Book 2: Multiple Blessings by Jon and Kate Gosselin

I have never been that girly girl who dreamed of her wedding day. Likewise, I've never had any sort of maternal desires. At all. The thought of having a kid fills me simultaneously with fear and disgust. It's just not for me. So reading this book was like a glimpse into another world... one where it's all babies, all the time.

Multiple Blessings lists both Jon & Kate Gosselin as the authors, but the book is told entirely from Kate's POV. It's the story of how Kate grew up wanting children, got married, had two kids, then decided to try for just one more and got 6 instead. Having seen their TLC show, and knowing all about their recent troubles thanks to their non-stop media blitz, I was fairly familiar with most of their story, but the book sheds some light on how difficult it was for Kate to get pregnant. It also refers to Kate's unwavering faith in God to pull her through her difficult pregnancies.

The book doesn't contain too many surprises, given that the Gosselins are a very public family thanks to their TLC show and recent media blitz. But I did learn a few things. Kate is one of those Christians who believes that God has a plan for everyone, and she refers to it repeatedly throughout the book. I knew that the Gosselins had turned to infertility treatments to help them conceive, but I didn't know that she had Polycyctic Ovarian Syndrome, which meant that she never ovulated... ever. Now, a more cynical person than I would interject at this point, "Perhaps that was her God's way of telling her she's not supposed to have kids?" But luckily I'm not that cynical.

Also, Kate underwent all sorts of medical procedures and endured a lot of problems during her second pregancy... probably because the human body is not meant to carry 6 fetuses at one time. Her complete disregard for her own health is a little disturbing - she describes being obsessed with providing for her babies in the womb, but what of her other children? If she had died from complications while pregnant, she would've left behind two little girls - if she had died after childbirth she would've had 8 children who would've had to grow up without a mother. Her singlemindedness was astounding. Her doctor even encouraged her to use selective reduction, and reduce the amount of fetuses to a more viable number, but she and Jon wouldn't hear it. And yet... she mentions praying that her God would reduce the number for her. Whether God or the doctor does it, it's still eliminating a fetus... but if her God did it, she wouldn't feel any guilt.

But my opinions aside, this was a really easy read. I did find myself looking for clues to explain the implosion of their marriage, but the book doesn't really go much deeper than discussing her pregnancies and the first few years of the sextuplets. I suppose I'll have to read her next book (is there one? I'm sure there's one in the works at the very least) if I really want to know.

I don't think I do.