I'm ready to wear real pants again...

We are currently 31 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Camden is growing steadily. The latest trip to the doctor confirmed that my fundal height is 31 cm, which is perfect for a women in her 31st week of pregnancy! I did have to go to the general practitioner doctor yesterday because my hands and wrists were swelling with muscle weakness and pain. She drew some blood to be tested and put me on the steroid Prednisone to help with swelling. I woke up this morning feeling like a new woman with no pain! Yay!Hopefully we'll find out this week what is causing the pain. :)

I was daydreaming today about wearing my skinny jeans. I actually thought about trying them on, but decided that it probably wasn't a good idea. I miss my straight legged, real waist jeans. I do know, though, that once Camden is here in my arms that I'll miss his gymnastics inside my belly. I love to recline at night and watch him bopping around in there. He's warm and snuggly and I'm happy knowing that he's always with me. I've been reading aloud to him at night. He seems to enjoy it because he starts moving around when I do it :) The pic below is my belly at 31 weeks! Growing :)

Early morning Camden moment

This is a picture that Mark took of me standing in the dining room looking out to the back yard. Camden was kicking and I was watching him. It was such a precious moment.
26 weeks and 5 days pregnant

September, already?

I can't believe that it's already September!

I am turning 26 on Wednesday and it struck me the other day that it has now been ten years since I turned 16. I can't believe it. Really. How did the time move so quickly?So, on 9/9/09 I'll be more than halfway through my 20s. :)

Mark has now started working nights. It's been a difficult adjustment because I miss him at night. I definitely don't like sleeping alone. I've been piling pillows next to me so that I can pretend not to be alone. Baby has been coming in and sleeping in the bedroom with me at night. I can't think of a better protection than a 65lb+ Pit Bull-Labrador mix. Let someone try and creep up on me. He'll be on nights indefinitely. Walmart is going to a 4 co-manager system. 2 on days and 2 on nights to help keep the store running. Rumor is that they may even get a hefty pay raise (fingers crossed!). It's not too bad, I suppose. He works for 4 nights from 7pm-8am and then is off for 4 days. So, he'll have more free time.

I'm posting my 25 week picture. Pretty noticeable change from the 24 week picture. Camden is definitely "popping." I didn't gain any weight between 24 and 25 weeks, but I think that this is because I ate the same number of calories and Camden actually grew, so he took some of my fat stores. It looks like I'm going to need to increase the number of calories I eat to ensure that he and I each get enough of what we need. I bought walnut-sized green grapes at Sam's club the other day and have been snacking on those...yum.

I hope that everyone is doing well. :)

24 Weeks

We had the 24 week appointment today. Camden's heartrate was 150 beats per minute, down from 158 at the last visit. Weight gain stands at 22lbs. Next month's appointment is the glucose test (YAY...not) to test for diabetes.

Here is the 24 week belly picture. It's grown so much in the last month. It's unbelievable. :)

What a miracle.

That's one energetic fetus

Last night, as Mark and I were laying in bed reading, I noticed that Camden was being very active. We pulled up my shirt to see if we could visibly see his antics. We did :)
My stomach was popping like popcorn. It's been a neat experience for Mark, because I can feel it all of the time and now he can see the evidence that his son is becoming stronger every day. He's been able to feel him too for a couple of weeks, but to actually see huge kicks and bumps is a new experience for him.
School has started back and I have to say that it's been the best start to a school year thus far. The kids are already great and because I'm now into my 5th year of teaching things are going much more smoothly. I can walk in in the morning without being completely prepared and without stress figure out what I'm going to do. Can't wait to see how things go with the AP exam in May :)

Back to School Shopping

I've come to the realization that back to school shopping is not nearly as fun when you're pregnant. I'm now officially in my 6th month of pregnancy and am having some slight issues. Issue #1. Regular clothes don't really fit. I've been lucky enough to find some non-maternity shirts that should last for a good bit of the final 17 weeks of pregnancy, but I'm sure that I'll need more in a few weeks. Issue #2. Many of the maternity clothes out there either look like they are mad for old ladies or young frumpy ones. Issue #3. I can find cute maternity clothes at Motherhood Maternity, but their small sizes (which is what I need) don't actually fit my breasts any more. I haven't grown enough anywhere else to need a medium, but the smalls are made for smaller breasts. Issue #4. I'm cheap. I can't imagine paying a lot of money for something that I'm only going to be wearing for a few more months.
Aside from those clothing issues, I'm also planning my return to normal clothes. Camden is due on December 15. I'm giving myself until Summer to fit back into my old clothes. That's 6 months. This means some serious work. Hopefully, I'll be one of the lucky ones and will shed the pounds quickly with breastfeeding and healthy eating. To lose 30lbs between May 2008 and January 2009 only took healthy eating and a minimal amount of walking, so we'll see. I'm ok if my hips spread and those old jeans don't fit, but I'm already tired of my tummy sticking out further than my breasts and it's only been that way for a few weeks. Thus far I've gained about 21 lbs. This is certainly more than the weight that most of those advice about pregnancy websites recommend, but my doctor says that I'm on track. She expects a gain of about one lb per week, in which case I'm 2 lbs behind. Ha, I'm sure that I'll make that up in the last weeks of pregnancy when Thanksgiving and Christmas are upon us. Love love love the foods from that time of the year.

