Things I’ve Used During Pregnancy and Loved!

Things I've Used During Pregnancy

Mango Sweater Dress (not maternity, wearing size 2) | Marc Fisher Boots (TTS) | Amazon The Drop Bag | Amazon Sunglasses

I’m officially 25 weeks this week! If things go as planned, Michael and I will be meeting baby McHugh in 3.5 months (February 22nd due date)! Craziness. Since I’m almost to my third trimester, I wanted to share a round up of things I’ve used during pregnancy and loved! I don’t know if it’s because of the pandemic or the time of year or the fact that I’ve (thankfully) felt pretty good for most of my pregnancy so far, but it honestly has flown by up to this point.

Things I’ve Used and Loved During Pregnancy

Form Fitting Dresses

I’ve had so much fun dressing the bump! I didn’t really pop until around 16-18 weeks. Ironically enough, form fitting dresses have been my go to! Something I generally never wore pre-pregnancy. I find that the more form fitting pieces show off the bump while loose fitting pieces tend to swallow me up. I linked a few of my favorites below, all non-maternity.

Generally, I’ve found that the best places to shop for dresses that are relatively inexpensive but still high quality are Mango, Amazon, and ASOS. Depending on reviews of each piece, I either stick to my usual size or size up one size. In Mango pieces, I stick with my regular size as most of their pieces run oversized in general. Same with ASOS. I sized up to a medium in my go-to Amazon black tank dress.

ASOS and Mango both have maternity specific styles, which I might dive into during my third trimester.

For more maternity style inspiration, check out this post!

Things I've Used During Pregnancy

Ritual Prenatal Vitamins

I’ve been taking Ritual’s Prenatal Vitamins since January of this year, when Michael and I first decided to start trying to have a baby. I love Ritual because they’re completely transparent about what’s in their vitamins. Only the stuff you need, no crazy fillers. I’ve had a great experience with the taste and after taste of the vitamins, which came in especially handy during those first trimester bouts with nausea.

Get $15 OFF your Ritual Vitamins by using my LINK.

Madewell Maternity Jeans

The only piece of maternity clothing I’ve purchased is jeans – two pairs of Madewell jeans! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! I was a big fan of Madewell jeans pre-pregnancy, so I was hoping I’d love their maternity jeans just as much. The reasons I love them: the full belly band – it goes up to just below my bra, the belly band is spandex as opposed to cotton like a lot of other maternity jeans (the spandex is so much more comfortable, sleek, and stays up), and lastly, the skinny fit of the jeans. The jeans are great all around, they make me feel like I’m rocking my usual skinny jeans. I have this pair (shown in the photos and currently ON SALE!), and I recently grabbed this pair!

For sizing reference, after reading the reviews, I decided to size DOWN one size from my usual Madewell denim size. In non-maternity Madewell jeans, I wear a size 26. I sized down to a size 25 in the maternity pair, and they fit perfectly with plenty of room to grow through the third trimester. Trust me, order one size down.

Madewell Maternity Jeans ON SALE! (size down one size, I’m usually a 26 and wearing a 25 here) | Grayson Button Up (wearing size 2, get $25 OFF with code ASHLEEHIGHTOWER)

Hatch Belly Oil

I’ve been using Hatch Belly Oil on my belly, legs, boobs, and booty since I started growing! I slather it on after every shower and sometimes twice a day if I’m feeling extra dry or tight. So far, it’s worked great! No stretch marks yet (fingers crossed it stays this way). It’s super hydrating without being sticky or super oily. It’s pricey, but so worth it! The bottle is a lot bigger than I expected it to be. I’ve been using it for about 3 months now, and I just placed a re-order.

It’s also a clean product, which you know is super important to me! 🙂

Beautycounter Body Butter & Hand Cream

On the same hydration front, every inch of my skin has been super dry throughout my pregnancy, but especially so over the past few weeks. I’ve been slathering on Beautycounter’s Body Butter on my arms and legs and using the Hand Cream on my hands. Both are staples in Beautycounter’s collection of products, but they’re also available in fun holiday sets too (hand cream trio & body butter trio)!

All clean products.

Things I've Used During Pregnancy

Mango Dress (not maternity, wearing size 2) | Marc Fisher Boots (TTS) | Amazon The Drop Bag | Amazon Sunglasses

Lululemon Leggings

I’ve been living in my pre-pregnancy Lululemon leggings. My two favorites are the Wunder Under Leggings and the Align Leggings. The Wunder Under Leggings are ideal for working out. If I had to pick one that I think I’ll wear throughout my entire pregnancy and postpartum, I’d chose the Align Leggings.

The Align material is much softer and because of the fabric, they stay up over the bump better than my Wunder Under pairs. I’m always a size 6 in Lululemon pants, and I’m still wearing my regular size. They’ve grown perfectly with my bump!

Things I've Used During Pregnancy

Nećessaire Exfoliating Scrub

One thing I never had to deal with before becoming pregnant, back acne. Yep. Mine is pretty bad or at least in my opinion it is. Exfoliating seems to help. I’ve been using Nećessaire’s Exfoliating Scrub in the shower.

It’s a clean product and fragrance free.

Ingrid & Isabel Bellaband

Worth every penny of the $28 price tag! The Bellaband is a band that allows you to wear your jeans and denim shorts or really any pants with a zipper/button fly AFTER you’ve grown out of them. You can leave your jeans undone (unbuttoned/unzipped) and simply wear the band over the unzipped portion to hold everything in. The Bellaband has allowed me to continue to wear some of my favorite pairs of jeans and allowed me to wear my pre-pregnancy denim shorts on our recent beach trip (thank goodness I didn’t have to buy a new pair!).

It has a sticky band at the bottom that keeps it in place. It’s available in four different colors – I have the black. Use the size chart on their site for sizing. For reference, I have a size 1.

Things I've Used During Pregnancy

Mango Dress (not maternity, wearing size 2) | Marc Fisher Boots (TTS) | Amazon The Drop Bag | Amazon Sunglasses

Kendra Scott Jack Ring as Wedding Band

My wedding rings stopped fitting around 23 weeks. I happened to get in a gift from Kendra Scott around this same time – the Jack Ring is the PERFECT ring to have in place of my wedding band. I have the Teal Crystal color, which I LOVE, but I think I’m going to get the White Crystal to wear as my “wedding band” throughout my pregnancy (and beyond until my rings fit again). It’s reasonably priced, and like all of Kendra’s pieces, the quality is great!

For more pregnancy posts, check out the Motherhood tab at the top of the page!

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