Helpful ideas for someone on bedrest?

[Grenouille]

I thought there was a thread on bedrest, but I'm not finding it.

A friend is expecting twins, and will be on bedrest for the next 16 weeks (or until babies come!). She is working from home, so that keeps her busy to some extent, but I know she will need more than that!

I would welcome any suggestions on anything I can do for her. She doesn't live all that close to me, but close enough that I can go visit a few times. I'm thinking gift cards for food delivery would be good, right? And visiting and hanging out, but what about entertainment? What should I bring (besides food) when I visit?

[laura]

I would love trashy magazines and fun snacks, or even better homemade treats, assuming she doesn't have any dietary restrictions.

[boilermaker]

When you visit, bring something to do. I find it's much much easier to stay and chat for 3+ hours if we are doing something vs just sitting there staring at each other trying to have a conversation. A deck of cards, some of those humorous "which would you rather" games, something you have a hobby in.

One of my very good friends has a baby still in the NICU at 8 weeks and I go with her to the hospital at least once a week. We've been working on organizing her online pics and catching up on picture books. So it's something to do, we get to have conversations about the pics and it's easy for one of us to drive the computer while the other holds the babe.

[Twylla]

My sister just got off bedrest (placental tear that healed!!), and while I live nearby and was just over there a lot (I'm on maternity leave) to hang out and prep meals and vacume and scrub her kitchen floor, etc., I was really impressed by the creativity of some of her friends. Some ideas:
-homecooked meals, one to eat that night, and a second meal frozen
-show up with a full meal to bbq, everything prepped
-head over with everything to give her a pedicure
-flowers to make the room look pretty
-household chores are always nice to get out of the way!
-take some books/magazines/movies over
-treat her to easy snacks that don't require any prep, fresh fruit, pre-sliced cheese and whole wheat crackers, etc.

I think it's great you're thinking of her. My sister had some amazing support, but she also had a few people poo-poo the whole idea, thinking they knew better and she was being lazy to get out of work (she's a nurse, works 12 hour shifts including overnights), and also had people being rude about her hoping to be able to return to work as well. I like to think she appreciated me, lol. I made a point of prepping dinner nearly every night for both sister and BIL, and my family as well. I always got the kitchen cleaned up and dishwasher emptied/loaded. It was a little tricky since I always had the baby with me, and often had my 3 year old as well.... but DS1 got very good at vacuming and helping with laundry!