23 Weeks Pregnant: Surviving Bed Rest

23 Weeks Pregnant

In this article

• Pregnancy Week 23: All About You
• Pregnancy Week 23: All About Baby
• How Big Is Baby?
• Most Common Pregnancy Questions
• Multiple Madness
• For Your Partner
• Fun Fact

 

Occasionally, pregnancy complications dictate that you slow down ... quite a bit. Your doctor may recommend that you go on partial or full bed rest. Find out what this means and what you can do to get through it.

You're feeling like a human jungle gym! It's a rockin' and rollin' in there! Since there's still room to move, that little guy or gal is using it all! Somewhere around now, you may have an internal exam to check your cervix for risk of preterm labor.

Pregnancy Week 23: All About You

As your baby bump gets more noticeable, so will your aches and pains. Added weight puts pressure on your back, often leading to soreness. Your feet and ankles can swell, especially if you haven't been able to take a break during the day. You may find your appetite increases but that your digestive system is off. Your digestion slows in pregnancy, and your stomach is forced upward as your baby-to-be needs growing room. Both problems mean you may have frequent heartburn, indigestion, bloating, and flatulence. But your discomfort won't last forever—you're well past the midpoint of your pregnancy!

Bed Rest
Forty weeks can seem like forever, especially when you can no longer see your toes and you're taking bathroom breaks every hour (even at night). But your baby-to-be needs time to grow and develop within your uterus so that she'll be healthy and strong when she first greets you. In some pregnancies, however, your body may want to push the baby out before your 40 weeks are up. According to the Mayo Clinic, about six to seven percent of all pregnant women go into preterm labor, sometimes in the second but more often in the third trimester. Any contractions that lead to the cervix beginning to open before week 37 are considered preterm labor. There are several risk factors and reasons why you may experience preterm labor pains. Sometimes physicians are able to pinpoint what's happening with preterm labor, but often doctors aren't sure why women go into labor early. If you're experiencing preterm labor pains, your healthcare provider may take several steps to keep your baby-to-be's delivery day from happening too soon.

Restrictions and bed rest: Depending on the severity of your labor pains your healthcare provider can suggest a range of strategies to prevent labor. First your provider may try to pinpoint any changes in your lifestyle or diet that could be modified. For instance, dehydration can lead to preterm labor pains, according to Dr. William Camann, MD, director of obstetric anesthesia at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and coauthor of Easy Labor. By drinking plenty of water and slowing down more, your labor pains may slow down too. If, however, your labor pains are more severe, your healthcare provider may put you on bed rest. There are several reasons why bed rest can delay labor. First, with your feet raised and your body relaxed there's less pressure on your cervix. Simply standing creates force on your cervix from the weight of your baby pushing down. Putting your feet up relieves pressure on your cervix and on all your internal organs. Lying down also aids blood flow, making it easier for your heart to pump blood throughout your body.

Labor-preventing medications and monitoring: When bed rest alone doesn't prevent preterm labor pains, your healthcare provider may give you medications that will. Often you can take these medications at home. Depending on your circumstances, your healthcare provider may also give you at-home, contraction-monitoring machines.

Hospitalization: If bed rest and medications fail to keep your labor pains away, or if there are other complications, you may be hospitalized so you can be under constant care.

Surviving bed rest: Bed rest can be tedious. You may feel fine and able to get up and move around, but it's important you follow your doctor's guidelines to ensure a healthy pregnancy. Try the following to make bed rest more bearable:

• Enlist the help of friends and family. Get your friends and family involved with your care. They can come over and keep you company during the day. Perhaps you have other children that will need to be cared for while you're in bed. Let them know what you need and allow them to help you.
• Talk to your healthcare provider. Your doctor needs to know how you're feeling. She'll expect to hear a few complaints during your time on bed rest.
• Join a support group. Your doctor may give you information on support groups in your area where you can talk to others who've experienced difficult pregnancies. Or, visit sidelines.org to find local support groups on your own.

Bed rest doesn't have to be all bad. You may finally have time to read all those novels you've been talking about. Maybe there's an online course you've been meaning to take. Try to look on the bright side—it won't last forever, and at the end you'll have someone else to cuddle with you the next time you're in bed.

Pregnancy Week 23: All About Baby

Twenty-three weeks marks an important point for your unborn baby. Your baby-to-be is far enough along in his development that he could have a chance at survival outside the womb.
According to the March of Dimes, of all babies born at 23 weeks, 25 to 35 percent survive. This number goes up considerably when you add just a couple weeks: roughly 50 to 70 percent of all babies born at 24 to 25 weeks survive. And 90 percent of all babies born at 26 to 27 weeks survive.
Although all of your baby-to-be's internal systems are in place, he needs more time for those intricate systems to mature.

