July 30, 2011-  19 week belly shots:

July 26, 2011 (18 weeks, 4 days)

I can finally feel some movement from BBH (Baby Boy Halpern)!! It feels like little bubbles or light taps. I have to be focusing in order to feel it, as it could easily be mistaken for normal digestive processes.

Kick BBH, kick! I love this feeling!

My baby's future best friend

Saturday, July 16th:

Today I found out that my best friend in the world is pregnant! Squeeeeee!!!!!! I couldn't be happier or more excited!

 

She is only 7 weeks along and it is still a huge secret, but I don't plan to "publish" this blog until after she is "out of the pregnancy closet." So at least I can go ahead and share my excitement here even though I can't share it with anyone in real life.

Her baby will be approximately 10.5 weeks younger than mine. They will doubtlessly be besties for life. Marcia and I have been discussing/dreaming up our life plans since high school. We'd get married to nice Jewish boys (check), our husbands would become close buddies (check), we'd all settle down in Fort Worth (still working on this) and we'd have babies together (check!!!). Damn we're good. Some people may have scoffed that we were only dreaming... but we sure knew what we were doing! Don't underestimate the power of dreaming + planning + luck + fate.

Can't wait for Baby Halpern and Baby Kaufman to meet!

Marcia and Seth revealed their news in such a cute way. They gave me a present to open (ostensibly, BBH's first baby gift). I unwrapped the box to find the adorable onesie (pictured below) which says "Baby H + Baby K = BFF"

At first, I just thought that M & S were saying that their future baby would be my baby's best friend. But then it suddently hit me that the gift could be a pregnancy announcement. I don't know why I'm trying to explain how the scene unfolded... simply see the video evidence below :)

July 15, 2011



General Pregnancy Update:


How far along: 17 weeks



How big is baby: I don't have any clue how big he is in terms of weight, but The Bump website tells me that he is as big as an onion this week!



Total weight gain: I can't be certain because I didn't start weighing right away, but according to the doctor, I've gained 4 pounds.



Belly button & Stretch Marks: No strange belly button mutations or stretchies yet (thank god!). I'm happy to sport a normal "innie" for as long as possible.



Last Dr's Appt: My last appointment was on July 11th. I had a nice visit with Dr. Bradford and gave blood for the second part of the sequential screen. Unfortunately, I didn't get to have an sonogram at this appointment... so no glimpses of Baby Boy Halpern. However, I did get to hear his hearbeat on the doppler. 152 beats per minute. Music to my ears!



Maternity clothes: Mostly. I can still wear regular dresses. I have fully transitioned into my maternity jeans (LOVE). I can still wear some regular tops too, but they definitely pull in strange places.



How am I feeling: I will cautiously say that I'm feeling.... better. I still puke almost every single morning. However, I'm feeling much, much better during the day. I have a few random bouts of nausea here and there, but I'm doing sooo much better than I was before. As of the last few days, the headaches are also subsiding. I am hopeful that maybe, just maybe, I will experience some 2nd trimester bliss (which I've thought was only a myth for the past few weeks).



Mood Swings and Food Cravings: Mood is semi-stable. There is a lot going on in my life right now, as we are about to close on our Townhouse and move to the new house. So, a little stress is to be expected. I can't claim that I'm not testier than "normal," but I think I'm hanging in there. Cravings- I think my pickle cravings have diminished for the time being. Now I'm primarily craving yellow mustard (especially french fries dipped in yellow mustard) and soup. any soup. Who craves soup in the dead of Texas summer? This pregnant girl (*points at self*)!



Milestones: I can't think of any major milestones as of late, other than the fact that I am truly "showing." I have popped in the last week or two, and I think it's pretty obvious that I'm pregnant (depending on what I'm wearing).



What I'm looking forward to: I'm looking forward to feeling some movement from Baby Boy. I haven't felt anything yet, but it could happen any day now. It seems like most first time moms start noticing movement between 18-21 weeks. However, some people (ahem- Emily (my skinniest of skinny friends)) feel movement as early as 15 or 16 weeks. Kick baby, kick!



