Weeks 19 and 20 and Moving

Since the past two weeks have been nothing but normal, I am gonna skip my normal format and just chat.

I was a little too busy for blogging, and I also didn't have internet until a day ago, so even if I had typed you wouldn't have seen it till now anyway.

I was also a little too busy to "be pregnant."  Well, obviously I can't really help but be pregnant, but I just didn't have the time to feel pregnant or think about anything to do with having a baby, other than the random occasional stressor that would pop into my mind in the midst of packing boxes---which I am sure was just happening to try and see if Lydia was going to crack.

So my pregnant thoughts were as follows:



"WHY WHY WHY did I gain 2 lbs this last week?  Oh my gosh I'm gonna gain 50 more pounds before this baby comes out!  And the baby is gonna be 30 pounds of that!!  And I'm gonna be huge and gross for 14 months postpartum!"
Then it occurred to me that perhaps I don't have the mental capacity to process pregnancy weight gain at the moment, seeing as how I'm trying to move to another state and not lose my mind in that regard.  So maybe I should cut myself some slack in the way of not feeling mad at myself for feeling upset over an extra pound (because, you see, not only was I freaking out, I was upset that I was freaking out).  So I just said, "Well a pound is a pound, I will eat chicken and green beans for every meal in Iowa, and start working out, and if I gain 50 more pounds, then well that's just what happens---time to put it out of your mind and pack those boxes!"

Flash forward:
I arrive in Iowa, after having the WORST week of eating during this pregnancy, particularly the day we left (which included me eating nothing but: cookies---like 6 of them as my breakfast/lunch---and McDonald's, and  ice cream after dinner---because that's what was available to me in the midst of the craziness, and well I didn't have to have ice cream, but how was I going to pass that up on the craziest day of my life?).  And I can't find the scale for a couple days, so I'm starting to think "Oh man I'm gonna get on there and weigh 5 more pounds, there is no way around it, just be prepared for it.  Don't freak out!  Don't freak out!"  I finally get on the scale and low and behold I was actually down 2 lbs!  Down two pounds after eating cookies and frozen pizza and McDonald's.  Oh God does love me!  (okay over-dramatic!  But seriously.)  So perhaps I was stressed-out-bloated the week I thought I gained too much.  I don't know.  All I know is I was thrilled to be back on track with where I wanted to be in the pregnancy.  And I won't be eating more cookies (even though they are apparently weight loss food) for a long while.

I also had a nice belly moment at one point during the craziness, because I was given a gift card for my birthday (by my momma) to Kohl's, and I majorly scored in the clearance department!  I needed some new bras (I treat mine terribly now that I've lived through thrush---washing them ruthlessly after every wearing and always putting them in the dyer since I don't have time to wait around.  So mine were starting to decay.) Sooo...I bought seven bras and spent $38!  Umm, is that not amazing!?  Yes, yes it is.  Some of them will most likely be sleep nursing bras because they are just kinda stretchy not-so-formed ones, but they were $2!  Amazing!  I also got two that should be perfect for me at the end of pregnancy (assuming my belly does the same thing as last time---because last time around, I couldn't wear anything but sports bras for like the last month because my belly got so close to my boobs there was no space in there for a bra band) since they are kinda like a sports bra band, with a nicer cup.  So yay!
ANYWAY, I had a nice moment trying them on, and seeing my belly in the mirror and having the moment where I grasp, "oh yeah...I'm not fat, I have a baby inside. Oh my gosh I'm having a baby!"

Other than that, the only moment where pregnancy came into play was when we were getting the last bit of stuff into the truck, and I was just moving some of it (nothing too heavy, don't yell at me) outside for Blake, and all of a sudden I felt PREGNANT.  Like winded and tired and unable to do another darn thing.  Now, perhaps that wasn't pregnancy, and merely the effects of packing up a whole house in a week, going to my husband's PhD defense, doing the last minute crib dismantle and then carrying like 50 (not heavy) things out of the house.  But yeah, I finally had to sit down and let Blake do the rest.  I was just done.  (Except I wasn't really done because I needed to drive me and J to our new house 6 hours away still.)


So yes, the rest of my life (let's see how much I can even remember from this blur!)(and I think I blogged a bit of this before, but just deal with me):
On Monday a friend came and helped me pack up my kitchen.  This was most certainly a HUGE blessing for me.  Because I didn't know where to start or how to do anything (never moved a whole house at once before in my life)!  So her help really got me going on the rest of the job.  If she hadn't come over, I think I would have just walked around in circles for a week, and nothing would be in any boxes.
After that I can't remember exactly what happened.  Only that another good friend came over and helped/took J for a bit here and there so we could pack/clean for one house viewing.  And she also kindly took me out for my birthday.  Which was really nice since Blake had to be away starting his new job on that day.  And so she made me happy/sad because I didn't want to think about moving!
Also my mom came down and helped me pack and watch J while I packed (and had one mental breakdown where I called Blake and cried about moving and also my girly "gained two pounds" insanity).
 My mom also took me out for dinner for my birthday. We went to Destihl, in Champaign. It was really delicious, and we had a really great waiter. I wished I had tried the restaurant before we were moving!

