Of Packing, Moving, and Settling in...Again

It's been quite a while since I've posted, and I've certainly had good reason for my negligence! For one thing, we moved to another duplex, which made for an insane past two weeks. But we are both so incredibly happy to be out of that place and into a better one! I'll try to recap the past two weeks as briefly as I can.

Saturday, March 10, Joe and I ran the "Run for God 5K," the first in our list of races to prepare us (me, really) for the half marathon in May. Joe ran it in under 24 minutes and I ran it in 32:50. Actually, that is pretty good for me--that's pre-pregnancy run time! I guess races have a way of getting my adrenaline going and pushing me to do better. All in all, I really didn't enjoy the race. It was unorganized, the path was too small, and I started out too fast. There were several turn arounds on the trail, which really threw me some curves (mentally).

We had already talked to our landlord about letting us out of our lease early, due to the fact that we were concerned about the possibility of mold spores in the air and that we did not want to move that late into my pregnancy. Well, God worked out something amazing for us! We found a place we really liked, and our landlord was able to find a renter within a few days of talking to her. On Monday, March 12, the potential renter looked at our place and soon after he left, he said he wanted it. So we said we could be out by the 23rd. With a lot of work on our part, and a good bit of help from dear friends from church, we were able to get fully moved out by the 21st! Sooo thankful that all worked out! In the midst of the exhaustion from moving, three ladies from our church brought us dinner this past week. WHAT a blessing!

In the middle of the move, we had our next race scheduled for March 17. It was an 8K "Run for Education." Let me just say that this was awful timing for a race, but how were we to know we'd be moving that weekend? There was a thunderstorm that morning, and we almost didn't go, but the rain stopped as soon as we arrived at the school. We weren't prepared for this race at all--we didn't eat anything beforehand, we didn't stretch enough, and we had only run maybe once that week. Ugh! I think it went well overall, though. I let Joe run at his own pace, and he ended up getting 2nd in his age division. :) I completed the race in under an hour, which pleased me. (57:17.) It was a tough one for me. I had dreamt about it a few times the past week, and I was definitely nervous about it. The very last two hills nearly had me in the end, but I made it to the finish line and almost burst into tears when I got there. Not sure why... Maybe I was wondering why it was so hard for me? Afterwards, I talked with a seasoned runner who said that the course was deceptive and seemed easier than it was, so that made me feel better. :)

After that, we focused all our efforts on packing up and moving out. Luckily, I didn't have to work this past week, so I was free to do much more around the house.

This Wednesday I have my next prenatal and will get a much clearer picture of the baby! I will be sure to post it when I do. :)

Obviously, I haven't updated my running log in the past two weeks, but that doesn't mean I haven't been running. Yes, I haven't been running as much as I should, but the move and sheer exhaustion (along with health issues that haven't seemed to clear up completely) have made it next to impossible to keep up. This coming week should see us back on our feet again, though. :)

Until next time!

P.S. I tried to post some pics, but stupid ol' IE won't let me. >:( I'll come back and put them in when I can use Firefox.

From Bad to Worse

If you ever played Oregon Trail, do remember when the bad music would play and you'd get a message saying, "So-and-so has taken a turn for the worse"? A lot of times when they'd have a fever or something, I'd look up treatments to see how to handle it. I remember trying to find a treatment for "turn for the worse." Ha ha! Well, I think that wasn't as embarrassing as Mary trying to find more "morale" since they were low on it. :p
Anyway, that's what happened to me. I thought last Thursday was bad...until I woke up again at 3:00am on Tuesday morning. Well, they were both bad, but Tuesday was worse, because by then, I didn't need a doctor to tell me that what I had been fighting for the past week had turned into a full-blown infection. I've never had a sinus infection, but since Joe got over his first a couple months ago, I recognized the symptoms: pressure on and behind my eyes, pressure behind my face, sensitivity to light, headaches. I mean, I was putting hot compresses on my forehead! I also recognized the knife-stabbing pain and fluid in my left ear. Yes, I was going to the doctor as soon as the Minute Clinic opened. Praise the Lord for antibiotics! Although I'm still fighting off symptoms, there was a dramatic change from how I felt Tuesday morning to how I felt Wednesday morning. I kept thinking it was the pregnancy that was dragging things out, but no. I was most definitely wrong. I'm pretty sure Joe thought I lived on our couch for the entire week (kind of true). I had given up cooking and had let three loads of laundry continue to sit in our living room since the weekend. He was so good about it all, though! He took such good care of me and did his best to fend for himself. Thankfully, I am slowly getting things back to normal again. :)

Alright, sickness aside, I have to tell you about last night! Well, rather unexpectedly, Joe took me out for a date night! WAHOO!!! The thing about eating out nowadays, is that I've become a very picky eater (not by choice--it's the baby's fault). :) So I'm always like, "I'm not sure I can eat there" or "Yeah, I think I can find something to eat there." Well, when he mentioned.......