Preparations and decisions being made: I'm itching to start decorating the new nursery. But I suppose that will have to wait until I move into the new house. I'm browsing crib bedding online for ideas, which is fun. I think preparations/decisions will be kicked into high gear once we get back from Alaska (toward the end of August). Blake and I also need to continue discussing names. We like the same type of name, but haven't agreed on anything yet.

It's a....

July 9, 2011:

BOY!!! Baby Halpern is a little dude! Blake and I decided that we (okay... mainly me) couldn't wait until our anatomy scan on August 8th. We went to Stork Vision today, an elective ultrasound joint, for a "gender reveal." The ultrasound tech had to do some coaxing (i.e. jiggling the ultrasound wand (roughly) around my belly (on top of a full bladder) to try to get baby to move into a better position), but Baby finally showed us the goods. He's a he. No question about it. Blake is beside himself with excitment, as he wants nothing more than a son to brainwash into being a die-hard Chiefs fan and fellow sports fanatic. I'm just happy to finally know one way or the other.

Can't wait to meet you baby boy!

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Slacker Blogger

June 19, 2011 (Father's Day)

In my defense, blogging is very new to me. Also in my defense, I'm pregnant and trying to focus on keeping my food down. I've been a bad, bad blogger. I promise to try to do better.

Here is a summary of how things have gone in the past couple of months:

April 13, 2011: I got my first positive pregnancy test ever.

April 14, 2011: I revealed the pregnancy to my parents (on my dad's birthday). We gave my dad a birthday card signed "Aly, Blake and Baby Halpern (due December 2011)"

April 15, 2011: My first round of blood work confirmed my pregnancy (blood work on April 18th and April 25th showed that my beta levels were rising properly, which indicates a viable pregnancy early on)

April 29, 2011 (6 weeks pregnant): My world is temporarily turned upside down as I face a bleeding scare. I race to the doctor's office, fighting tears the whole way, only to find that an ultrasound shows a healthy little bean measuring right on track.

May 3, 2011: My first scheduled ultrasound reveals a healthy baby with a heartbeat!

May 17, 2011: Another ultrasound. Everything looks great again! Dr. Kaufmann, my reproductive endocrinologist, releases me from his care. I am 8.5 weeks pregnant.

As I reached the 9 week mark, I start feeling a little sick. Up to that point, it has been smooth sailing (besides the bleeding scare, of course). I had very few symptoms, my main one being exhaustion. Just when I was starting to think I was one of the "lucky ones," things start to change.

By 10 weeks pregnant, morning sickness had taken permanent residence in my body. As each day goes by, it gets worse and worse. I'm still battling some typical first trimester exhaustion, but it is nothing compared to the constant pukey feeling.

June 1, 2011 was my first OB appointment (at 10.5 weeks pregnant). I miss Dr. Kaufmann, but it is fun and exciting to be seeing the "regular doctor."

Today, I am 13 weeks, 2 days pregnant. I'm sicker than ever. I don't puke every day, but I definitely feel sick just about every day. I've tried Zofran, a Phenergan topical compound, and Phenergan pills. They don't touch the morning sickness. Now I'm just praying that this passes soon, as second trimester is supposed to bring an end to this silly business.

This past Thursday (June 16, 2011), I went in for my 1st trimester sequential screening. It was the best ultrasound yet! Baby finally looks like a real baby rather than a blob or a misshapen gummy bear. And we could see the little baby's head bobbing and arms waving. It was pure awesome.

I'm about ready to start taking belly pictures, so that I can track my growth. I hope to keep my "growth" primarily to my midsection. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully I'll have a picture ready to post soon... as I'm definitely starting to expand (though it really just looks like a beer gut at this point).

Oh, and I'm craving pickles like crazy! I know it's cliche but it's true. Pickles are my friend.

Happy Father's Day to my sweet, sweet husband. I love you Blake!

Signing off for now...

Coming Out to the World

June 16, 2011 (12 weeks, 6 days pregnant)


Today Blake and I "came out" on Facebook. No more secrets. I'm pregnant and I can scream it from the rooftops! This was our "coming out" post:

In case you can't read the caption to the picture, it said: "Breaking news straight from Disney World: Mickey Mouse announces we're expecting a baby in December!!"