20+ weeks

I made it past the halfway mark sometime last week and didn't even celebrate. I cheated myself out of a good time. 20 weeks come and gone. Sigh.

They say at this point in the pregnancy, I should be feeling full of energy and bursting with activity. I'm starting to burst a little, so to speak, but mainly I've been so on-the-go that I haven't even noticed if I have energy or not. I guess that means I have energy?

Today, however, was a day where I actually could feel the energy in my veins. The sun was out and it was uncharacteristically warm, and I got so many things accomplished. Everything managed to fall into place, or almost everything:

First, I think I have a renter to take over my lease for next month, an issue which was causing me a bit of stress. I'm relieved that this might work out -- I have been showing the apartment to people regularly over the last week, and although most of them were interested in the place, there were several that I wouldn't have felt right about sending along to my landlord. Two of them were just downright rude, and one of them was sort of spooky. But I found a few good contenders, one of whom the landlord has "pre-selected" to meet with tomorrow, so hopefully all is good in that arena. But it's amazing how exhausting it can be to show your apartment to strangers several times over the course of a week.

Second, I have begun the gradual and painful process of breaking up with my books. I recognize that most books serve no purpose other than to sit on my shelves, but it was so sad to take them all to the second-hand shop and bid them farewell. Today's drop-off was only 1/4 of what I am getting rid of, but it was the heftiest chunk and the most emotional one by far. When the two nice men at the shop forked over the measly 90 euros (hey, you take what you can get, but ouch) they gave me for the piles I had placed on their table, I said, "I'm just letting you know this is sort of painful. But it needs to be done. They'll go to a good place, right?" They laughed and then told me the story of a woman who once cried for half an hour at their register when she sold them her collection of modern first editions. So I'm not crazy, in other words. I think.

Third, I finally took care of the monthly blood work/urine sample that was prescribed to me last week. Yes, I have been putting it off and putting it off. Finally, I knew I just had to go and do it today, or it would never get done. In the US, they really give you a mammoth cup to pee in compared to the little rinky-dink vials they provide here. I think I have pretty good aim but this is just ridiculous. Plus, at this point in the pregnancy, as soon as I drink something, I usually have to pee 10 mins later. Without thinking, I peed before leaving the house to go to the lab, and then of course they whisked me off to the ladies' as soon as I got there. So every drop counted in the dribble I managed to convince myself of producing. They could really take that sort of thing into consideration and give me more than a 2-cm circle to work with. Plus, after you finish peeing, you just leave the vial on a shelf in the bathroom, in plain view of anybody coming in to do their business. I mean, the vial has your name on it and everything. It's just a little awkward when the person after you in the bathroom sits next to you in the waiting room, and you can only think, "Yes, that was my pee in the cup. How'd the hue look to you?"

Fourth: as Monday is my only day off, I spent an hour at a cafe with Vegas after he helped me carry all those books to the secondhand shop. He came all the way across the city to help me carry them, and then offered to do it again in the morning so that I could just be done with it. I was so touched, I wish I could show him my gratitude in some way beyond paying for his coffee. Also, while at the cafe, I think the baby might have decided it was time to recreate that scene in "Footloose" where Kevin Bacon gets out his tough-guy anger by doing gymnastics in a random warehouse. I actually jumped at one point because I was so surprised by the commotion going on in there. It happened again a few hours later while I was in line at the grocery store, and I sort of half-yelped and half-giggled, which of course people didn't find weird at all.

Fifth: I bought a scale awhile ago and have been semi-regularly weighing myself as per my doctor's request. My weight has been holding steady whereas my belly has been extending outward. That's kinda neat.

Sixth: I briefly discussed with a friend on the phone the multitudes of shit she is going to pawn off on me come June. She has a 3-month old daughter at home but has said that she has outgrown tons of clothng, and that her bouncy seat and her baby bathtub are both going to be too little for her baby in just a few months. I also briefly did some sales shopping. I am even more inspired to do it in earnest on Wednesday morning before I go to work, because I am all about the onesies for 2 euros. So cute!

The only major fallouts today were: 1. I had two phone calls to make, neither of which happened because I was scatterbrained enough to have left the phone numbers at home. 2. I agreed to meet the carpet people at 8.30 in the morning tomorrow at The Boy's apartment so that they can deliver the goods (stupid! stupid!) and 3. I went to the computer store and allowed myself to be fully and painfully seduced by the Macs. I didn't buy anything, of course, but my heart is hurting. Yeah, I forgot to tell you: I semi-broke my computer. Not the right moment for it, but The Boy and I may work out some sort of deal. We'll see.