Today I begin my first day of "bed rest". Jesse and I were told the news yesterday when we went in for a routine ultrasound. I'm healthy and babies are healthy, but gravity is working a little too quickly. They want me off my feet.
I thought bed rest might be in my future the moment I found out I was having twins, but I didn't expect it to be this soon, and with so little warning.
I expected that by the time I got put on bed rest, I'd feel like laying down. I imagined saran wrap around my belly and a hand rail to help me sit up.

When we got home I reclined on the couch while Jesse made me grilled cheese.
I felt like a fake.
Like a kid trying to get out of school.
Lounging, feeling totally fine, while asking Jesse to get me a refill on my water.
Until hour two came around.
At which point I actually did start to feel achey and painey.
My back started getting wonky and every time I sat up I'd let out a little groan. I suppose I'd been told I was fragile, and my brain was responding accordingly.
By hour four, the novelty was over.
I'd crane my head around just to look at Jesse, like a muzzled puppy. Not really saying "help", just saying "hrumph".
When bed time came around I went up, and turned off the light without ceremony; completely without use for my customary unwinding ritual of reading or television.

Today it drizzles. I kick back on the couch enveloped in my pregnant things. My prenatal vitamins, and calenders, and lists of questions to ask my benefits coordinator.
I wonder if this inactivity will turn me in to Jaba the Hut by the time it's over. I wonder if it would really hurt to do the dishes for ten minutes or take a walk. Most of all, I wonder if I'd even want to do those things had I not been mandated to abstain from them.

On the bright side, I think I'll have Jesse's scarf finished for Valentine's Day, and I can start back up with my Rosetta Stone Italian program.
On the even brighter side, I thought I heard a baby call to me from upstairs while I was on the couch last night.
In three to four months that will be real.
And I wont be bothered with finding meaningless distractions for a long, long time.