So... that happened...

To say this week hasn't gone as planned is an understatement. My scheduled induction turned into a c-section when Baby flipped around and went breach with the cord wrapped around her neck. My scheduled departure on Friday afternoon was pushed back to Saturday, and then pushed back to Sunday when Baby suddenly lost one too many ounces. And that whole idea of getting to sleep the night before I left for home? Yeah... that's not happening at all.

This is what we call Real Life. The completely unplannable, worst-case scenario version that means rescheduling and readjusting your plans for the foreseeable future.

Stuck in the hospital torn between crying in frustration and giving in to the crazy and watching something on MTV (one of the few stations the TV here gets... in our hurry out the door the DVDs came with us but the laptop stayed at home until Friday night) I've been reading. Good fiction is better than drugs.

I'm sitting here, stressed out, panicking, in pain and I found myself joyfully sucked in to the world of Miles Vorkosigan as I reread YOUNG MILES by Louis McMaster Bujold. There's something about watching Miles' crazy mis-adventures that I find soothing. Maybe it's just the idea of Forward Momentum, when everything is teetering on the edge of certain failure you just keep running forward on the lip of the catastrophe curve.

Before I started in on my reread I finished the latest book in the CHRONICLES OF ELANTRA series - CAST IN RUIN - by Michelle Sagara. It's a down to earth high fantasy that caught my eye only because it is so different than the standard epic fantasy. With a few word changes the Chronicles could easily get shelved with sci-fi. You have to love a series that manages to have more than the standard fantasy stock characters of trolls, elves, and dwarves. And, you know, as stressed as I was during the emotional drama of Wednesday, I had no trouble being swept away into another world.

That's the magic of fiction, and genre writing in particular. A book isn't just a distraction, or a way to fall asleep at night (and if you ever say that you use my book as a sleep aid I will cry for hours - I really will!). A good book takes you to another world. It lets you ask all the what-ifs and experience all the adventures from the where you're sitting.

A good book gives you a new perspective. This week, I had days where I desperately needed a new perspective. I just needed to get my mind off my stress. The situation was out of my control and my mind was stuck in panic mode. I needed a reset, and yoga was definitely out of the question. A few good books did more for my blood pressure and panic than any medicine down in the pharmacy. That's a clinical statement, by the way, we tried a long list of medicines trying to calm me down Wednesday night and I now have a long list of medicines that don't work on me.

So that's where I'm at, buried under twelve thin blankets in a hospital room on the Gulf Coast with a tiny newborn girl sleeping on my chest. At 6 pounds 11 ounces she's my second biggest baby, and she's still in preemie clothes. And... she's waking up looking for her next meal. I'm going to go feed my baby and read another book. :o)
- Liana

The newest addition to the Brooks Clan. She needs an online nickname still, so drop some suggestions in the comment box.