Writing to High Risk Moms

mamakculb

Hi Ladies,

While I am expecting and a member of thebump.com, I am not a high risk pregnancy patient. I am however very active in my women's ministry at my church and soon we have a women's retreat coming up, and every year we do a service project. I am in charge of that service project this year, and I am wanting to write to women who are inpatients at a local hospital.

I've already contacted the hospital to ask about it and find out what kind of women they have there, and of course I hear about breast cancer patients, but then she tells me about high risk OB patients who can be staying at the hospital for up to 3 months before they give birth. I feel so bad, as I did not realize they had so many ladies who were spending their last few months in the hospital! 

In short, I am wanting to do our service project to write to breast cancer patients, as well as these high risk moms. There is a myriad of information on writing to cancer patients, but not to these moms, who I'm sure are in need of the same kind of support from other women. I am asking you ladies who are going through, or have gone through, a high risk pregnancy to share some ideas or guidelines of what you think our letters should be like. What things helped encourage you through this stressful time? What did you look to for strength? Any special stories of women who were supportive to you during this time? 

We will be writing to the women collectively, as they cannot release specific patient names or details, but we would still like to address their situation and offer love and encouragement through these letters. Any help is appreciated. Thank you! 

kaelarose13

What a nice thought! I was high risk in my last pregnancy and will likely be high risk again in this pregnancy. I had gestational diabetes and then developed pre-ecclampsia which resulted in an 8 day hospital stay before an induction and ultimately a c-section. Fortunately for me, I delivered a perfectly health (but small) baby girl who is now the light of my life. What was most encouraging to me was to hear reminders that I was in the best, safest place for me and my unborn child. I had a lot of pain also since I was on very strict bedrest and had to be on my side at all times (those hospitals beds aren't comfortable!!) I would imagine most women in the hospital are also quite uncomfortable physically, so maybe addressing that would be something to think about.

I'm not sure if you're looking to add any small gifts with the letters as well but something I found really nice was when a friend visited me and brought some magazines, chapstick (life saver!!) and some face wash clothes (since I couldn't get up to shower).  

I also might have found personal stories related to persevering through difficult pregnancies to be uplifting.

Hope some of that info. is helpful to you!