Pregnancy Helpers

This post covers my entire first and second trimesters & a little bit of my third trimester. I need all the help I can get while I'm pregnant. I'm not one of those people who feel awesome pregnant. I can't bust out babies back to back. If you're one of those unicorn women - more power to ya girlfriend, you're amazing!!

My first trimester is rough, probably like most women's first trimester. Fatigue, nausea, vomiting, more fatigue and vomiting. My first trimester feels like a fog. I spend a lot of time on the couch, While that wasn't super easy with a toddler, I still made it work ;) Usually by the end of the day I had given all I could give so Matt would help me clean up dinner & put Kess down for bed. I would try, but would end up throwing up my dinner or something else glamorous. 

A few things I found that really helped me were...

Preggie Pop Drops I like the drops more than the lollies, because I can just pop them in my mouth quick. The flavor that I loved the most was ginger. I know that sounds super gross, but it works! The Meridian Babies R Us sells a big pack of ginger ones and I used them constantly. I was certain that people could smell them across a room, but I didn't even care. The flavor is more spicy, like a ginger snap rather than chinese-y ginger (does that even make sense haha)

NoMo Nausea Bands I contacted NoMo Nausea as soon as we considered trying for a second baby. I was so horribly sick with Kess that I knew I wanted anything and everything in my arsenal. These bands are life saving. I left them in a jacket pocket and couldn't find them for a few weeks. I wanted to cry (actually, I probably did.) I found them, did a little happy dance & wore them until I was far enough along that the all day every day nausea wore off. These are also really great for migraines, motion sickness & traveling. I'm really bummed that I didn't think to use them while I had bad migraines. I have recently had what I'm assuming are Braxton Hicks and have felt some nausea coming back so I slipped these on and they helped big time! They come in kid sizes, adult sizes and even dog sizes. ;)

doTERRA Balance Oil This one was a life saver. This oil is not only for emotion balance (much needed over here) & physical balance... most morning sickness is a form of motion sickness so this really helped me with nausea. Plus it's even better for postpartum emotions. I get flooded with those so I basically bathe in this oil. I use it on my newborns (on their little feet) to help ground them to their new home here on Earth. Sounds a little granola, but the spiritual nature of it brings tears to my eyes. 

LaCroix Sparkling Water My family and husband still think this is so gross. But I couldn't stand the sugar or sweeteners in soda, but needed the carbonation to help keep my nausea at bay, so I would guzzle the coconut flavor and the orange! The Orange is amazing! So good! Once you get used to the lack of "soda goodness" these taste pretty good ;) Now, soda doesn't phase me and it's basically my lifeline, but I did sip on some coconut LaCroix tonight and it was delicious! I'm so healthy. 

Did anyone else have weird first trimester cravings that you couldn't function without? Mine was orange juice. We went through it crazy fast because I drank a few big glasses every morning. Oddly enough, the acidic juice calmed my nausea a ton. I also crave anything vinegar. Salt & Vinegar chips, Blimpie sandwiches with extra oil and vinegar & the real kicker... Cucumbers in vinegar and water. I would literally sip on the vinegar/water mixture throughout the day. Matt couldn't wrap his head around that one ;) into my second trimester I craved pickles (Dill for the win) & Halo oranges. Did not leave the store without them. Matt and I would sit on the couch late at night watching a show chowing down on pickles and oranges - doesn't get more romantic than that. ;) I eventually liked sweets and sugar again, which only added to my weight gain, but whatevs.

I hate to say it, but there is a short window in my pregnancies that I actually love being pregnant. It has come and gone. It's now harder to grab things on the floor for Kess. She loves to read her bedtime books on the ground, picnic style & that makes me feel like I'm breaking my back. I do it anyways, but getting up isn't pretty. Last week I grabbed something off the floor & grunted the whole time. Matt just stared. I said, "It's getting hard to pick things up." "I can see that." Rude... ;)

We are nearing the last weeks of the pregnancy. I'm now 35 weeks & I can't believe how close we are to having him here! Somedays I have a small panic attack thinking about how little time we have left. Somedays I pray he comes early and healthy because I'm kinda over this baby growing thing. ;)