How to Survive a Hospital Antepartum Room

A hospital antepartum room is where a doctor places a pregnant woman for observation before active labor begins, generally due to pregnancy complications or hospital-ordered bed rest. A woman may spend a few days or a few months in the hospital antepartum room, but no matter the length, the room can become depressing, claustrophobic and boring. Here are a few tips to help a pregnant woman survive a hospital antepartum room.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Know how an antepartum room is different from regular labor and delivery or birthing recovery rooms. Designed for longer-term stays, antepartum rooms may have DVD players, microwaves, refrigerators, wireless Internet or other homey touches. Antepartum rooms may have limited space for significant others to stay.
2. Anticipate the noise that goes along with a hospital antepartum room. Hospitals are not quiet places. Bring a fan or white noise machine or sleep to a classical music CD; this may help mute the chaos going on outside your door.
3. Expect frequent interruptions and limitations on your personal movement. Since you are in the antepartum room because your pregnancy is most likely non-routine, a nurse may wake you several times each night to take your vitals. You may also have to buzz the nurse to go to the bathroom. They may also hook you to a fetal monitor around the clock.
4. Adopt a "this too shall pass" attitude. Your baby has to come out eventually. You cannot be resigned to this room forever.
5. Insist that you be taken outside, if possible. A sure way to drive yourself crazy, especially if on bed rest, is to be stuck inside for days on end. Even if you are on bed rest, get your husband to wheel you outside in a wheelchair. You may be amazed at the mood lift a glimpse of the sky provides.
6. Make friends with your nurses. Since you are staying in the antepartum room for a longer period of time, you see the same faces frequently. It is nice to have someone to talk to, and if you go into labor while in the antepartum room, chances are one of your regular nurses may be present at your baby's birth.
7. Bring activities to occupy your time. Knitting, reading, watching movies, addressing birth announcements, scrap booking and crossword puzzles can help speed the time along.