I cannot believe that I am rounding out my last week of my second trimester. Although I am anxiously awaiting June to be here, there are definitely a handful of things that have helped me through these past few months!
1. Humidifier
I have super dry skin, especially in the winter time. Combine that with the endless pregnancy cold, the lack of sinus/cold medicines that I can take, and overall itchy and dry skin that comes with pregnancy, my humidifier is a must. I have a warm mist humidifier in my bedroom which runs on high every night next to my bedside. It keeps my skin moist, hopefully helping the possibility of stretch marks, and helps me breath better. The warm mist humidifier has been my choice for years after some research when I had issues with my hair having terrible static issues in the winter time. Not something that I will use in the baby's room (cold humidifier with little ones for sure), but I love my warm mist option for me.
This may bite me in the butt later, but I am still holding strong on not buying expensive stretch mark cream. I did tons of research once I found out that I was pregnant and discovered that this vitamin e cream has the majority of the ingredients that those expensive creams have in them, but less chemicals. I'm not saying that the more costly items are harmful; I do not really know one way or the other. What I am saying is that the vitamin E, aloe vera, wheat germ, sunflower seed oil, collagen and elastin are wonderful for your growing belly. Did I mention it is less than $4 for two tubs of this stuff!? I have started mixing Bio-Oil in my lotion a little bit at a time within the past month to add an oil-based additive, but still way cheaper than the other options out there!
If you haven't figured out by now, I just love my Mama Bird Boxes! I absolutely adore presents in the mail and a specialty curated box just for my month of pregnancy is wonderful. I have been doing separate reviews of each box as they come along if you want to read more about them here and here.
4. Babyli.st
Baby registry-ing is hard. I'm serious. I have not stressed out more about one single thing this entire pregnancy than what to put on my registry. Not because there are not enough options, but the complete opposite. There are too many! The idea of picking the wrong baby carry, wrong bottle types, whatever has had me researching more for my registry than I did in graduate school. Babyli.st has really helped me with this. Throughout the past month, friends, family, and even strangers have been seriously weighing in on their opinions on what "must haves" I needed for the baby. Many of these things where items that you could not find at Target or Babies R Us, and this is where Babyli.st has came in handy. As the recommendations have been flooding in, I added them to my list.
For five months, I added everything that I could find that I thought I would like. If I saw something neat on Instagram, it was added. My grandmother suggested something, on the list it went. A best friend for high school with multiples said I needed this or that, I added it. Up until about three or four weeks ago, I added so many things to my list, and now I have just as easily reformatted it to what I truly want for my registry. It was so nice be able to pick a crib here and a baby wrap brand there and not worry about if they carried it at a specific store. If you want to check out my Babyli.st, it can be found here (I also registered at Target as well).
I have had sciatic nerve pain since the beginning of my pregnancy. It does not surprise me; I have been going to the chiropractor for years. The biggest bummer about it is how much it has slowed me down in my active lifestyle. Simply walking is a huge bother sometimes. This is why I love my Beo Bei Belly Sport Band. I found them on Instagram through a Tone It Up gal who loved hers. The more I read about it, I knew I had to get one. Designed for both pregnancy support and post-pregnancy care, this band supports the abdominals, take pressure off the low back, and eases many common discomforts of pregnancy including sciatic pain. It also helps me extend the life of my normal workout pants, which is great!