I was like, "Oh, YES!!!" Even though I wasn't sure if I could eat our usual, I knew I could eat the rice. I have been craving rice with soy sauce. Why don't I make it myself, you ask? Well, I don't enjoy cooking right now, and I think I'm just sick of my own stuff. Maybe my brand of rice is wearing on me, or maybe I'm tired of Tamari soy sauce. I dunno. The point is, I would have my craving fulfilled while NOT having to cook to get it! :)

After Joe got back from school and I from work, we went for a run. I took it very easy, considering where my immune system has been. You see, we have a 5K on Saturday, so I wanted to get a run or two in before that. Then we showered and headed to Chatt. OH. MY. WORD. It was ALL so good! I mean, I even at the *GASP* chicken! ("Dad, I don't do chicken.") But I tell myself it wasn't really chicken--it was some sort of wonderful something cooked in some fantastic sauce. :) And the lo mein was so flavorful and the steamed brown rice with soy sauce was the best!!! I just can't say enough about last night's meal! We even ordered a Coke. :) The fact that I could eat everything and enjoy soooo much, and not have to stop eating after a few bites (because my stomach fills up a lot quicker now), or because I was feeling icky about it, was so nice. I really couldn't say enough about it to Joe. It was the best date we've had in a long time. :) And not just because of the food--we just had a wonderful time together! Great conversations, great atmosphere, great time all in all. I went to bed quite contented, except.............I didn't count on the Coke keeping me awake. :p I haven't had caffeine in so long, that I guess it just threw my body for a loop! Oh, well. I was happy. :)

What Happened???

Soooo, Wednesday night was Just. Plain. Miserable. :( I went to bed around 9:15 and couldn't get to sleep. I got up around 9:50 because I was so hungry. So I ate some cereal and went back to bed. I had noticed a slight sore throat after cooking dinner and was hoping it would just pass during the night. It did not. Instead, I was awakened at 1:20 because it had become so severely sore during the night. Now, I know so little about pregnancy right now and what you can and can't take, that I didn't know what to do. I found one Ricoloa throat lozenge in my medicine box, and I figured that was ok (it's pretty natural and all). I went back to bed and tossed and turned. I suppose I may have slept some. I don't know. All I knew for sure was that I was gradually feeling worse and worse. Cold chills and heat spells came over me at different intervals, and my body was beginning to ache so badly. 2:00 came, so I got up to make a cup of tea, thinking Sleepytime Vanilla was alright. As the water was boiling, I browsed the internet to find out things I could take to ease the pain. Of course, I found conflicting information and was completely frustrated by it all. In the end, after seeing all the ingredients in my tea, I nixed that idea and decided to gargle salt water. By the time I got that all together, a wave of nausea hit me and I headed to the bathroom. I came this close the throwing up, but somehow kept it at bay and managed to lie on the bathroom floor for the next hour or so. No, it was not comfortable, but I think I dozed a bit. Eventually, I knew I couldn't get back to sleep in my bed, but I had no doubt that the couch would do the trick. I was right! I got on the couch around 3:45 and managed to fall asleep around 4:00ish. I woke up at 5:00 when Joe came in to turn on the coffee maker. He asked how I was doing, and I told him the kind of night I had. He wanted to stay home with me, but Thursday is his busiest day of the week, and it's not easy to find a sub spur of the moment. I told him I thought if I just rested I'd be ok; however, my first prenatal appointment was scheduled for 10:20 that morning, and I wasn't sure if I should or could make it. I decided to play it by ear and see how I felt later on that morning, and slept some more after he left for school. When I got up, I was not feeling good. I was so sore everywhere! Joe had gotten me some water and yogurt before he left, and I had been trying to get it down for while, but with the sore throat and all, I hadn't downed much of it. Eventually, I went to the bathroom and guess what?? Another wave of nausea hit me! This time I did throw up. Well, sort of. There wasn't really anything left in my stomach, so go figure. But I felt completely awful. So I called Mom (crying), who advised me to get Joe to take me to my prenatal, as she thought my midwife would have a better idea of what I needed than some random doctor. Joe's classes on Thursday (all five of them) are back-to-back, so by the time I called and asked him, it was nearly impossible for him to get anyone to cover for him in the middle of everything. He tried, but no one got back to him. So I called our pastor's wife, but she didn't pick up. I went upstairs to ask my neighbor if she wouldn't mind taking me. She pretty much said yes, but her parents (who have been visiting for the past week) were sitting there and were like, "We could take her--we're heading that way anyway." So they ended up taking me, which was such a blessing! They dropped me off and I had a looooong appointment with my midwife. That all went well and is for another post. :) When I got our, my neighbor called me and asked if I still needed to be picked up. So (bless her!), she came and got me. As soon as I got home, I ate some cereal, took some Tylenol, put on "Cheaper by the Dozen" (the older version), and eventually got comfortable and dozed on and off.
So, that was how my Wednesday and Thursday went. I got better towards the evening, as the body aches and chills wore off. I still don't know what hit me, but I haven't had anything like that happen for a long time. I'm doing better today, though I'm tired and still have a very sore throat. Oh yeah, and we've have a bunch of weather warnings today-- tornado watches, flood watches, pollen alert, and special weather statement. Hah! I just want to stay at home and sleep it all off..............zzzzzzzzzzzz.............
To make this post more interesting than just a sob story about my day, I'm going to give you a treat: the first "picture" of our baby!!! :) Yay!!

Teenie tiny. 1.56 cm with a heart rate of 161 bpm. Pretty awesome.