
• Clean up your contacts list and send some emails out to friends you haven’t talked to in a while.
• Ask your health care provider if there are any exercises you can still do while on bed rest.
• Put a LOT of movies in your Netflix queue and start watching!
• Catch up on your photo albums and scrapbooks.
• Learn to knit or crochet.
• Give yourself a manicure, a pedicure and a facial.
• Ask your doctor if it is okay to have a massage – then track down a masseuse who will come to your home. Your doctor may actually have some recommendations for you.
• Do crosswords and sudoku puzzles.
• Have someone bring you a regularly rotating stock of trashy celebrity gossip magazines as well as something with more substantive articles like Vanity Fair or the New Yorker.
• Talk on the phone LOTS!
• Invite friends over to hang out and to help out.
• Have date night with your partner. Take a shower or bath, get take-out for dinner and watch a movie together.
• Start your own blog.
• Become addicted to ebay or etsy.
• Write thank you notes for shower gifts or bed rest favors.
• Download music and/or burn CDs for the hospital and for the nursery.
• Organize your bills and tax records.
• Research your baby’s family tree.