Bedrest and Book Review

It’s been a long 4 weeks of bed rest, with an ever-growing belly and doctor visits as my only (allowed) escape.  Luckily, this means I have been able to get a lot done on my resolution to read 12 books. Barely 2 months into the year, and done.  Glad to be done, since I’m not sure how much reading I’ll actually get done with 2 new babies, but at least that’s one less thing to worry about. I actually read 13, since one book was started before the year began, lest I be accused of cheating.

1. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith: This was a Christmas gift (books are a tradition in our stockings at our house) last year, and it took me over a year to actually complete it.  Started out slow, but did get a lot better. Lots of romance and some mystery, but really not my kind of book.

2. Twinsense: A book about having twins.  I’ve read a lot of these over the last 6-8 months, especially because of the bed rest.  No point in reviewing the twin books, but if any of our readers end up with twins, let me know and I’ll send reccomendations.

3. The Multiple Pregnancy Sourcebook.

4. The Money Saving Mom’s Budget by Crystal Paine.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.  With 2 periods of unemployment over the last year, I have learned a lot from the author’s blog about saving money, definitely my go-to blog. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn good ways to save money…and I do have a copy I’m willing to loan out.

5. When You’re Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads.

6. Raising Twins.

7. Expecting Twins, Triplets, and more.

8. Politically Correct Holiday Stories. I meant to read this around Christmas, but didn’t end up reading until January, (silly, I know). If you liked Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, you’ll love this.  Basically, it’s just classic Christmas stories written in a funny, trying-hard-not-to-offend kind of way.

9. Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider.  Got this as a free Kindle download from Amazon.  Not the best I’ve seen about organizing, but not bad for the price.  I’ve been way into decorative organizing this year…too bad most of our things are stuck in a storage unit until we get our own place.

10. My Grandfather’s Blessing  by Rachel Remen. A book of life stories from the perspective of a Jewish Doctor.  Some of the stories were AMAZING.  Others left a lot to be desired.  I had to plow through to the end, but there were definitely gems to be found inside.

11, 12, 13. Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay.  I read the entire series, mostly while I was in the hospital, thanks to my awesome sister-in-laws.  I hate to admit it, but these are my kind of stories; action, violence, and a bit of fantasy and romance.  Reminds me a lot of Ender’s Game. I was getting pretty sick of reading until I started this series…perked me right up and sucked me into the story. Couldn’t hardly put them down. Hoping the babies hold out until the end of the month so I can see the movie!

In other news, I’m nearly 35 weeks with the twins and feeling bigger every day, though the actually measurements vary pending the babies’ positions. Putting on socks and getting up after squatting down has become quite the challenge due to my current size. My weight has started hitting scary number…a 40 pound gain! But considering I’m growing 2 babies and can’t exercise, I can’t really complain too much. They are measuring 5 lbs, 2 oz (boy) and 5 lbs, 13 oz (girl), great sizes for twins, especially considering baby boy is so low, that they couldn’t really measure his entire head properly. These ultrasounds aren’t entirely accurate, but thinking I have 11 lbs of baby and only measuring 39 weeks is pretty mind-blowing. I even got my first stretch marks. :( 

I’ve been pretty consistently dilating  (currently at 4 cm and 90%, more than after 12 hours of labor and my water breaking with William, lol), and it won’t be long until the babies arrive. My MFM is surprised I made it this long, considering. We’re hoping for April babies to avoid NICU time. If they decide to stick around longer (which I’m totally fine with, btw), they will be induced around week 38 (April 7-ish). Not sure how I feel that we only have 3 weeks left, and even though I’ve been through this before, I’m not looking forward to the delivery part.  It has to be better than my LONG experience with their big brother, I suppose, so all this pre-term labor may actually be a plus in that respect.  Kind of crazy to think that it won’t be long until we get to see their cute little faces and become an official family of 5!