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.