Woman Makes It Her Mission To Help Moms-To-Be Through Isolating Experience Of Bed Rest
THOUSAND OAKS (CBSLA.com) — When Stacey Rioux was only five months pregnant with her twin girls, she went to a routine doctor's visit and learned she was already in early labor.
"You have to look at their perfect little heartbeats and hear how well they are growing and know that your body is the one that is not holding up your end of the bargain," said Rioux, who was told to go home and wait.
Her babies wouldn't be viable for at least another month. Desperate for hope, she reached out to Jessica Fisher, a life coach who specializes in helping pregnant women on bed rest.
Fisher told her to immediately go to UCLA Santa Monica for a second opinion. There, she was put on hospital bed rest. Seven weeks later, she delivered her tiny, but healthy baby girls.
"I remember saying 'I need an unlikely miracle' and talking to Jessica was that miracle that I needed," she said.
Fisher never intended to be a life coach but her life took an unexpected turn when she too went into early labor with her twins and ended up on hospital bed rest at UCLA.
"I was on bed rest for four months so I was there 122 days," said Fisher, who while confined to a hospital bed started a Facebook page for moms on bed rest.
She then successfully lobbied the hospital to form a support group so moms-to-be could actually meet face-to-face. She says those who aren't on bed rest just can't relate to the isolation and anxiety.
"That was the feedback I was getting from my friends and family, 'Oh my gosh, you're on vacation. This is so great. How lucky you are.' And I'm thinking, 'Lucky? If I sneeze wrong I could ruin this,' " she said.
When Fisher left with her twins, she decided to start a business, bedrestlifecoach.com, where she offers an online support group and personal coaching services.
"My goal is to eliminate the stress that they are feeling, eliminate the worry, the anxiety and re-shift their focus so that they're really just focusing on what's really important, you know, the prize at the end," she said.
Her services don't stop once the babies are home from the hospital. She also offers postpartum coaching so moms can make the difficult transition from the hospital to the home.