Top Ten Mama to Be Must-Haves

Let's just add this post to the list of 100,000 other blog posts about baby gear and what you must have in order to successfully raise your child. I am sure you have all seen the numerous blogs and articles outlining what is best for you and your baby. I was hesitant to share my personal opinions but I had received tons of questions so I figured, why not? 

Everyone is different {you will begin to loath this idea when you have a child and you ask the doctor at 4 months why your baby is not sleeping/crying all the time/not pooping/pooping too much/not eating/eating too much etc. They will go through a list of reasons, then finish with "but every baby is different." Just give me an answer!!} I digress... So, everyone is different. Great. The good news is that if you've been searching the internet for a good list of things you will need and haven't found anything helpful, then maybe you'll find this post helpful. I'm sharing my list with the hopes that at least one person out there will find one thing on the list that makes their pregnancy just a tiny bit easier. 

So here are my Top Ten Pregnancy Must Haves {in no particular order}... 

1. Burt's Bees Mama Belly Butter
Pregnancy belly = adorable. Stretch marks = Not so adorable. There are tons of belly creams out there and I am not about to say that one is better than the other. I just really liked this one. Find a cream you like and use it daily, if not twice a day. Also, use it on more than just your belly. If you're anything like me, there are a few other areas that will start to grow as well {cough, boobies and booty, cough}.

2. The Shit No One Tells You
Aka my parenting bible! A friend got this for me without ever reading it, just because she heard it was good. Let me tell you something, if I can offer you any small piece of advice, read this book. Moms-to-be should read it. New moms should read it. Moms who have survived the first year and just want to look back at the hilarity and struggles of infant life should read it and be grateful you're out of it {however, there is a book for the toddler years as well}. I read the basic books as well, What to Expect... etc., but sometimes it's just nice to hear the honest truth from someone. My personal favorite chapter at this time, Teeth are the Devil.

3. Belly Band
There's this awkward moment during pregnancy when you no longer fit into your old clothing and you're not quite ready for maternity clothing {but once you are, you may never want to get out of it. Seriously, spandex waisted jeans are pretty amazing}. These Belly Bands are perfect for this time. They simply stretch over your pants so that you can wear them unbuttoned, or unzipped, and the band keeps the pants from falling off and letting your open fly show. I wouldn't say I'd be lost without these, but I definitely appreciated having them when the time came.

4. Upsie Belly
Aching back? Here is your remedy. You're about to be carrying a watermelon on your frontside and the more your belly grows, the more your back tends to ache. The support band was seriously a Godsend for me. It was like someone came in and said, here just let me hold some of that belly for you. If you're pregnant right now, you know how amazing that would be. 

5. Teas and food

Ok, in my first trimester all I wanted was carbs. I seriously would order a box of breadsticks from Papa Johns and just eat that for dinner {and I wonder where the 40+ lbs of weight gain came from}. I had mild morning all day sickness. It wasn't terrible but eating was not super fun. I am not a huge fan of tea but the Earth Mama Angel Baby teas actually did help. The sampler box comes with teas for each trimester. There was one that helped with heartburn as well {hello third trimester joys}. 

My personal recommendation, find the foods and drinks you can tolerate and go to town on them. But be mindful, if you're eating said foods to get through morning sickness, there's a good chance once you're out of that stage those same foods are going to make you feel nauseous. Call it Pavlov's Classical Conditioning, all I know if every time I see a Kind Bar I gag a little inside. 

6. Heartburn Remedies
I had never really had heartburn until I was pregnant. I was pretty sure I was dying the first time I experienced it. Add that to the raging hormones and you have one awesome pregnant lady to deal with. Heartburn is the worst. You're hungry but the thought of eating or drinking anything is near repulsive. Take whatever you can to subside the burn. Ask your doctor about certain antacids you can have, and then take them like candy. 

7. Exercise ball
This was about the only safe place for me to sit in my third trimester. My baby dropped 3 weeks before he decided to come out and if you've experienced having a low baby you know how uncomfortable that can be. The exercise ball was the only place I could sit for hours and be comfortable. I even used it during labor to get through contractions and it truly helped. 

8. Snoogle Body Pillow
Admittedly, I thought this pillow was stupid until I was about 6 months pregnant. I found myself using 5 pillows just to support my body and I realized this pillow may be a necessary item if I ever want to get some rest {and you do, because you're about to be awake for months, maybe even years}. I worried this would take up too much space in our bed or that I would feel suffocated with it wrapped up around me. I was wrong. This pillow must be laced with opium, because once I started using it I slept like a baby grown adult who knows how to sleep through the night. It supported my growing belly and my back and my legs. I loved this pillow. 

Once I got to about 38 weeks pregnant, the pillow did become a bit annoying. I was waking up numerous times per night to go to the bathroom and had to roll over the pillow just to get out of bed. That won't stop me from using it again or highly recommending it to any pregnant mama, though. 

9. Hard candy & Mints
I probably ate 16 bags of Jolly Ranchers in my first 16 weeks. Sucking on hard candies or mints helped me tremendously with morning sickness. The candy acted like some sort of distraction so my stomach didn't know what was going on, it just knew it didn't want to turn inside out and that made me happy. They also really helped when I was on the subway and walking through the delicious aromas that encompass NYC in the summer. Somehow the candy helped eliminate the horrid odors all around me. 

10. Apps: 
There were three main apps I used while pregnant. There are also about 100+ apps out there so just find one that works for you. I used two different ones to track baby because they offered different things, but I liked them both.

• Ovia - I mainly used this app for the medication and food look up feature. There are so many foods and medications you're "not supposed" to have while pregnant and this app made it so easy to identify those items. It was also really helpful when going out to eat before I disclosed my pregnancy. If I was unsure about something on the menu I could easily look it up on the app rather than have to ask. 
• Glow Nurture - This was the app we used regularly to follow the development of our little guy. We used Glow to track ovulation so it was just an easy transition to this app. I didn't find it to be significantly better than other apps, we were just already familiar with it. 
• BabyList - We used BabyList for our registry. I like how registries are done now where you can add things from multiple stores onto one site. That's what we liked about BabyList. Also, they notify you when an item on your list goes on sale and they have suggestions within the site. So you can view ideas for eco friendly items or items on a budget.

Alright, that's my list! Is it any different from anything else you've seen out there? I hope you gained at least a little bit from reading this. What are some other items that you find are Must-Haves that weren't mentioned here? Please share! Your one item could be the one thing someone else has been waiting for! 

Thanks for visiting!