Favorite Pregnancy Items + Resources

Hi, friends! For those of you that follow along on Instagram, you probably saw that I had my sweet baby boy last week!! A little earlier than expected but we’re all doing well. I’ve been working on his birth story and will be sharing next week but for now, I thought I’d reflect on some of the things I found beneficial during pregnancy. In this post I’m sharing my favorite apps, wardrobe staples, pregnancy pillows and more. This list is by no means all-inclusive, just things that worked for me!

Ovia Pregnancy App

I have used this app from day one (was using the Ovia Fertility app when we first started ‘trying’). I love the weekly updates on baby’s size and how he’s developing. Ryan & I call every Saturday the “new fruit day” because that’s when we get all his new stats. I track all my appointments in the app and write down notes like baby’s heart rate. You can also track lots of data like your symptoms, mood, medications and fetal movement. All good things to keep track of in case your doctor asks.

Pregnancy Pillows

Over this pregnancy I have tried two pregnancy pillows, both have been great! The first one was the Bellifly pillow which I started using at the end of the 2nd trimester. I like to put this one under my belly and between my knees for support. The neat thing about this one is it can also be used as a nursing pillow when baby is here.

I’ve also been using the Boppy pregnancy pillow lately which is the same concept, just has slightly bigger wedges. Now I use it right in my midsection to support my belly and my back and it keeps me from rolling over. I have to say, I miss sleeping on my back and am ready to get back to it! Things definitely get super uncomfortable the last few weeks so a good support pillow is key. I like both of these because they are compact and don’t take up the entire bed like some others on the market.

Baby Classes

Since I work in healthcare, I feel like I have a good general knowledge base about the delivery process and baby’s general health but Ryan & I thought it would still be a good idea to prepare ourselves. He did an infant CPR class (which I recommend for everyone) and we did a “preparing to parent a baby” class at the hospital. Honestly it was pretty basic and we found our online baby classes to be much more in depth and helpful. We did a course from Arrow Birth which has tons of videos that you can watch from the comfort of your own home that cover anything from pregnancy and signs of labor to baby’s first moments and what to do the first 2 weeks. It was super informational and engaging with info given by doctors, midwives and doulas. They also have several featured birth stories that you can watch and truly get a feel for the process (this was good for Ryan to see!). If you are interested in this course, you can use the code BABYSAPEL to get $100 off!

Babylist Registry

I loved using Babylist for our registry. You can basically link any item from any site to one central registry so you don’t have to limit yourself to one store. There is an app so you can easily update it on the go and it will provide a list of who got you what, which was so useful when writing thank you cards. They will also send you a Babylist box full of samples like bottles, wipes and teethers which was nice.

Favorite Maternity Clothes

Here are few of my most-worn maternity clothes. I’ve found myself to be wearing the comfiest pieces over and over because honestly who wants to spend a lot of money on things you’ll wear for a few months. I will say invest in a good pair of lounge pants/joggers- I wear these ALL the time and wore them into and out of the hospital. These long sleeve tees have been great, super soft and show off the bump. Invest in a good pair of comfy & stretchy jeans, I got these AG jeans at a consignment shop when the bump started to pop and they have been my go-to’s. For cute sweaters and pretty dresses I can’t recommend Pink Blush Maternity enough! So many cute options at affordable prices.

Baby Books

I’m not a big reader so can’t offer a ton of recommendations here, but I thoroughly enjoyed Cribsheet. It’s written by an economist who breaks down the data on how to take care of baby regarding sleep, safety, feeding and all of the things. It’s an easy and interesting read- I originally got it for Ryan since he’s a numbers guy and he learned a lot from it! I also read Bringing Up Bébé and while there were a few good points, I found that it had too much fluff and took to long to get to the point.