Bed Rest

Six months into my first pregnancy, I went into premature labor and was placed on strict bed rest by my doctor for the remainder of the nine months. Reflecting back, I can’t think of anything I’d rather have than three months to lie in bed, but at the time, it was one of the hardest things for me to do. I had to leave my job at the Center for Creative Photography, I couldn’t work on any of my artwork since that required me to be up and moving, I had to cancel my baby shower, I’ve never liked relying on other people to help me do anything, the longest amount of time I had ever spent at any place I called my “home” was to sleep, and to top it all off, the only thing I had ready for the baby was a crib and bassinet. I had a lot of time alone to spend staring at those two objects. I remember thinking to myself I was already starting out this parent thing on the wrong foot. So I did the only thing I knew best to do while keeping in the perimeters of “Bed Rest.” I made photographs of the experience from my perspective. After my daughter was born, I felt it fitting to make images of the minimal aspects of what I had ready for her to come home to. In hindsight, she had me, and I now had her, and I soon realized everything else would fall into place all in good time.