21 weeks.

How far along?: 21 weeks, 0 days
Total weight gain/loss: Are you ready for this? +2.5 this week, +5 overall. Mama gained some weight this week. Yowza! Interesting tidbit (well, to me): I now weigh what I did at my wedding. Think my dress would zip up with this belly? :)
How big is baby?: Ours is already bigger than the books say, so probably almost a pound. Length - roughly 10.5 in. long, the length of a carrot :)
Maternity clothes?: Still mixing them in with old stuff.
Sleep: Mark this down. I got 8, I repeat 8, full hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. No pee breaks, no hip pain waking me up to roll over, just sleep. And I woke up feeling rested for the first time in months. Heaven.
Movement: Some days I think he's turning because I'll get kicked on the far left side, but then later he returns to his favorite position and whacks me right in the middle. Also much higher now, so I no longer look like a creeper with my hand down my pants while feeling for kicks in public (the image of this in your head right now is much more inappropriate than it looks in real life, I promise).
Labor signs: Ditto last week.
Food cravings: These have really calmed down lately. Nothing to report.
Gender: On the fence.
Belly button in or out?: Still a crater.
What I miss: My pre-pregnancy digestive sytem.
What I am looking forward to: Exciting things are happening in Baby Reeder's nursery this week. More to come!
Best moment this week: Watching my belly jump as baby kicks me. Phenomenal.
Weekly Wisdom: Guzzling water to try to flush out a sinus infection will only make you have to pee more.
Milestones: We're only 3 weeks away from Viability Day!

Explanation regarding V-Day:
At 24 weeks, the baby's lungs finally have the ability to transfer oxygen from the air to the bloodstream. Before this, the lungs aren't developed enough for that air exchange to happen, so surviving outside the womb is next to impossible. So around 24 weeks, doctors will use every effort to save a child born premature. Chances of survival are only around 25%, but there's a fighting chance! Survival odds go up to 90% by Week 26. Crazy to think we're only 5 weeks from that!

Baby on board.

This photo sums up pretty perfectly how I feel today. So exhausted and battling what may be the beginning of a sinus infection, yet still such a proud mama. I apologize for the mess that I now present to you.

Baby Reeder at 20w6d

Unfit mother.

Apparently, I'm an unfit mother already. Pregnancy weight gain casually came up in conversation this morning at work with some of the older ladies I work with (and by older, I mean they could be my mom.) When I mentioned that I hadn't gained any/much, jaws dropped. They stared at me as if I had just said that I got wasted last night while smoking a cigarette and eating 12 hot dogs and a plate of swordfish. One woman, my absolute favorite in the office (I will not use the name I frequently call her as I'm trying to keep this blog PG,) told me that this is really not good for my baby and I should be concerned.

What I said: I assured them that it was 100% fine, my child is growing perfectly, and my doctor even gave me a gold star for it.

What I wanted to say: I'm going to be able to drop my baby weight pretty easily, thank you very much. Just because you still haven't managed to do it 25 years later doesn't mean you get to chastise me in a jealous fit. Bite me.

I heart work.

Lesson learned.

It's offical. I can not stay up until 3 a.m. anymore and expect to be able to fully function the next day. Yikes. While I was incredibly excited to spend time with out-of-town friends on Friday night, I was a hot mess on Saturday. I had a pregnancy hangover, if you will, without the benefit of a tall Bud Light from Bdubs the night before. This little one of mine likes his sleep!

Also official: I can not only feel but now see the baby move. My stomach jumps as he kicks me, which is so fun to watch. It's amazing how strong he is. Such a talented child we have:)

Halfway point!

"We are going to have a baby in 4.5 months. It's going to look like us. Woah." This is a text I sent the husband a few hours after our appt yesterday. It has finally hit me, and how appropriate that it happens on our halfway point milestone!

Halfway? Really? Wow! Seems like forever ago that I excitedly started this blog on Day #1. No one knew that I was pregnant besides me and the husband and even we didn't believe it. Now, everyone knows. As of yesterday, even facebook knows. Hard to believe we've been so blessed!

There are a few new questions I've added to the survey now that we're in the "I'm really harboring a human that will soon want to come out" stage.

