Tuesday, August 21, 2012

My 2nd Trimester Pregnancy Must Haves

The second trimester for me brought a lot of anxiety in the beginning (I was convinced that now that I was past the first trimester "scary part" something would go wrong...just as I was getting really attached). I lived to constantly over-analyze movement patterns, bump growth, etc. 

I felt really good physically though! My 2 biggest "symptoms" were heartburn and round ligament pain.

1. Doppler- I bought my doppler when I was about 13 weeks. I was able to find baby's heartbeat right away and never had a problem with it. There were so many days where the doppler supplied me with the reassurance that I needed to take a deep breath and keep moving forward. I know that people don't necessarily recommend the doppler for major worriers normally but mine really did wonders for my peace of mind. I bought the Sonoline B doppler from this site.

2. Milk- Again a staple in my pregnancy diet. When my heartburn gets really bad at night I'll drink half a glass of cold milk and it helps to calm it down. Milk (and avoiding my main heartburn "triggers") has been the only thing I've taken for my heartburn. After the million pills that I was on in the first trimester the thought of another (even a chewable one) still makes me gag.


3. Lotion- During the 2nd trimester was when my stomach really felt like it was expanding. I'd use lotion on it every morning (both my normal, unscented body lotion and my stretchmark cream) and it was just really soothing. I also use my normal lotion for the doppler...it doesn't really work well on a dry stomach and instead of buying fancy cream lotion it was!





4. Dresses- With the belly growth spurts and the "huge" days dresses became (and have stayed) a staple for me clothing wise. They also offered comfort during the heat of early summer.




5. Pillows- I found that my round ligament pain would be worse when I didn't sleep with my normal amount of pillows. I'd also get really crampy. I started sleeping with 5 pillows and it made a huge difference in my comfort level. I found that when my stomach was getting the support during the night it would be a lot less sore during the day. I sleep with one under my head, 2 between my legs, 1 propped under my belly and one behind my back. I realize that a pregnancy pillow (like the snoogle) would probably give me the same effect but I already had the pillows so I decided to just save the money and use what I have.


6. Water Tumbler- In the 2nd tri I realized that I could drink plain water again. My mom bought me a big Starbucks tumbler and I fill it up throughout the day. I also realized that I drink more when I'm drinking through a straw so this tumbler works better for me than a normal water bottle does.


7. Books- I felt like I was waiting a lot in the second trimester. It still felt too soon (especially at the beginning) to be doing any huge shopping and we couldn't start on the nursery until we moved into our house. I read a lot to distract myself and make time go by.



8. Baby Name Book- Once we found out baby's gender the true name hunt was ON! We bought this baby name book when we were in Newport on our babymoon and still love it!

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