> What about self-imposed bedrest?

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Confused...

SO…your doc states that bedrest and meds have not been proven to help with IU symptoms, so he/she is not prescribing them, but you know your contractions mellow out when you are lying down.  What are you to do?  Should you just continue to do your normal activity, enduring the contractions even if they cause discomfort or even pain?  After all, you have TONS to do (especially if you already have other kids you need to care for) and if bedrest and/or meds do nothing to help ward off pre-term labor and early delivery, then if your baby is meant to come early, then he/she will come early even if you don’t do the bedrest and meds.  Or is this really true?

Any evidence?

There are a few things to keep in mind when considering this.  First off, of course bedrest and meds have never been proven to be helpful and they never WILL be proven to be helpful. The reason for this is that it is virtually impossible to test whether they will be helpful or not helpful! Detail explanations regarding the limitations of clinical trials setting and confounding factors that may affect such research are beyond the scope of our website. BUT just because it hasn't been proven that meds and bedrest help a woman and her growing baby, neither has it been proven that they DON'T help. 

Secondly, many women will attest that they believe the meds and or bedrest DID help them keep their babies in longer.  Can they know for sure?  No, but don’t discredit mommy-intuition.  Many women who believe that meds and/or bedrest helped them had previous IU pregnancies, during which they took no meds and did no time on bedrest, that ended with very pre-mature babies who died or lived with some serious health problems.  These women often state that their symptoms were exactly the same for both pregnancies, but the second pregnancy, in which they took meds/were on bedrest, they carried their babies longer.

It is your choice.

So finally, the choice will be yours to make.  Our best advice is to listen to your body and weigh the risks – if you chose to forgo bedrest and your baby is born early and has health problems, will you regret not taking it easier and always wonder if bedrest would have prevented some of your child’s difficulties?