How Big Is Baby?

Baby is about 11 inches long (crown to heel) and weighs around 1 pound. He's about the size of a mango.

Most Common Pregnancy Questions

I'm pregnant and experiencing some vaginal discharge. Could I have an infection or is this normal? If it is a yeast infection, how should I treat it while pregnant?
Pregnancy can induce several different types of vaginal discharge, and most of the time, these discharges are normal. Increased blood flow to your vagina coupled with increased estrogen can cause you to experience a whitish, mucousy discharge known as leukorrhea. Leukorrhea is experienced by many women, even when they are not pregnant, at different times in their cycles.
If you experience discharge that causes itching or you notice that your labia are red, you may have a yeast infection. Before you treat yourself with an over-the-counter product, always check with your doctor. It may be a common yeast infection or something else requiring different treatment. If the discharge has a foul odor or is yellow or green, it may be sign of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or other infection.
What can you do? To avoid or manage a yeast infection, try these tips:

• Wear panty liners to absorb discharge
• Always wipe from front to back
• Wear cotton panties to help with good airflow to the area
• Wear loose-fitting clothing
• Don't use scented sprays or wipes
• Never douche!
• Check with your healthcare provider if you have questions and before pursuing any form of treatment

If you see any blood mixed with any vaginal discharge, let your practitioner know right away. This may be a sign that you are going into labor. You should also contact your healthcare provider if the discharge is thin and clear, as you may have broken your water.

Multiple Madness

Active Babies in Utero
One of the most humorous aspects of being pregnant with multiples is observing their personalities developing in utero. At some point, it will become clear who is positioned where. And, with their growth causing the inability to migrate to the other side of your uterus, they won't switch locations. Be sure to note who was kicking where, and who was kicking what. When twins are older, they may be able to recount these experiences from their days in the womb. My boys claim that it was 'dark in there—because there were no windows, Mom.' My little ones also complain that 'he kicked me constantly in there'. It's quite funny (and a little weird).

Your Babies' Journey a DVD produced by Pioneer Productions for the National Geographic Channel, documents the forty weeks of a multiple pregnancy. While it's challenging to document whether or not we actually remember our time in utero, this documentary shows ways in which babies have expressed personality traits in utero which are then seen again post-birth. In one scene, ultrasound images capture one twin sibling "punching" the other. In response, the sibling turns away and rests her head on the placenta. When these children were a few years old, their parents reported that when the sibling who was "punched'" in utero was hurt in everyday life, her coping response was to go to her room and put her head on her pillow.
Another fun activity for a Friday night is to sit and watch your belly when the babies are both active. It can appear as though you've got aliens swimming around in there! If you own a video camera, attempt to capture their antics. Trust me, your twins will find it hysterical in years to come.

For Your Partner

Your Relationship with Baby
The first few months of fatherhood can often be the most difficult. Your baby arrives, and along with him or her comes expectations of what being a father will be like. Many of these expectations involve holding your baby and immediately feeling a strong connection and a powerful sense of love. While that will undoubtedly happen, it may take a bit longer to connect than you originally thought. Instead of a few days, it can sometimes take a few months.

Even once your baby is born, you might feel a little empty inside. Of course you know the baby you're holding is yours, but he or she may not yet feel like your baby. (You know that you love your baby, but you just may not quite feel it yet.) This isn't unusual, and often fathers find themselves feeling afraid, stressed by financial pressures, and exhausted from lack of sleep. This can all lead to many new dads feeling inadequate or useless as fathers. These difficult feelings can be exacerbated if you're working outside the home while your spouse is taking care of Baby full-time.

The sad truth is many fathers have this experience but are afraid to talk about it. A lack of discussion can foster a sense of shame and may promote a feeling that bonding confirms a "bad" father (or mother). Instead of getting upset and giving up, strive to remain involved and you'll lay the groundwork for developing a bond with your baby. (Know that if you experience these feelings, it doesn't mean you're a bad father or that you don't or can't love your child.)

In time, you and Baby will build a distinct and unbreakable connection. One day, you will look your little one's face and see a certain expression or hold her, and something will flutter in your chest. Before you know it, you will feel such a strong connection you'll have trouble remembering life when you didn't.

Fun Fact

The lightest babies ever born were triplets birthed in Virginia in 1998. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the trio weighed in at three and one-half pounds total. The babies' individual weights were 1 pound 4.6 ounces, 14.8 ounces, and 13.4 ounces.

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