Hoarding, Bellies

I am deeply fascinated with the show "Hoarders."  I mean, I'll watch just about anything dealing with OCD, addiction, eating disorders, anxiety or morbid obesity; but hoarding is especially gripping for some reason.  Maybe it's because it's so antithetical to the way I live -- I mean, I wouldn't say I'm obsessive about cleaning, but I LOVE to weed things out and purge closets and donate unwanted stuff to charity.  I don't like acquiring a lot of Stuff; when my drawers and bookshelves and closets start to get overcluttered, I feel like my life is in disarray.  Same goes for my office -- I like the papers on my desk to be in neat stacks, with everything nicely spaced or tucked away in accordion files.  And there's almost nothing as satisfying as when a matter ends and I can send files to the records department or, better yet, throw unneeded papers in the recycling bin. 

(I also hate to have too much food in the fridge or cabinets; it makes me nervous, because I feel like we won't be able to eat it all before it goes bad or...something.  Oddly enough, Joe is the opposite -- he gets edgy if he feels like there isn't enough food around or if he thinks a given meal won't have sufficient portions for both of us.  So we have to strike a careful balance or one of us will come unglued.)

Sure, I hold onto things that have sentimental value just like everyone else, but I have no problem tossing clothes that don't get worn enough or books I know I won't read again.  I could have an enormous personal library by now if I'd kept every book I'd bought over the years, but I was the one in college and law school who would accept twenty cents for a $15 paperback or two bucks for a $100 textbook just to get them out of my life. 

So these people on "Hoarders" -- man.  It's absolutely mind-boggling to watch them go through their tons and tons of stuff -- most of it literally garbage -- piece by piece and steadfastly refuse to part with individual items; they will agonize for HOURS over an ancient, non-working vaccuum because for 14 years they've intended to fix it and sell it at a yard sale for five dollars.  One woman went into hysterics because someone had thrown out some comic strips she'd cut out decades before; another stopped the cleanup process for several hours because a member of the crew had thrown out a shard of a broken floor tile, and she felt this showed some deep disrespect for her. 

Obviously, these aren't rational minds at work; this is a serious mental illness, and it's really tragic.  I don't mean to make light of it. It's just one of those things that makes you marvel at the complexities of the human brain and the varieties of human experience, you know? 

Well!  On to the belly shots. 

Below is the progression from 23 weeks to 25 weeks to 26 weeks (that's today).  We're now just a week away from the third trimester, and there are just 99 days until my due date.  I can't believe how quickly it's going.  As of now, I still feel reasonably energetic without too many aches and pains, but I know that will change fairly soon.  (I know, I know, "JUST WAIT til you're eight months and absolutely miserable" or "JUST WAIT til the baby's here and you NEVER SLEEP AGAIN", sigh.)

Last night when I got up around 2am to pee, I had to really HEAVE myself out of bed, and sometimes when I get up and down from the floor, there is grunting involved.  My skin is definitely not glowing, as I have this weird dry patch on my chin that WILL NOT go away and I have something of a gray pallor.  My eyes are also extremely dry.  But I've thus far been spared some of the grosser pregnancy things you often hear about, so I continue to be grateful that this hasn't been even remotely like the horror show I thought it would be.  Plus, feeling the baby kick and punch and roll and stretch out in there, and even get the hiccups, is so freaking cool in a seriously trippy way.  I'm still mildly anxious about the Worst Case Scenario things that could happen, because my brain doesn't know how to turn off the Catastrophe Mode, but even that is lessening somewhat. 

Oh, and on Monday I get to go for the glucose screening, which I have heard nothing but raves about (snort!).  And then on Tuesday we get on a plane for seven hours to head to Seattle.  I am just hoping no other passengers need to use the bathroom, because I will be hydrating like a madwoman to stave off any possible Braxton-Hicks fun and will basically have to park myself in the lavatory for the duration of the flight.

Comments

[terri]

Must Tivo Hoarders. I have seen some shows on people like this and I just cannot imagine the illness that would cause someone to hoard. All the men I know including Jim like to hold onto things ...my dad and the silk parachute and most of the women I know like things to be less cluttered. My mother disposed of that parachute years and years before he even missed it ;-) I love your belly!

[Leah]

Funny. I watch Hoarders because I know EXACTLY what those people are thinking, as I'm a bit of a packrat myself (although obviously not pathologically so, as there's no camera crew at my house and no animal feces in my kitchen (that I know of)).

[nicolien]

Would love to watch that show. Food-wise, my husband and I are like you two: I can't have too much, and he can't have too little. For example, even though I drink around 3 liters of tea a day, I would never have more than 1 packet of it (and never more than one flavor at a time). It took me a long time to bring home another flavor before I was out of the first one, and just have two types of tea to choose from. Strange, I know.

[Ris]

Shows like that FASCINATE me. I watch in horror but unable to turn away. And then promptly throw myself into a cleaning/purging frenzy.

[Blythe]

I'm very much like you in my tendency to get rid of stuff. It makes me feel so decisive! And tidy! So you can only imagine what it's like for me to have a family member (no, not my husband, thank goodness) who is a hoarder. It's every bit as sad and frustrating and baffling as you might imagine, especially when every ounce of my being longs to say, every time I walk through the door, "I can help you! Let's just throw out this stack of magazines from 1983 and get started!" But I've learned that offers of help tend to exacerbate the problem. So I can't watch Hoarders, because it makes me terribly sad, for this person and for our whole family.

On a more cheerful note, I'm happy to share that I took a very long flight when I was just about as pregnant as you are right now, and it was actually a breeze. I was pregnant enough for people to notice and to be nice to me in the security line, etc, but not pregnant enough to question whether I could wedge myself into the seat successfully or not. However, perhaps my rosy recollections have something to do with the fact that it was the last time I flew without a baby/toddler and it was so uncomplicated. Anyway, I'm not sure if your experience will be the same, but I hope so! I will keep my fingers crossed.

[Lawyerish]

Oh, Blythe, thank you for the happy pregnancy-flying story! I love hearing the "it went totally fine" stories since my brain immediately goes to the crazy place and these calm me down immeasurably. :)

[terri]

I flew from Sacramento to Minneapolis when I was about 28 weeks for my sister's wedding...and didn't give it a thought. Obviously the doctor was okay with it lo those many years ago. Only when I got there and my sister announced that 'Man, you are huge!" did I have any inkling that there was anything really different about me being pregnant. But we were all ignorant "back in the day". ;-) Maybe coach was also more spacious then as well!

[sharon]

guess I will have to start thinking quite seriously about fabric for a wonderful neice's 1st child's quilt!!!

[Heather M.]

I never had a stacked pantry & a full extra fridge until children. I now know the beauty of not having to go to the store for a week if someone's sick or if we're just too busy with activities, etc. I never was a bulk buyer until we added our 3rd child....once C came along, I really have learned to appreciate having enough to get me through 2 weeks!

[Blythe]

I am happy to be of service. I also have a bunch of uneventful flying-with-small-child stories if you ever need a boost in that area. Have a wonderful trip (the weather here in the Pacific NW has been positively balmy, it might feel like a tropical vacation!)

[Danielle-Lee]

I've only watched Hoarders once and I was fascinated in a sick way. I love to watch Intervention, even though it inevitably makes me cry.
OMG, I only wish I looked like that when I was 26 weeks pregnant! You look WONDERFUL!! I just want to rub your cute belly in a non-stalkerish-gross-crazy-stranger sort of way. :)