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.