I swallowed a cantaloupe

So, within the last week Camden has grown incredibly. I know that it's not just me eating and getting fat because my belly is hard...especially when I wake up in the morning dehydrated after peeing 4 or 5 times. I've also been having sciatic pain that runs from the right side of my lower back to the back of my right knee. It's been an unpleasant few days with that. I can't bend over or pick anything up easily. My belly continues to expand and fewer and fewer of my shirts are fitting, but I'm still feeling mostly ok. We ordered Camden's crib and it should be here sometime in a week or so. It's a convertible crib in Espresso stain. Mark really liked the dark stain. I was indifferent to crib color, so we agreed relatively easily. It's a 4-in-one converting crib...Crib, training bed with rails, toddler bed without rails, and then full bed. We got the bedding last week from http://www.babysupermall.com/. It was the same bedding that was sold at a large retail store, but was $50 cheaper, plus we got free shipping. I was really excited to get such a deal. No I'm just washing baby clothing that we've received as gifts. We're pretty much set on 0-3 month clothing :) Everyone loves to give tiny baby clothes and they are so sweet! I can't wait to see our sweet boy in them.

Camden's Crib: The Delta Canton 4-in-1 and below that, Camden's Bedding: Cocalo Creme Brulee 6-piece nursery set.

Busy weeks ahead

The next few weeks will be very busy for me! This upcoming week I have the AP World History Institute at the University of Arkansas from 8am-430pm. My goal is to become a better AP teacher. Hopefully, I'll learn some new tools and new techniques to help my students in the years to come. Yay for lifelong learning! :)
Friday morning, I'm leaving for Caruthersville. My Grandmother has been ill and my mom and I are spending 8 days back home with family. I'll be gone from July 31-August 8. The good thing about this trip is that I'll be able to attend my cousin's son's, Hayden, 5th birthday party! I haven't been to one of his parties since he turned 1. I'm happy (plus, I'll get to eat some cake!). I'll miss Mark, though.
I'll return in the evening of the 8th and then on Monday the 10th, I have to be at the High School from 9am-noon. I'm helping with some of the Small Learning Community Planning for next year. Tuesday is free and then staff development begins on Wednesday! I can't believe that my summer is already almost over.
I also can't believe that this pregnancy is half-way through! I'll be 20 weeks pregnant on Tuesday (July 28th). That's 5 months! I can't believe that it's gone by so quickly. 20 more weeks (give or take a couple) and Baby Camden will be here! It's so exciting, but also scary! This will also probably be the last time that I travel to Caruthersville before Camden is born. I definitely can't travel home for Thanksgiving (since our due date is December 15). I'd HATE to give birth in SE Missouri...seriously hate it. I just feel more comfortable giving birth at Washington Regional where my doctor is and where my mom works. Mark and I will try and travel home with Camden in January (weather-allowing). We'd love to introduce our little boy to the family :)

Baby Camden is a BOY!

So, today we found out that we are having a SON! It was very neat to watch his little body moving throughout the ENTIRE ultrasound. He rolled over several times, used his hand to push on my uterus, and flexed his legs repeatedly. It was so neat. We paid our $10 and got the 3 minute DVD (which we've already watched twice). Very cool and we are super excited!

Here are some of the ultrasound pictures.

This is the picture that proved that Camden was indeed a boy.

Camden's face with his right hand up to his cheek. Camden's long leg!

We find out the sex this week.

I'm so excited that I can't stand it! We find out in 2 days if the baby is a boy or a girl. We've decided that regardless of sex, our sweet baby is going to be named Camden. If it's a boy, his name will be Mark Camden and if it's a girl , her name will be Camden Muriel. I have a serious feeling that this is a boy. In fact, I'm so sure that it's a he, that I'll probably fall off of the exam table it there isn't a penis up on that screen!

I'll be happy with either, though. I truly don't have a preference. I'm posting a 19 week photo of the belly. That's an old stretch mark on my side from the college-30 that I gained. :) No skin changes from Camden...yet. I know that the belly isn't very big yet, but it's all squished up inside. I'm feeling Camden move every day, mostly on my left side about an inch (or so) below my belly button. My belly is harder first thing in the morning (probably because of slight dehydration from my 4+ trips to the bathroom in the night. I'm currently waking up every 2 hours. In fact, I don't even have to look at the clock anymore because it's so spot-on. So, if I go to bed at 10 and get up at nine, I will get up 5 times. I can only imagine that it will get worse as the baby grows more. It's not so bad though. I fall right back to sleep. At least I wake up to go pee :)

Stronger Every Day :)

I've been feeling our sweet baby move inside for over a week now, but today was a new first. I was laying on the couch getting ready to take my daily nap. My hand was resting on my stomach, below my belly button, and baby kicked. Not only did I feel it inside, I actually felt it with my hand. A few seconds later a second hard kick came. It was such an awesome moment, to realize that this sweet life is getting stronger and stronger every day. I only wish that Mark could have been here to feel that second kick.