How far along?: 20 weeks, 0 days
Total weight gain/loss: +0 this week, +2.5 overall
How big is baby?: 12 big oz. and roughly 10 in. long from head to toe
Maternity clothes?: Still about half the time, but Mom and I made the big maternity clothes purchase this week - my 1st (and 2nd) pair of maternity jeans. I feel like you're not really in maternity clothes until you have some button-free, elastic-waisted jeans.
Sleep: We have a love/hate relationship still. No bathroom breaks last night!! Sign of good things to come?
Movement: Crazy-active child in this uterus. I've become one of those stereotypical pregnant women whose hand is always resting on her belly; I love feeling those kicks (and rolls!)
Labor signs: No, and hopefully none for a very long time.
Food cravings: A ham & cheese croissant from Au Bon Pain (random, I know.)
Gender: I'm pretty convinced it's a girl. Daddy's sure (or just hoping?) it's a boy.
Belly button in or out?: So very far in that it's hard to imagine it will ever budge. My belly looks like it has a giant crater smack-dab in the middle; this bothers me more than it should.
What I miss: Honestly? Nothing. I'm in a state of pregnant euphoria this week.
What I am looking forward to: The first few moments after delivery when it's just me, the husband, and Baby R. :)
Best moment this week: Without a doubt, seeing my gorgeous child. Though watching the husband feel his baby kick for the first time is a very close second!
Weekly Wisdom: People that have had children love to tell a pregnant woman "Oh, just wait!" when they hear about your pregnancy symptoms. Statements like "This baby's kicking me hard" or "I'm so uncomfortable when I sleep" or "I'm getting so big" are almost guaranteed to solicit an "Oh, just wait!" response from any mothers (and some bold fathers) that hear them.
Milestones: 50% down, 50% to go :)

Our little blessing :)

I have the most beautiful child, don't you think? Here are just half of the new pictures we got of Baby Reeder today! First and foremost: yes, we're still on Team Green, as we held steady and did not let them show/tell us the sex (all the "she's" are because Mama has a girl feeling today).

The little one was pretty cooperative during the ultrasound. Her head is down and her legs are all curled up, with her feet by her head. This explains why I've been feeling such strong kicks - her feet are resting right up against my stomach! She's measuring 2 days ahead, but not enough for them to move the due date. Her head is surprisingly measuring in the normal range which I was thrilled to hear (have you ever seen the size of mine or my husband's head? yikes!) Heartbeat was strong and steady at 144 bpm and beating away right in front of our eyes. She weighs a whopping 12 oz., which is about 1.5 oz. above average. She is perfect, with all the necessary parts and limbs :)

My appointment with the doctor went swimmingly yet again. As expected, I had a +0 weight gain this time. But, she told me she is not AT ALL concerned with my lack of weight gain; she said she likes to see a 0-5 lb. total gain at 20 weeks (and that the pregnancy books lie!) I believe her exact words were "Whatever you're doing is working, so keep it up!" Looks like those 4-mile walks are paying off! From this point on, her goal for me is 1 lb/week.

And now, the fun part....

5 little toes and the placenta :)

This is a frontal skeletal shot. I find it creepy, but it actually shows quite a bit. From l to r: the little black hole in the torso is the stomach, the fortune cookie-looking thing to the right of that is the baby's heart (mid-beat), you can clearly see the mouth and nose, and the "eye patch" is just the second eye socket (I promise there's an eye in there.)

This is one of my favorites. Baby Reeder is spread-eagle, so that is actually a foot coming right at us. The four little lines on her head is actually her hand.

We tried for some 3D pics, but her hands were covering her face (could I have a shy child? impossible!) and the umbilical cord was, too. Don't care though, because these pictures are enough to have had me grinning from ear-to-ear all day!

Daddy, meet Baby.

Daddy and Baby Reeder had their first encounter last night! The husband felt the baby kick for the very first time :) Actually, it was the first time I felt kicks from the outside, too. We are over the moon!!

Grandma and Grandpa Vonderhaar had just left our house after a wild & crazy game of Phase 10. I had some pretty horrible indigestion, so I assumed the baby's favorite lounging position on the couch (she always kicks me like crazy when I sit in this position for some reason.) I immediately started getting some really strong kicks and put my hand to my belly to see if I could feel it. Sure enough, I felt the same thumps on the outside that I felt on the inside. I just had a feeling they were strong enough for someone else to feel, so Daddy rested his hand there, too. At first, he just felt my heartbeat. When I felt a pretty strong one from the inside, I asked "Did you feel that?" With a cute smile on his face, he nodded, to which I replied "That was your baby." The munchkin continued to kick both of us for a few blissful minutes.

I cannot even begin to express the joy I find in this event. For months I've felt the symptoms of pregnancy: the nausea, the headaches, the achy body, etc. And for the last few weeks I've had the pleasure of feeling my little one moving around in there. But the husband has pretty much just had to take my word for it this whole time. Not anymore! It's incredibly thrilling for me that he finally got to feel his baby. He even said to me at one point, "Yep, it's really in there." He can now be a part of this pregnancy in a very real way.

I am one very happy mama today. So proud of my strong little soccer player in there. Keep up the good work, little one :)