Then Saturday we had a perfect amount of friends come over and get our stuff into the moving van.  Wow I can't say thank you enough!  I don't know how we would have done it with out them.  They even packed up a lot of my odds and ends that I just didn't know how to get to that week.  They were amazing!

That night some other friends brought us dinner, which was awesome of them since we were now living in an empty house for 2 more days and had no way to cook.  And it was delicious, and thoughtfully healthy!  :)

Then we had to run J to convenient care because she kept acting funny so I thought she had a bladder infection.  I wanted to make sure to take care of that before we moved, since I wouldn't know any doctors in Iowa yet.  Turns out she didn't have one.  Thank goodness.  But we lived through yet one more stressor in the midst of the craziness.  We were told they would have to catheter her to test her.  I was SOOO not wanting her to have that done, but of course said "okay" since I wanted to make sure she would be healthy.  So I helped hold her down and talked to her in hear ear as she screamed like crazy.  I didn't know what was going on, I just tried to make her stay calm.  Well turns out she was just screaming because she was nervous, and apparently she got so nervous she actually started peeing, and somehow shot it out (basically boy style) so that the nurse was able to just catch it in the cup!  Seriously, I think Jesus squeezed her bladder just so we would be able to make it through our crazy week unscathed!  It was awesome!

Sunday our friends skipped church just to come over and help us clean up the house!  So kind!

Monday morning at 8 am, Blake defended his PhD dissertation.  (Our friends watched J one last time so I could go see him do his work!)  We brought pastries and cookies for the professors and "the public" who came to view it.  (I say "the public" because that's what the professor called them officially, but it was mainly just Blake's coworkers and I.) (So basically, I had to eat SUGAR, because I didn't want to make a fuss and somehow make Blake late to this HUGE IMPORTANT life changing event.)
Anyway... Blake did awesome.  He said he was feeling some nerves on the way there, but he did so good.  I started feeling really nervous for him about halfway through his 45 min talk because I didn't realize it was normal and okay for the professors to ask him questions during it, and I was worried something was wrong.  (You see, I honestly didn't understand a word of what was being said.  I spent most of the 45 mins just amazed that there was a room full of people who knew what was happening.  And also at God for making stuff so intricately that we need to study it so in depth to even fathom it.  And for making us all so different in the ways we think and what interests us.  It's pretty awesome.)
Then they excused "the public" for a question time for Blake.  (I used this time to go buy diapers, since we only had three left, and I wasn't sure that would get us to Iowa.  I had been trying to save space and wait.)  Then they excused Blake for a discussion time amongst themselves.  I met back up with Blake at the end of that point.  And I was there to see them open the door and hear them say "Congratulations!"
I almost burst into a weeping festival right there and then.  I've never felt something like that.  I imagine it's something similar to winning the biggest loser or some other sort of amazing feat, which is kinda crazy, because I wasn't the one who worked so hard for it, Blake was.  But I was so proud of him.  And I had pulled for him for so long, the sensation was overwhelming to think he had completed it!
I had to pull it together so the professors didn't think "oh great we have a crazy pregnant lady on our hands," and I was able to wipe the wetness from my eyes without anyone really noticing.

Well that was short-lived, because now we had to go pack up the last, last minute things and MOVE!

Well first I had to go pick up J from our friends' house and try to not weep there, saying goodbye to my good friends!

THEN we packed up our stuff.
The moving truck was basically FULL, so getting the last things in was a challenge to our brains and our weary hearts.  But we did it!  We got everything in.
It took us way longer than we thought, but we hit the road around 3 pm (had originally planned to leave at 11 am).
J had already taken her nap, so I thought the trip would suck.  But she must have been as tired as we were because she took a second nap (that never happens!) so that made the drive to Blake's parents' house not so hard.
We made a pit stop at their house to pick them up and have them help us move in.  And also to have dinner.
So Blake's mom rode in the car with us and helped entertain J the rest of the 4 hours to Iowa.  She was wide awake the whole time!  Eek!
It was about 11 pm when we got here so we got a hotel room, cause we would never had been able to unpack enough to sleep.  J didn't do the best job sleeping, the day was too crazy.  So I was exhausted.

In the morning we ate our continental breakfast (new baby was starving!).
And then we drove the 6 minutes over to our house and started to move in.
My pregnant self stayed in the house with J and watched Blake and his parents bring in all our earthly goods!  What a lot of work!
The house was full of boxes.  But we got the bed and crib set up.  And much of the kitchen was unpacked.   So life was good.
Blake's parents needed to leave after lunch.  So then it was just us, in Iowa.  Here we were.

Unpacking the house wasn't as bad as I thought, although I'm afraid J is now a movie fiend after all the movies she's been watching so I can get things done.

At this point, the house is pretty much done except for the spare room, and hanging pictures up and such.  And we still need a couch.  (I'll have to do another post on my fun furniture finds.)

Life is just starting to slow down for me, but even in the midst of unpacking, life has already felt a lot more stable here in Iowa.  It's so nice having Blake around more often, as he basically gets to work 9--5 now! It's awesome.

So that's the news.
Phew!  That exhusted me just thinking about it, to type it out!
I will be stashing those memories away for now, and getting on with the more calm state my life is in now.
Sigh.

I'll post photos soon!
Tuesday I'll be 21 weeks.  So you will be getting Weeks 20 and 21!
Woohoo!