If you missed my “First Trimester” post then I should clear this up right off the bat: I’m NOT pregnant, I’m just nostalgically taking a look back through the trimesters of my recent pregnancy to share my favorite things that got me through.

For me, the second trimester was really when I started to accept that my pregnancy was going to be successful. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was still worried up until girl was earthside, but I felt a lot more confident hitting the second trimester mark. And if I’m being honest, it was really the 20 week mark that was my sweet spot, likely because of the 20 week ultrasound confirming all looked normal. I was relatively comfortable in the second trimester and had a good amount of energy. Things started becoming more fun because that’s when the bump started popping and once that happens everyone starts being so nice to you. Never-mind that they were really being nice to the baby, the kindness was welcome. Since body changes really became more noticeable during this period, this is when I found I needed to make some purchases to make me feel more comfortable. Read on to see what my necessary items were for the 2nd tri:

Technology

• Babylist Registry
  The second trimester is a great time to start a registry for any upcoming baby showers. I hope to do a full registry post some time in the future, but for now just wanted to mention that this was my favorite way to register. I also used Target and Amazon since you can get completion discounts on those, but this one was my fave. I like this registry best because you can add things from ANY online shop to your list. I’m a bit particular on what I like to use so I liked that I had no restrictions, the world wide web was my oyster! The only downfall of using it is that it’s a little harder for your guests to navigate purchasing multiple items, especially if they want them to be from the same store or want to consolidate because of shipping charges. That’s why I also registered at Target and Amazon, to make sure and give people options. I like that Babylist has an app and an easy way to add things to your list straight from your phone browser. Bonus: they also send you a little welcome box with goodies in it!

Sleep

• The Sustainable Baby Co. Moonwomb
  I LOVE my Moonwomb. It might be my favorite purchase of all pregnancy. It’s a 3-in-1 pregnancy pillow, nursing pillow and baby support pillow. So although it’s a bit on the pricey side, it’s very useful. I can attest it was well worth the money as I’m still using it 6 months postpartum. Back to trimester 2 though, I used this as a support pillow for sleeping every night. It was very helpful to rest my arms and growing belly on as the days went by. I liked having the arm rest because it helped open my ribcage and felt like it made breathing easier as baby started pushing the capacity smaller later in pregnancy. During the second trimester, even though my belly wasn’t that big it was still helpful to have the support. This pillow is shaped like a moon and curves from your shoulder, around your belly and ends basically at your crotch area (not another great way to describe that). So it’s certainly not a full body pillow, but it worked for me. The entire pillow is made from organic materials that are eco-friendly, vegan, fair trade, and compo-stable. Even the thread and zipper are made with organic cotton! The pillow itself is made of an outer casing of 100% certified organic cotton canvas and is filled with 100% certified organic buckwheat hulls sourced from an organic farm in South Dakota. The buckwheat gives it such a nice weight and provides sturdy structure. There is also a removable pouch inside a pocket on the pillow that is filled with 100% certified organic lavender and chamomile flowers for some bonus aromatherapy. It smells wonderful, calming and soothing. You can also buy a cover for the pillow (recommended, in my opinion- babies are messy) and all covers are made with organic cotton knit. I just really love this pillow and want to recommend it to everyone!
• Savvy Rest Organic Kapok Body Pillow
  I was so thankful to have won this pillow awhile back (before my pregnancy) as it became a necessity for sleeping along with my Moonwomb. While the Moonwomb gave me front side support, this body pillow had my back. I did not feel comfortable without a pillow holding my back straight while sleeping. I know you can get all in one pillows for front and back but I am a bit of a restless and particular sleeper so I liked having separate and different structure options for each. The Savvy Rest body pillow is made with organic kapok which looks a bit like wool and acts like down but is 100% plant based and vegan. The filling is adjustable to suit preferences (take some out if it’s too firm and visa versa). The outer material is a soft flannel organic cotton and it includes an organic cotton pillow case that has a sateen finish. A pillow like this is certainly not just for pregnancy as I’m getting a lot of use of it after birth as well. Body pillows help align the spine, provides pressure relief for the back and hips, relaxes muscles and improves blood flow. It’s such a wonderful quality pillow I highly recommend this one too!

