Many of the mothers you talk with will advise that you’ll hate it when you have to relax all the time and stay in bed when you’re pregnant. Depending on which doctor you ask, bed rest may be interpreted as just getting off your feet for a couple of hours each day or by spending nearly half your life stuck under the covers. Bed rest is recommended by doctors for about one out of of every five pregnancies in the U.S. In recent years, many physicians have been moving away from recommending strict bed rest, and instead mention it only as a last resort. Two of the leading obstetric and fetal care organizations don’t even recommend traditional bed rest at all, but instead claim that bed rest doesn’t help prevent or treat pregnancy complications. However, your healthcare provider may still recommend that you slow down with your usual activities, not only to protect yourself from possible injury but also to protect your newborn baby. Some practitioners might ask you to shorten your workday, especially after you’ve reached your third trimester. Or they might ask you to mark your daily calendar to schedule regular specific rest times, and restrict activities that might overly exert your body, such as strenuous exercise, climbing stairs or even standing or walking for an extended period of time. Extended inactivity, however, may lead to added hip and back pain, skin irritation, bone loss, muscle atrophy and even blood clots. It can also make many of the normal symptoms of pregnancy worse, such as constipation, heartburn or leg swelling. You might even be diagnosed with gestational diabetes, because your leisure state doesn’t allow your body to effectively break down glucose properly. Staying in bed also has the tendency of decreasing your appetite and, at the same time, causing you to lose weight. Because of this, your new baby may have a lower birth weight since when you have no appetite and don’t get enough to eat, neither does your baby. So, when you’re pregnant and staying at home, ask your healthcare provider how much bed rest you should take and follow his or her instructions. And, even though nobody in their right mind really wants to stay at home, there may be a few things about staying there that you’ll like, and these may be things that will be beneficial to both you and your new baby.