Must Haves: Pregnancy & Bedrest Edition

I'm pretty new to this mommy gig, but even so I've found as I look back on the past year of my life I'm already starting to forget so much.  I know it's not possible to remember every little detail (even though I want to!) but I do want to remember the high points and be able to look back at our story together.  I love blogging for that reason because it's so easy for me to sit down and write about our current season of life and I really enjoy looking back at old blog posts.

Before I forget I'm going to take a few posts to jot down things I want to remember/ improve on/ do for our next pregnancy and baby.  Having a baby (and all their stuff!) is so overwhelming at times, so I think this will help me in the future when I want to look back and see what I was doing at this time that worked or didn't work.

First up: my pregnancy and bed rest must-haves!
1) A great husband
Matty was so good to me, especially when he had to step up while I was on bed rest for 13 weeks and manage all the household stuff.  He put Icy Hot on my back 80 million times, took my weekly belly pic, listened to me moan about my newest ache or pain, and lifted me emotionally when I broke down (which happened a lot!)

2) A great doctor
My pregnancy with Carter was so tumultuous and he is here solely by the grace of God and Dr P's expertise.  She was able to save my cervix, stop pre-term labor several times, figure out the perfect mixture of medications to keep me pregnant as long as possible, calm my fears, and eventually deliver me a perfect baby at 35 weeks that did not need a NICU stay.  When I think about how many times we could have lost Carter I get chills; I could never repay Dr P for everything she did for us.  Any other doctor and I truly believe things would not have turned out the way they did.

3) Icy Hot stick
I think my number one pregnancy symptom was a back ache- and it never ended!! It was pure torture for me to sit in a chair, ride in the car, or be in any position besides lying down.  At first I was using the Icy Hot cream, which Matt hated to apply because it got all over his hands.  Then we found the stick and never turned back! It was a life saver!

source

4) Vitamin E cream
I don't think I made it far enough along in my pregnancy to get stretch marks, but the Vitamin E cream sure did help with the itching that tortured plagued me.  I'm sure if I had made it those last 5 weeks where you really grow that I would have gotten a stretch mark or two, but hopefully not as many as I would have had if I didn't use the lotion.  Plus it smelled really good!

source

5) A good pair of maternity jeans
I spent 90% of my pregnancy in bed in PJ's, but when I did get out (and the first few weeks after Carter was born) I was always in my fav jeans from A Pea in the Pod.  They were the perfect cut and didn't even look like maternity jeans.  I am tempted to pull them from the attic and keep wearing them :)

source

6) Comfy tee's
These tee's from Target were my favorite- comfy and versatile and still pretty cute.  So many maternity shirts make you look bigger than you are, which is not a look I was going for at any point in my pregnancy.  I think I bought these in every color and just rotated through them for my weekly doctor appointments.

source

7) A lap desk
A MUST for bed rest.  This thing held my laptop, Kindle, magazines, note pad and remotes.  The only times I would have to get out of bed was for the restroom or food.  It got pretty heavy so Matt would put it on the bed for me before he left for work in the morning and would put in on the floor for me at night, lol.  Plus I think it will be a cute little desk for Carter to use once he is a little bigger.

source