Movement

At this point I'm relatively certain that I've been feeling the baby move now and then. It's truly difficult to tell the difference between gas and baby movement, but there is a slight difference. The gas feels like a rolling movement and the baby feels like something poking me from within. It's really a very neat sensation to know that this precious life is already strong enough to be felt. I've been having shortness of breath and have been having a harder time eating a full meal. I asked Dr. Smith about these things and she assured me that it was because the uterus and baby are taking up more room. My lungs aren't able to expand completely. This will surely only get worse as time goes on, but will be alleviated when the baby is delivered. I've also been having some lower back pain. It hurts when I sit, when I stand, and when I lay down. I'm sure that that too will get worse, but will also be over once the baby is born. We find out two weeks from tomorrow if this baby is a girl or a boy. :) We are quite excited! We've already registered for some of the basics online at Target. It's habit-forming for me to look at all of the reviews and try to decide what's best for our child! I want to be sure that everything that we bring into our home for this baby is safe and recommended.

16 week visit and New Floors!

We went to the doctor again this morning and got to hear our baby's sweet heartbeat :) The doctor said that it was very strong and 154 beats per minute. The first recorded heartbeat was 169 bpm and then the next was 160 bpm. It's slowing down, but that's normal and perfectly ok! I'm still not really showing, but my pants are getting tighter! Dr. Smith says that my weight gain is right on and to ignore what pregnancy books say about only gaining 3lbs in the first trimester. She expects me to gain about 4lbs per month. This made me feel much better. Weight this morning was 131lbs (I was 122 when I went to the doc at the beginning of April).

We are getting new floors in our living room and our master bedroom! We're putting down 12mm laminate flooring. This is much better quality that what most laminate flooring is. It's significantly thicker and has its own pad attached. We decided that we wanted to go ahead and do the flooring because with our baby on the way, I was worried about what kinds of dirt and organisms can live in carpet (even when you vacuum regularly). We're going to save a little more money and do the downstairs rooms as soon as we can. We got a great deal at lumber liquidators. We were able to qualify for 12 month same-as-cash program (which we'll pay off in a few months) and we're paying the installation with money that we've saved. Floors go in on July 16. YEA! This is what our floors should look like once they're down! This is not a picture of our house, but one that I found on the internet. I'm so excited!

Mark's First Father's Day

Left to Right: Mark's brother, Adam; Mark's maternal Grandpa, Ray; Mark's dad, Lacy; Mark
They are posing in front of the fish cutting board that Adam made for Lacy for father's day

Mark's first father's day cake, from Rick's bakery.

We had Mark's parents, maternal grandparents, and brother over this afternoon for a fish-fry father's day lunch. I made potato salad for the first time alone and it was, if I do say so myself, quite good.

I also got Mark a father's day cake from Rick's bakery. It was so GOOD. Can't beat Rick's!

Blood of my blood

I was adopted at birth. One very cool part about the fact that we're expecting a baby is that this will be the first human with whom I've had contact that is a blood relative of my own. I've never met any person in my birth family. I can't make those neat comparisons between my nose and my mom's or my hair and my grandmother's. I've not felt left out or slighted in any way by my adoptive family, but this will be a very different experience for me. When I gaze down at my child for the first time and know that my DNA is apart of this tiny human being, I'm sure that the moment will be incredible.

No Air Conditioner!

We found out today that we are going to have to get a new car, eventually. The air conditioner hasn't been working. Today, we were told that it would cost $900 (just for a new compressor) to fix our air conditioner in the Jeep. This doesn't include labor or taxes. So, that would drive it up to about $1200. In it's current condition, with 140,000 miles on it, it's only worth about $4000. Why would we put that much money into such an old car?
So, for the meantime, we've decided to sweat it out and wait to get a new car until Mark gets his bonus in the Spring. The compressor won't impact the car's ability to heat, so there won't be problems when the baby comes.
I really want a new Jeep. This is the first major problem that I've had with this Jeep, which was purchased (by my mom) in 2001. For 8 years and 140k miles, there have been no issues (aside from replaced tires and a replaced battery). It's been a great car and I've really enjoyed it.
We will definitely get a 4wd since we live on a very steep hill. If we don't get a 4wd, we won't be able to get the car up the road if it ices.

First Entry

Top pic: Baby Randall at 8 weeks. We thought we were at 11 weeks, but found out that we were only at 8. This pic is my belly at 12 weeks. This pic is my belly at 14 weeks. I've gained about 8 or 9 lbs from April 4 to June 17. I'm ok with that though.

Mark and I have been together for 6 years (as of March) and married for 3 years (as of June 9).

We bought our first house last summer and are now expecting our first child. We are due at the beginning of December 2009. Current due date is December 15, but hopefully I can make it to December 18 so that I can make it through finals without needing a sub in December! I will be out of the classroom all of January and all of February and will go back to work at the beginning of March.