Sidelines

Me with my two best bed rest friends

When we hired Puja, the woman who blessed Cole back in September, we agreed to make a donation to a children's charity. Being the busy (and procrastinating) Mama that I am, I finally got around to making that donation this week. When I was first thinking about a possible children't charity, I thought I should make a donation to March of Dimes because of my fight with pre-term labor. But then I realized that the organization that helped me the most during my pregnancy was Sidelines. As many of you know I was on strict bed rest for 3 months during my pregnancy. My contractions began in mid-January and didn't let up until the night of May 27, when Cole was born. I had never before been on any form of bed rest before that, so staying horizontal for 3 months and change was hard for me. More challenging was my loss of a social life and a normal pregnancy. Bed rest was scary and lonely. Sidelines hooked me up with a volunteer, a woman who had experienced pre-term labor with her children and had also been on bed rest. She was from Utah and her regular emails checking up on me and sharing bits and pieces of her life were a breath of a fresh air. It was nice to be in contact with someone who had been through what I was going through. Through the Sidelines discussion boards, I also met Mommy A. She turned out to be a fellow blogger and together - through our pregnancy blogs - we'd cheer each other on.  Because of Sidelines I was able to connect with other women who knew exactly how I felt lying in my house unable to move for fear my baby would come too early. Because of Sidelines I no longer found myself alone. So, thank you, Sidelines.