My Pregnancy Essentials

I am so pleased to be able to say that this will be the last post I have to write while pregnant, thank the lord. With an induction planned for tomorrow morning at 8am, I thought I'd take today to reflect on my pregnancy and the various ways I made it easier for myself. How surreal to think that by the end of this weekend our little boy will finally be here... I'm so excited - I've hated pregnancy, but everyone's said the end result will be worth it, and I don't doubt that for a second.

As I've said, I have hated pregnancy, and so I've relied heavily on a few different products to see me through the various stages, if I found it bad with these, I truly don't know what I'd have done without. It really does come down to the little things in the end that just make you all that little more comfortable - and I would highly recommend all of the things below. (Apart from maybe the first one.... maybe give that one a miss if you can).

First Trimester

Ignorance

Ah ignorance is truly truly bliss. I made it through the entirety of my first trimester - and pretty much all of my second - without having a clue I was pregnant, and I can honestly not complain about any of  the first part of my pregnancy. I was still squatting twice my bodyweight for sets at 3 months in the gym, and was still comfortably running a mile and a half in 11 minutes to meet the fitness standard for work at 6 months pregnant - I was not fussed by it at all. I honestly think most of the downsides of pregnancy are in your head - or at least they were for me. The minute I found out I was pregnant, I suddenly became more tired, more inclined to curl up on the couch with a take-away, and a lot less likely to be active - which was ultimately my downfall, as I talked about here. Although ignorance is not something you can simply order Next Day Delivery on Amazon, being aware of how you are feeling, and being realistic about these feelings can help a lot. Knowing wether you are actually tired, and sick, and really need a good old take-away, or wether your just simply feeling sorry for yourself, is key.

Clean Diet and Consistent Exercise

As I said, this wasn't something I done actively because I knew about my pregnancy and wanted to make it easier, but I do believe it had something to do with how easy the entire first part of my pregnancy was. I ate an extremely regimented diet, with a lot of protein and little fat, and trained daily, which ultimately held off the weight gain and lethargy for a good while, which was key to how comfortable I was.

Second Trimester

Secret Saviours Day Gel and Night Cream

That's one hell of a long winded title, but it truly has been a saviour. My first impressions post summed it up, but I was so worried about the prospect of getting Stretch Marks as I'd had them in the past and they'd really knocked my confidence before, and since using this I've been stretch mark free. I don't know wether I can actually put it down to this or wether it was the luck of the -not so irish- irish, but lets face it, in pregnancy, anything that can make you feel even a little better about yourself, and these two creams do feel extremely luxurious are winners.

Ice Lollies and Chocolate Buttons

I probably shouldn't include these as an essential - more so my ridiculous cravings that I lived off of for the middle stage of my pregnancy. The thought of chocolate buttons right now turn my stomach and I couldn't face the prospect of a packet, but for so long these were all that I would eat. Ice lollies belong in this post a little more in that they are so good for settling the stomach - if you suffer from morning sickness or heart burn especially, they can work absolute wonders, and they taste good - win win.

Myrtle and Maude Morning Sickness Tea

Whilst touching on the subject of morning sickness - I completely raved about the Myrtle and Maude products in my review - so I won't go into them much here, but I can wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone suffering - they make all the difference. The tea and the bon-bons especially, tea for the sake of reducing nausea, bon-bons for a treat. Happy Days!

Fan

We have one of those big ugly plastic industrial looking fans pointing from the foot of our bed and have done since Week 26 - at first, it was justified, given the fact that it was the height of summer, now in the middle of the Scottish Autumn (aka Winter by normal standards), it probably isn't so much anymore. I'm normally such a cold blooded person, but during pregnancy my temperature has soared - I've never been this way before so it's so odd. I've gone from having two quilts, a throw and sleeping in a dressing gown last October, to windows open, an industrial fan and sleeping in my knickers this year. I don't know what I'd have done without my fan - it may look ugly but it does the job.

Third Trimester

Pregnancy Pillow, £33.99

I got mine from Real Softness - and I'm kicking myself for not getting one sooner. I honestly cannot fault this pillow: quality is brilliant, I love the pattern, and it's just such a comfort piece. I'd like to say I'm replacing Jordan with it - but since I've got my pillow, I've only been able to use it when I can pry it from underneath him. It's safe to say I'll be using it constantly even after my pregnancy - although it's supportive for the bump, it'll also be supportive for the baby, given how easy it is to manoeuvre.

That Ugly Jumper
Fashion was never high on my priority list during pregnancy - I'll admit that right now. In my third trimester especially though I found my favourite easy wearing jumper and all but lived in it. Mines was an old Primark number in a Size 16 from years and years ago, but I definitley got my wear out of it in the last few months alone. You'll know it when you find it,  but I truly believe everyone needs their ugly pregnancy jumper.

Raspberry Leaf Tea

I hated this at first: I was drinking it only for it's supposed 'cervix softening' purposes, and it's remarkable ability to put you into labour (fat chance, overdue!), and I given that I hate anything rasperry/cranberry flavour, I thought this would be a complete miss. It has managed to grow on me though over time and I went through 5-6 cups a day in the last few weeks - a lot swear by it for helping labour, and I'd probably agree with this.

X-Factor/Great British Bake Off/The Apprentice
Who would have thought these would ever have made it onto an essentials list for me... I hate telly - I never watched it prior to pregnancy and I didn't think I would have liked it all that much during. You fail to realise how much extra time you have at night though - what else am I going to do on a Saturday night than shout at Simon Cowell on the telly?  I won't even make an excuse for Bake Off, Bake Off needs no excuse. Shite reality TV is a pregnancy essential.

Secret Saviours Pregnancy Support Band
I've already mentioned Secret Saviours, but this time round it's the band thats on the list. Although it's not strictly supposed to be used for a support band, I've found my back feels so much more better supported now that my bump has dropped and I've been wearing this to counteract it. In the next few weeks I plan on using a Waist Trainer to try and make sure everything stays in place a bit more during recovery, but for the mean time, this is doing the trick really nicely!

And that rounds it out - for someone who hated pregnancy, I coped pretty well until the last few weeks when I turned into a giant moan, and I do think a lot of these things helped. As I said, it does come down to little things in the end and I would highly recommend trying any or all of the things above. It can't hurt after all?