READING WRAP-UP FOR FEBRUARY, MARCH, AND APRIL (& LIFE AFTER BABY #2)

Hi readers! I'm back after maternity leave (plus some) and I have a LOT to fill you in on - both in my personal life and my reading life. I'm going to provide a quick reading wrap-up for February, March, and April for those who are here for bookish updates (all of which are short and sweet because life was crazy and heavy reading wasn't in the cards), and a quick-ish life update for those who care about that sort of thing.

If you aren't interested in or could possibly be triggered by childbirth and trauma associated with it, please skip over the last part of this post!

READING WRAP-UPS (FEB-APR)

FEBRUARY 2025

• The Crash by Freida McFadden - 3 stars (Audiobook)

  Check out my full in-depth review here

  • PROS: Less forced ending than most McFadden books, enjoyed the FMC, popcorn POVs, unexpected twist, unique plot, easy to read

  • CONS: Longer than it needed to be, lull in the middle, nothing special

• Wizard of Most Wicked Ways (ARC) by Charlie N. Holmberg - 4.75 stars (Physical Book)

  Check out my Goodreads review here

  • PROS: Cozy fantasy, love this cast of characters, also love this setting, liked getting Owein's POV, great pacing, unique magic system

  • CONS: No cons, but still loved the OG Keeper of Enchanted Rooms the best :)

• Rage and Ruin by Jennifer Armentrout - 3 stars (Audiobook)

  Check out my Goodreads review here

  • PROS: I like the side cast and the love interest, pretty decent magic system, pacing was good

  • CONS: Cringey dialogue, soooo tired of "winter mint," not feeling the chemistry anymore, need more from a fantasy

• Funny Story by Emily Henry - 5 stars (Physical Book)

  Check out my Goodreads review here

  • PROS: Great chemistry, amazing banter, good pacing, perfect palate-cleanser romance with so many cute moments

  • CONS: None! :)

• The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley - 4 stars (Audiobook)

  Check out my Goodreads review here

  • PROS: Unique and suspenseful setting, good pacing, unexpected ending, good character building

  • CONS: Confusing at first with all of the characters being introduced at once

• The Deep End by Ali Hazelwood - 3.75 stars (Physical Book)

  Check out my full in-depth review here

  • PROS: Liked the diver/swimmer dynamic and setting, enjoyed the STEM aspect

  • CONS: Needed more chemistry, disliked Pen's character, disappointed in the spice for the hype level

• Grace and Glory by Jennifer Armentrout - 3.5 stars (Audiobook)

  • PROS: Wrapped up the series well

  • CONS: Lost interest in the series and this didn't bring any back

MARCH 2025

• Starling House by Alix E. Harrow - 3.5 stars (Physical Book)

   Check out my Goodreads review here

  • PROS: Unique setting and magic system/world, interesting plot, unexpected love story

  • CONS: Took a while to read, a lot of negativity in one book (gothic, I know, I know)

• Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune - 5 stars (Audiobook)

  • PROS: Cozy fantasy, love the cast so much, great symbolism, and a wonderful message written in an easy-to-understand way, wholesome ending

  • CONS: No cons! :)

APRIL 2025

• Quicksilver by Callie Hart - 4.5 stars (Audiobook)

  • PROS: Liked the love story, enjoyed the magic system and plot, pacing was good, and liked the characters - audiobook was GREAT

  • CONS: Everything went a little fast, including the romance, but it was still great!

LIFE UPDATE - BABY #2, RECOVERY, GETTING BACK INTO THE SWING OF THINGS

So as you can see, February looked promising in the world of reading, but all things came to an unexpected halt with the birth of my baby boy on March 14th. I was able to sneak in the audiobook of Somewhere Beyond the Sea, and I finished up reading Starling House before I went into labor late March 13th. By 3:30 on the 14th, my son was born, and I was recovering. That's where the update should end, but unfortunately, there's more to the story, so I'll give you all a quick run-down of things for the sole reason of bringing awareness and the hope of providing solidarity to anyone else who went through something similar. As I stated above, please don't feel obligated to read this if reading about a traumatic labor recovery isn't something you want to indulge in.

During labor, I opted for an epidural after I was started on Pitocin to speed up natural birth once it was clear that things weren't progressing as fast as everyone wished. The administration of the epidural took 3 tries and about 20 minutes. Once they got everything in place, they administered a test dose of medication, which caused my blood pressure to plummet. Thankfully, the team was on top of things and got me back to normal, however because of my initial reaction, they weren't comfortable giving me a full dose of medication through my epidural. So, labor went on with my pain medication at a 1 out of 10. I was able to reach a 6 out of 10 before the actual birth, but I did most of the labor without much help.

Birth was fine with no complications and the midwife and my nurses were great. Recovery started out good, however I was having a hard time bouncing back from the epidural, though at the time I was not aware that it was an epidural issue. I noticed I was having a hard time moving my head from side to side, lifting my arms and sitting up in bed without pain in my back, neck and head. I mentioned this to my nurse, who called anesthesiology because she assumed it was an issue from my epidural given the back pain. The anesthesiologist dismissed my concerns, blaming my pain on strain from birth. Defeated, I just crossed my fingers in the hopes that it would heal as my epidural wore off and I headed home upon discharge.

Unfortunately, it didn't get better, but got worse. By day 2 at home, I couldn't move my head from side to side at all, I was slurring my speech, I couldn't walk without assistance, I couldn't hold my son for more than 5 minutes and I was losing my vision. I had been doing research in the meantime regarding my symptoms and came to the conclusion that spinal fluid was leaking out of the dural puncture from my epidural administration. I called my OB, who diagnosed me with a CSF leak due to a dural puncture. She prescribed me a high-powered headache medication and told me that if it didn't work to head into the ER for a blood patch procedure.

So... the meds didn't work. I headed over to the ER to start an almost 10 hour visit and get the blood patch procedure done. This procedure (trigger warning) - is done by placing another epidural and then taking blood from my arm and injecting it into the epidural site, to essentially fill the area where my spinal fluid had leaked to create a clot in the puncture site until my body can heal on it's own. This was supposed to be a 20 minute procedure, but ended up taking over an hour because my veins were so collapsed from lack of hydration. They finally found a vein with an ultrasound, completed the procedure, and thankfully I felt instant relief in my head and neck.

Not so thankfully, the relief hasn't been complete. I am still struggling with some residual effects that unfortunately are looking to be permanent. For starters, my back is in pain constantly. I have a hard time going from a sitting or slouching position to standing smoothly and often get stuck hunched over like a 90 year old for awhile. I also have quite a bit of pressure in my head when standing or changing positions. My headaches are more frequent, I still have episodes of extreme brain fog and I have less control over my fine motor skills. My OB has referred me to a physical therapist and a neurologist to hopefully gain some relief from these symptoms.

So.. now we wait and hope. I feel 1000% better than I did a day after I gave birth, but I still am not myself. I can't twist or lift or bend without consequence and I'm hoping that goes away. I want to be able to play with my kids without dreading how much pain or discomfort it will bring me. That all being said, I haven't focused on reading much over the past few months. I just started back up at my part time job at the library and I am loving the opportunity to be around people that aren't pint-sized and share my love of books again. I am slowly allowing myself to prioritize reading again, starting with an audiobook here and there or a few pages of a kindle book while I feed my son.

Hopefully you all will check in a few months and see a huge monthly wrap-up, but until then I hope you enjoyed this quick little snapshot of the past few months and life update. I'll continue to update readers as long as they want to know the goings on of my life, so let me know if this is something that you want to know about or not. As always, thank you for sticking by me while I navigate life and it's obstacles.