Favorite Pregnancy Items

Now that I am nearing the end of this pregnancy, I thought it would be nice to look back at the items that I felt were must-haves during these past 9 months. Some may not be necessities, but sometimes it’s the luxuries that make us happy too.

In no particular order…

1. Preggie Pop Drops

Luckily, I never actually threw up from feeling nauseous (there was one incident from choking on a pill, but that was my fault), but during the first couple of months, I just had an overall queasy, yucky feeling. The only type of food that I was able to tell made me sick were frozen microwave meals. Other than that, there was no smell, food, action that I could cut out or avoid to improve it…so I just dealt with it. Brett made a trip to Earth Fare and after talking with an employee that knew from experience, he came home with these Preggie Pop Drops, which are little candies in different flavors that include certain ingredients to make you feel better.

He also brought pieces of ginger home, which I could only tolerate for about a week or two before becoming completely disgusted with them. My sister-in-law also gave me mints, which she said helped her, but I can only take so many mints. These were no Jolly Ranchers or pieces of chocolate, but helped when I needed them.

 

2. Saltines:

How’s this for a pretty picture? I would wake up in the morning knowing that it usually took about 15 or so minutes to start feeling terrible, which is about the amount of time I am in the shower. So instead of waiting until I got out of the shower, or wasting time before the shower, I kept a sleeve of Saltines in the bathroom next to the shower and I would consume 3-4 Saltines in the shower! It’s all about efficiency people! Haha, but by doing this, I prevented that nasty feeling after I got out of the shower and I was able to continue getting ready for work and not be late.

 

3. Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter

I’ve read the debates that say lotion doesn’t prevent stretch marks and the other stories of people swearing by a particular lotion to keep the stretch marks away. This item was in my pregnancy basket from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and I  am just now getting to the bottom of the container 38 weeks later.

I didn’t use it every day, sometimes I would forget or I would use a different lotion, but for the most part I used this one. It practically has no smell to it, which is great for anyone that can’t handle smelly stuff. It has a rich creamy texture and a little goes a long way. Although I think not blowing up like a whale helped in the don’t get stretch marks quest, one will never know if the lotion helped too…at least I have a smooth belly!

 

4. Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Leg & Foot Creme

Another item from my pregnancy basket. The purpose of this lotion is to help increase circulation and reduce swelling to your feet, ankles and legs with the use of tingly peppermint. For the longest time, I didn’t think I was going to use this product since I didn’t have any swelling. But around 34 weeks, I started having random days of swelling and then it got pretty bad the day before our Disney World Maternity Photo trip.

I did not want cankles while having hundreds of photos taken of me, so I slathered this stuff on like crazy, which pretty much made the cat not want to come within 10 feet of me, but it was a small price to pay because it worked! The swelling went down after putting the lotion on about 4-5 times over a 2 day period, eating watermelon and drinking lots and lots of water. Speaking of which…

 

5. Water

Lemon water to be exact. I will be the first to admit I LOVE coffee, soda and sweet tea and I don’t always reach for the water. But for some reason, I craved lemon water and I am so thankful for that because I think it helped tremendously in the swelling department. As of this writing, I am 38.5 weeks pregnant and I am still wearing my wedding rings…on my ring finger! I can still put on heels, even though I don’t (hey, I get a free pass to wear flip-flops to work and I’m taking it! Granted, they are shiny, dressy flip-flops and I don’t recommend doing it any other time for those career minded ladies out there!). I bought jumbo containers of lemon juice at Costco and I was all set! Say no to dehydration!

 

6. Body Pillow

I really wanted a Snoogle body pillow, but I just couldn’t justify the hefty price tag. Instead, I found a nice body pillow from Target for $10! After adding a soft $5 pillowcase, I have used it every night since. It helps my comfort level when I can both put it between my knees and rest my upper arm on it at the same time. I am contemplating using it after the pregnancy, but Brett may not be too fond of that idea!

 

7. Pregnancy and Child Books

I plan to do more of a review on the individual books I’ve read regarding pregnancy and children at a later date, but for the purpose of this list, these were a favorite item for me for a few reasons. One reason was because I wanted to learn as much as possible about what was and will be going on with the pregnancy. Another reason was that being a first time mom, I was excited to finally read these types of books. Getting to read a new chapter about a new month’s progress was something I looked forward to. Towards the end of the pregnancy, I transitioned to reading books about children to learn about baby’s first year, breastfeeding, learning, playing and each new milestone to look forward to.

 

8. Pregnancy Apps

Similar to the books, the apps I downloaded helped me learn and also caused excitement with each new milestone. I looked forward to my weekly updates and would often read ahead. The two apps I stuck with are Sprout Lite and Babycenter.

 

9. My husband

Ok this may be cheating, but he really is a favorite pregnancy item! He may even be my utmost favorite He cooked every meal, brought me a thousand cups of water/milk/juice so I wouldn’t have to get off of the couch, dealt with my snoring (even though I am the one that wears earplugs at night, I wonder why…), carried the vacuum up and down the stairs, accompanied me to every doctor’s appointment so I would have company while waiting (and because he was just as excited as I was to hear the baby’s heartbeat each time), cautioned me not to do too much and supported and believed in me when I had to tackle some tough work situations. He also made me look beautiful in all my maternity progress photos and will continue capturing our lives so we will always remember these special times. I am so glad he will be able to stay home with Trent after I go back to work, which puts my heart and mind at ease.