Naptime Blog

I remember my Mom cleaning our whole house and baking a chocolate cake only hours before going into labor with my sister when I was younger.  When they woke me up to say they were going to the hospital, I was amazed, because just hours before that, my Mom was fine!  That is one thing that has always stuck in my mind. 

So here I am years later, about to have my fourth child, and am frantic with the “nesting” instinct!  I am supposed to be on bed rest, but all I want to do is clean my house and have everything in order for this baby! 

I was put on bed rest last week, and when the doctor was telling me all that good stuff about my restrictions, all I kept thinking in my head is “Is he kidding?”  I mean, he was the ‘on-call’ doctor for my regular OB, who knows my history inside and out, but I know I DID tell this doctor I had three kids at home, didn’t I?  Even modified bed rest wasn’t going to cut it! 

Luckily I have great family and in-laws, and every day since then someone has been with me to help out with the kids…  I haven’t changed a diaper in days (but the guilt from that is another story for another day…) and have had people to keep me company, keep my mind off of the thoughts of having this baby too soon, keep my seven year old busy, and lift up my growing toddler twin boys for me!  But there is something about the idea of asking someone else to clean my toilets!  And I need to clarify that my LEAST favorite thing in the world to do is clean, so why is it bothering me that I can’t clean my house? 

I guess I should admit that I am a bit of a control freak.  NO, that would be a lie… I am a TRUE control freak!  So being on bed rest with three kids and a house I can’t clean and not being able to get the new baby’s things ready on my own is TORTURE!  And of course my frustration is totally coming out on my husband, but I don’t understand why he isn’t all nuts about having to get everything ready like I am?  What’s the deal there?

I am reminded, however, when I do decide to get up and do something here and there why I am not supposed to… the contractions start up and I get uncomfortable.  But in my defense, I only did this thirteen months ago!  My twins just turned one and I was on bed rest much earlier on with their pregnancy due to the high risk pregnancy.   Well, I guess there is no comparison.  The twins’ pregnancy was much more difficult from the start because everything was magnified twice:  twice the morning sickness, twice the heartburn, everything was much more intense and I was put on bed rest for months with their pregnancy.  However, back then, I only had one child, and she was six at the time.  Her needs were easy.  As a matter of fact, she loved helping Mommy out and possibly one of my best memories of that pregnancy was having Juliana make us sandwiches every day…  turkey on whole wheat, baby carrots, and cherries.  And she adored pulling out all the board games, having Mommy’s attention for whole afternoons at a time.  But now things are different.  My boys are still very reliant on me, I still need to feed them and diaper them, play with them… heck, they are only one!  And my daughter is about to start school, so I need to get school supplies and uniforms ready to go as well! 

I don’t think anything is going to stop the “nesting” phenomenon or instinct or whatever it is.  I realize I need to put my health and my baby’s well-being as top priority, and leave the rest up to my husband and family to help me out with.  I guess I am unreasonably thinking that my children will be upset with me for not being able to do for them what I normally would do, especially the boys, who will have no memory of this time!  I have to deal with it and remember that in a few short weeks, this baby will join our family and all of this will be a distant memory.  And one day, I will look four teenagers and wish I was back at the time when they were safely in my belly or in their Pack N Plays sleeping soundly!

Jennifer
Mom to Juliana (7), Louis (1) and Anthony (1)
Expecting #4 in September!
www.nevaland.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 2:53 am and is filed under Jennifer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.