Top 5 All Time Pregnancy Must Haves: First Time Mom’s Edition

Being a mama to be is hard. You ache, you have to pee all of the time, it’s hard to get comfortable at night, and your cravings are through the roof. When you have no idea what to expect, it can be hard to adjust to all of the changes. What can you do to make yourself more comfortable? Ease the nausea? What about finding clothes that fit? Exercise routines? Dealing with mood swings? Cravings? It is all so new for the first time mom.

#1 A Pregnancy Pillow

Good Lord Almighty, sweet baby Jesus up above… My pregnancy pillow is DEFINITELY my number one go to pregnancy must have. When I first found out I was pregnant, I totally took advantage of the whole sleeping on my belly privilege. As the baby grows bigger and your belly grows bigger and wider, your hips and back have trouble supporting all of that new weight like they used to.

A pregnancy pillow will solve that problem for you. There are a couple different styles to choose from, including the C-Shaped and the U-Shaped. I personally have and use the C-Shaped one, and I absolutely love it. I chose that one over the other because I can fold it up in many different ways depending on how I want to use it.

When you sleep with the pregnancy pillow it will support your back, hips and neck. It will make you feel like you are sleeping on a cloud, and will DEFINITELY allow you to get the best nights sleep possible. The one that I have been using since 10 weeks pregnant also has replaceable covers, so you can launder the fabric. (trust me, when you start leaking colostrum this comes in super handy). The C-Shaped one that I have will also double up nicely as a breastfeeding pillow once my little man gets here. I am all about products that have multiple uses and save me money in the long haul!

#2 Sea Bands

Sea Bands. You may have heard of them before if you have been on a cruise or airplane and have issues with nausea or sea sickness. They were initially invented to prevent sea sickness, and then were later discovered to help pregnant women with morning sickness as well.

The Sea bands go on your wrists, with one on the left wrist and one on the right. They each have a single pressure point bead sewed into the fabric that when placed between the two main tendons in your wrist relieves nausea. I know, it sounded to good to be true for me too.

I read a bunch of reviews online before buying them, and the reviews were pretty mixed. Some people said that they were their go to for getting rid of morning sickness, and others said that they did not help a single bit. They had them at my local Walmart, so I decided to go take a look at them myself and decide if they were right for me.

When I got to Walmart, I picked up the box and started reading the back. On the back of the box, it does say that they only seem to effect and help about 50 percent of the people who use them. I was suffering from morning sickness pretty badly in the end of the first trimester and even into the second, so I was willing to take that risk to see if I was a part of that lucky fifty percent.

Thankfully, I was. They worked absolutely wonderfully for me, and I still have them sitting in my drawer in their little carrying case just in case I ever need them in the future for a cruise or airplane ride. If you are having severe morning sickness, I would definitely give the Sea Bands a try. Just keep your receipt, just in case you happen to fall in the not so lucky 50 percent that it doesn’t seem to work for. Fingers crossed for you!

#3 Preggie Pop Drops

I cannot vouch for these drops enough. They literally saved me SO many times from throwing up when I was suffering from morning sickness in the first two trimesters. I am nearing the end of my third trimester now, and thankfully I have not found the need to pull them back out and use them (Although I have thought about it, they taste just like sour candy!).

Preggie Pop Drops are chock full of natural anti nausea ingredients. I found out the hard way when I went to the local pharmacy and tried to buy anti nausea medicine, that pregnant women do not have a whole lot of options when it comes to nausea relief medications. That is where the Preggie Pop Drops come into play.

Not only are they natural and drug free, but they also come in four different flavors that taste absolutely amazing including sour raspberry, green apple, sour lemon and sour tangerine. I loved all of the flavors, and it really helped my nausea. Definitely a win!

#4 Maternity Clothing

Maternity clothing is something that I didn’t think I would need. For some reason, I thought that I could just buy oversized tshirts and steal my boyfriends clothes to wear during my 9 months of pregnancy.

That worked for a little while, probably up until about 30 weeks for me. But, pregnancy is 40 weeks. So that’s a whole 10 weeks without comfortable fitting clothing, no bueno.

At about 30 weeks, I decided to check out the maternity section for clothes for the first time. I found myself some maternity jeans, and they are the most comfortable pair of jeans that I own now! They also make my bump look super cute, so that is a plus.

If you are frugal like I am, you probably looked at the price of the maternity tops, bottoms and dresses and got slightly nauseated. I know that I did! I am not comfortable spending $30-$50 hard earned dollars on something I will only be able to wear for a short time, so I hit up my good old friends…

Yard sales and Facebook marketplace. Those are my two favorite places to peek around for good, inexpensive finds. I got myself an adorable (and super comfortable!) Maternity dress at a local yard sale for just $3. Win!

Either way you prefer to shop- whether in high end stores or in yard sales and scouring the internet for deals, grab yourself a few maternity clothing items. They will help to make your pregnancy all the more comfortable.

#5: Prenatal Vitamins

This one should be pretty self explanatory, but I put it on the list anyways because there are some key distinctions here. Yes, prenatal vitamins are essential for any healthy pregnancy. Yet, not all prenatal vitamins are created equally.

When I went to my doctor in the beginning of my pregnancy, they gave me a free sample of a prenatal vitamin in pill form. It had DHA, folate, and tons of other amazing ingredients that are super helpful for both mom and growing baby to be.

When I realized that I couldn’t tolerate swallowing the pills anymore (thank you second trimester nausea) I decided to switch to gummies instead. When shopping for the gummies, I tried to match up the ingredients as closely as possible to the sample vitamins my doctor gave me.

I made sure to grab gummies that had DHA added, and used folate instead of folic acid. Something about the folate in the vitamin helps it absorb better in your body than folic acid does, according to my doctor.

If you’re unsure of what prenatal is best for you, simply ask your doctor. They would be more than happy to send you home with some recommendations, an probably some samples too!

During pregnancy, the baby will take the nutrients that it needs to develop from your body, regardless of if you have enough for yourself or not. That is why taking prenatal vitamins is so vital. So with that said, be sure to remember to take your prenatal every single day!

That’s the end of the list!

I hope you enjoyed this read and take away some helpful tips to help you or a loved one have a smoother pregnancy. Growing a human (or humans!) is very hard work! It’s my mission to make things as simple and easy as I can for you guys.

If you came to the post looking for an update on baby boy, he is growing nicely! He weighed 5 pounds 13oz at my last ultrasound scan at 36+3. He is moving around like crazy, and has dropped very far down into my pelvis. I have a feeling I may not make it until August 13th!