It baffles my husband that I go to CVS 4 to 5 times a week and spend on average 1 hour doing absolutely nothing.  Simply put, CVS is my happy place.  I can lose myself in the aisles, I stop by the cooler and pick out an ice cream that I eat while reading magazines, cruising the seasonal product displays, talking to the photo technicians, oh yes I lose myself in this store.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a professional shopper, I love Hermes, Nordstrom, Target, Michael’s (Harlow’s Happy Place…that’s another Blog) Whole Foods you name it, I am in some kind of retail outlet daily, but none bring me bliss, peace and a sense that I am a million miles away from my life like my beloved CVS.

Two years ago during my bed rest journey CVS became a major part of my survival.  During one of my last hospital stays which was the longest and most difficult, I fell in deeply love with CVS.  I was in the penthouse suite (the nurses fought for me to get this maternity room) corner suite, great view from a very large window, extra seating area, end of the hall, lots and lots of privacy, it was great and depressing.  Confinement of a healthy woman, a woman who is not sick, a woman who’s only physical issue is that for some reason pregnancy is difficult, is in a nutshell torture.  Day after day I would sit in my room, watching the cars go by, looking at the beautiful sky and sunny days that I couldn’t enjoy, and looking across the street at my beacon of hope, bright red letters CVS screaming  my name.  I would think about all the aisles in the store, the peanut butter filled pretzels that I loved, the endless nail polish colors that you can try on in the store, all of the candy that sits under the register and the magazines that I would read while standing in the longest lines ever, behind shoppers looking for coupons or signing up for an Extra Care Savings Card.  I would have given anything to stand in that line.  That became my dream.  I would dream about having a healthy happy newborn baby, and shopping in CVS.  It sounds simple and ridiculous to people who haven’t experienced bed rest during pregnancy.   I dreamed that I would break out of the hospital shop CVS and return with all kinds of goodies for my hospital room, without anyone ever knowing.  CVS became my happy place, my goal, I knew that I would get out of that hospital one day and my life would be “normal.”

Anytime my world gets busy, my daughter has a case of the Terrific 2′s of if I just need time to myself to think, I find solace in CVS.  I like walking in and the clerks know my name, I feel like Norm on Cheers, I love the sales on seasonal items, I love the candles that I smell over and over and never buy, I like picking up cards for my niece because she still loves to receive a piece of mail sent from Texas.  Resting Mommies have to find something that they can hold on to, and make small goals and know that once bed rest is over there is an amazing baby and life waiting for you.

- Dedicated to Resting Mommy Jessica D. expecting a beautiful daughter in October 2013, this is her 2nd bed rest pregnancy #Superwoman