Reviewer: Lori Graham
Title: Bed Rest
Author: Sarah Bilston
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0-06-088993-4
Release Date: May 2006
Genre/Sub-genre: General/Contemporary Fiction
Year/Setting: Current/New York
Overall Rating: 4.75 (see below)
Sexual Content Rating: None
Language (Profanity) Rating: None
Violence Rating: None
Sarah's Page:
sarahbilston.typepad.com/
Quinn "Q" Boothroyd is truly an upwardly, mobile, young woman. She works at a prestige law firm in central New York City with her own office and secretary. She has a great apartment and a husband, also a lawyer – Tom, who is an upcoming lawyer (up for partnership) with one of THE best law firms. She is doing everything a woman should do before she hits 30 – get a good job, marry handsome man – also with good job, have healthy bank account, and now get pregnant. Everything is going according to schedule.
She is 26 weeks pregnant and going in for her normal OB visit. Even there she got a great doctor only 11 blocks from her office and she is feeling huge. Yes it is hard to be huge but all in all everything is going fine. That is until the doctor actually sees her. Q is sent for an ultrasound – still no worries. Tech says amniotic fluid is low – now just how bad can that be – Q will just meet with the doctor and see how to make more. Imagine her surprise when she is told there is not quick remedy and if she wants any chance of going to term she needs to go on complete (and I do mean complete) bed rest.
So, that didn’t go according to plan but hey being on bed rest can’t be all bad. After all, enforced rest after living an incredibly hectic life style what can be hard about that. Hence the diary account begins in Q’s life because by day two it becomes quite clear enforced bed rest isn’t all it is cracked up to be. Any visitor now becomes a lifeline including people who are tough to get along with. For those who do visit, Q’s desperation leads to her finding out all sorts of interesting things about these people and getting immersed in their lives.
Bed Rest is a love story quite frankly between a mother and unborn child. Q is determined that her child will come at a normal time but only starts to understand during this "down" time just how much she wants this. She also discovers other things about her life that aren’t quite what she thought. For example, most of her friends are work friends and they don’t visit you much when you are down. A woman she had rather discounted, however, really comes through for her. Q even found a way to use her law background to help her neighbors without ever leaving the comfort of her couch (charging just a few sweets – okay maybe more than a few) 
Secondly, Bed Rest is a love story between a husband and a wife. With their busy careers, somewhere along the way they had really lost touch with the marriage. That doesn’t become evident until this trial they have been given. However, sometimes we are given situations to make us wake up and realize just what we have.
I would like to a take a moment to explain the rating I have given it – 4.75. If you are newly or recently pregnant, or have ever been pregnant, this book will hit you right where you live. There are times you will chuckle out loud and nod your head, thinking I remember that. There are also times you will get a bit nostalgic for what was. If you haven’t been pregnant but have someone in your life that is, Sarah Bilston offers an interesting perspective and could give you just a touch of enlightenment. However, if you have no interest in pregnancy, this is probably not a book you will enjoy at all. All of the characters and scenes revolve naturally around Q – after all it is her diary. (Makes me wish I had been faithful with mine while I was pregnant!)
Lori
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