Halfway there!

20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go! Up until now we keep telling people this has been a very easy pregnancy, but this last weekend has put a small kink in that claim. On Thursday night Kristi started having some cramps/contractions that were pretty frequent. After some hemming and hawing, Matt convinced Kristi to call Dr. Kruger at home, even though Kristi was worried about interrupting Dr. Kruger's home life in the evening. Dr. Kruger of course was not mad, and has since convinced us that we should never hesitate to call if we have a concern. Anyway, we talked through some causes of pre-term contractions and luckily, we already had an appointment scheduled for Friday afternoon. So since there was no bleeding and the contractions seemed to be calming down at that point, we agreed to wait it out and talk Friday afternoon. To make a long story short, there is no consensus as to why Kristi's uterus is contracting. It is pretty early for "false labor" (Braxton Hicks contractions), and we have explored (and eliminated) the common causes of contractions... So we are just supposed to wait it out and hope that nothing bad happens. The tricky part is that if this turns into labor, there is nothing that can be done to stop it this early in pregnancy. In a few weeks, Baby will potentially be able to survive outside the uterus, so we are praying and hoping that things settle down. They already have calmed down considerably...on Saturday night we had several of our friends pray for us at church and from then until mid-Sunday we were contraction free! And then the rest of Sunday the uterus was pretty quiet. Thanks God! We have been praying a lot for this little Baby, so we would appreciate anyone else joining in that too.

On a happier note:
Little Foot is a very active little baby. He/she likes to punch, kick, roll over, swim, do handstands, stretch, and body slam. This is fun to feel and watch! We keep trying to videotape Kristi's tummy, but Little Foot seems to be a little camera shy and stops moving every time we bring out the camera.
Kristi's belly is growing...as if you can't tell from the pictures! As of Friday's doctor appointment, the weight gain tally is a little over 7 pounds. Kristi's wardrobe is making a transition from normal clothes to "pregnant lady" clothes (as her sisters like to call them). Matt's belly is not growing. He has not gained any weight, but he is trying to keep up by snacking while studying! He still fits in all of his clothes. :)
Little Foot is approximately 10 inches long and maybe around 12 ounces. Nothing much is happening in development, but he/she is getting bigger and bigger! Grow Baby grow!