Sidelines is a National High Risk Pregnancy Support Network.

I first heard about Sidelines by reading an article in a women’s magazine that featured the organization about two years ago. Having been through two high risk pregnancies myself, I was immediately intrigued.

Sidelines is a national non profit organization that provides support for expectant mothers in high risk families and their families. They typically serve patients who have been ordered on bed rest by setting them up with a partner who has been through her own high risk pregnancy for support.

Description from their website:

We realize that pregnancy complications affect more than just your back and joints. You may experience depression, anxiety, hostility, loneliness/isolation, boredom, and guilt! We know all about that and genuinely care about what you are going through. Our desire for you is to have the best possible outcome with your pregnancy, to be well informed about pregnancy complications, and to feel supported and encouraged in your time of need. Our trained volunteers know first hand what it means to be sidelined, and want to "give something back" to other high-risk moms. We provide email and phone support to any mom that requests it and have supported over 75,000 families since 1991.

Sidelines was founded in 1991 by two mothers who experienced high risk pregnancies and knew what the solitude of bed rest was like. All of the Sidelines volunteers go through a training process. They currently have volunteers from each of the United States and boast a network of over 3,500 volunteers.

The Sidelines website is pretty neat too! They have some great articles http://www.sidelines.org/articles/ to read along with tips on how to survive bed rest.

If you are experiencing a high risk pregnancy and could use support from someone who has “been there, done that” check out Sidelines!