Bodycare

• Urb Apothecary Belly Butter
  I loved this belly butter so much that I ordered a second jar when I ran out. Unfortunately my pregnancy brain led me to flip the numbers in my street address when I ordered the second jar so some stranger a few blocks down it ended up getting it instead (hence why I ordered a few different ones listed below). Whoopsie! Anyway, like I was saying, this butter is fantastic! The second trimester is when things start really stretching and bumping out so itchy skin ensues. I really didn’t use this with the hopes that it would prevent stretch marks (I’ve heard it’s hereditary if you get them anyway) it was more to soothe the tight discomfort. This butter is full of antioxidant rich ingredients that promote skin elasticity and help ease that stretching. It’s made with things like cocoa butter, sunflower oil, hemp seed oil, avocado oil, shea butter, mango butter and lavender essential oil (all of these are organic). It’s a thick lotion, like butter (hence the name), but it melts into skin really well. It smells wonderful, like chocolate lavender- sweet, warm, rich and a hint of floral – a treat to apply and form a ritual around. It comes in two sizes, I originally ordered the smaller size but in hindsight would have ordered the larger size as the smaller one didn’t get me through the whole pregnancy with daily application.
• Earth Mama Organics Belly Butter
  I ordered this belly butter to try out after I sent my re-order of the one above to the wrong house. It worked out just fine though because I really like this one too! It’s also a “butter” but is really more of what I’d call a lotion. It comes in a bottle with a pump so it’s super easy to apply. I left this on my bathroom counter and applied liberally whenever I felt the stretchies. It’s made with skin soothing ingredients such as aloe vera, olive oil, sunflower seed oil, shea butter, jojoba oil, borage seed oil and raspberry seed oil. It absorbs well and doesn’t leave very a greasy feeling behind. I used this one every morning after my shower since it absorbed well and would’t feel greasy throughout the day. It smells SO good that I continued to use this after pregnancy as just a body lotion. If you like neroli like I do, then you’ll love this lotion too. It’s aroma comes from neroli flower oil, sweet orange peel oil and vanilla fruit extract. 
• Earth Mama Organics Belly Oil
  This is another great product for stretching skin. I had to buy both this and the butter to see which I liked better and I can’t decide! I used this one at night since it seemed richer, and slightly more hydrating and also because it did tend to take longer to absorb meaning it left a bit of a greasy feeling behind. It’s made with simple, pure ingredients including grapeseed oil, organic calendula, organic jojoba oil, organic borage oil. This also smells amazing, probably even more to my liking than the butter, because it’s heavy on the neroli flower and sweet orange peel oils (but not too heavy, don’t worry sensitive noses). I’m still using this one after pregnancy too!

Clothing

• H&M MAMA Jeans
  My old jeans were no long an option in the second trimester. I know you can do the old hair tie trick or buy jeans extenders on Amazon, but I just felt an all over restriction from my regular jeans and decided I needed a more comfortable pair. I don’t know exactly which pair of H&M jeans I purchased but it was similar to the ones linked. I liked them because the stretchy band wasn’t as big and didn’t go all the way over the belly. I found that type of band to be uncomfortable, although it definitely would hold things up a little better. I know there are a ton of options for maternity jeans but I like these because they were comfortable and affordable. I bought a blue pair and a black pair and that was all I needed.
• H&M Maternity T-shirts
  I only bought a few basics for maternity clothes because I didn’t want to buy much for such a short time of use. I bought a couple of t-shirts because they get the longest use – of course short sleeves are more comfortable when it’s warm out and when it got cold in the winter I just threw an open front sweater (non maternity) on over them. I bought the ones at the link above, but I wouldn’t say the color options are my favorite currently, so here’s another option that’s similar. I like the ones linked above from H&M because: 1) they are made from organic cotton, 2) the sleeves were long enough and didn’t bunch up in my armpits all weird, and 3) they stayed snug around the belly and didn’t ride up so I didn’t feel like I was constantly tugging it down to avoid a draft. I tried a few from Target too and didn’t like them nearly as much. They were the opposite of what I just listed above, uncomfortable sleeves, the fabric stretched and wasn’t snug around the belly and I felt like I was constantly pulling them down. 
• Baby Shower Dresses
  My baby showers started at the end of the second trimester and I wanted to wear a dress and none of my pre-pregnancy dresses fit so this was another clothing purchase that had to happen. My favorite resources for maternity dresses were ASOS and Wren & Ivory. ASOS usually has a good sale section too! H&M and Target can also have some good options but I didn’t find what I was looking for there.
• H&M MAMA Jersey Leggings
  I practically lived in these leggings from trimester 2 on. When I didn’t feel like I had to wear jeans, these were my go-to. They may not be the best pregnancy leggings on the planet, but 1) they are comfortable, 2) they are made of organic cotton and 3) they are affordable. They have a wider band at the top but it was easy to fold over if you don’t like it over your belly. In my humble opinion, you should ditch anything that doesn’t make you comfortable during pregnancy (in all life really, but that’s a different post) and trade it for leggings. I lived in these and have continued my legging love affair long after birth. 

Mind/Body

• Prenatal Yoga YouTube 
  Like I mentioned in my first trimester post, yoga was my favorite form of exercise through pregnancy. It’s great to keep your joints mobile and is gentle enough to keep those loosening joints safe too. I really wish I would have made time to do even more yoga as I didn’t realize the importance of body strength until postpartum. But alas, maybe you can learn from my shortcomings. I did most of my yoga at home during the second trimester. These were my favorite YouTube videos:
  –Yoga for Strength & Flexibility – about 20 mins
  –A quick 10 minute stretcher
  –Another for Strength & Flexibility – a little longer & slightly more challenging

Other

• Babymoon
  This is obviously more frivolous, and not even a necessity, but if you can swing it I’d suggest going on a babymoon. It doesn’t even have to be anywhere fancy, just a trip where you can get away and throw responsibilities out the window. You can sleep in, shower whenever you want, eat leisurely, maybe get a prenatal massage or relieve some of that building belly weight with a swim in the pool. We went to San Diego for a babymoon because it’s my favorite place on earth and it was just what I needed to get ready to take on the third trimester. The second trimester is a great time to book a babymoon because you’ll likely feel your best and most comfortable to travel and be away from home. 

That’s all for my second trimester essentials! Be sure to share if you had any favorites that helped get you though. And stay tuned for my 3rd trimester faves coming soon!