Pregnancy | the second trimester

Top recs from your new mom friend 🫶

If you're in your second trimester, this post is for you! Congratulations on reaching an exciting milestone and *hopefully* nearing the end of the first trimester morning sickness and fatigue. You are doing amazing, sweetie!

Things for you, mama!

• Maternity clothes. Your baby bump is probably bumping, or will be soon! While it's exciting to go out and buy a bunch of new maternity clothes to show it off, I would start by looking at your closet and seeing what you really need. Dresses, leggings and tops you already have may still fit well into your pregnancy! You can also get away with sizing up in regular clothes for a while, if you prefer.

  • For me the trickiest thing was jeans. Story of my life, really, at 5'10". I used the old hair-tie-over-the-button trick for a while but around month 4, I needed some real maternity jeans.

  • Some of my favorites for day to day maternity clothes: Target maternity, Pink Blush maternity, Good American maternity jeans, JCrew Factory maternity jeans, Aerie and Abercrombie for leggings, comfy clothes and basics (size up one for comfort!)

    • Amazon pregnancy picks saved here

  • My general rule of thumb was to splurge on a few great pieces but keep the everyday stuff pretty budget friendly. I was also lucky to be working from home during all of my pregnancies, so I didn't need an entire maternity work wardrobe.

  • I found a few great dresses from Kindred Bravely that I passed onto my sister when she got pregnant and they're such amazing quality at a great price! I got a classic black dress for cold weather and one for warm weather and they were the pieces I was constantly reaching for while pregnant. It's easy to change up the look with a tshirt, sweater or kimono (Pink Blush has really cute ones!) layered on top.

• Get that pregnancy pillow. By 20 weeks you'll want to avoid being flat on your back. If you're a back sleeper like me, you may want to start using it a bit in advance of that so you can get used the new sleeping position.

  • This one is huge but it’s amazing and helped keep me comfortable all the way up until delivery for all three pregnancies. I do have a king sized bed though (flex!) so if your bed is smaller you may not want one this big.

  • My sister Alex got one like this that she liked and it's more compact. Would be great if you are someone who travels a lot as well!

• Start looking into breastpumps. This is a good time to get your breast pump if you're planning to breastfeed - your insurance may cover it! Check here.

  • For my first, I got the Medela Pump In Style Advanced and it’s great but it is a traditional pump meaning you have to be plugged into an outlet and its kind of a “thing” to get it all set up and use it

  • I ended up getting the Elvie as well to have a wireless option. It is amazing to not have to be plugged into a wall and to have a hands free (and quiet!) pump. It’s pricey but there are a bunch of discount codes for 15% off.

    • I’d wait before purchasing to make sure all is going well with breastfeeding! You’ll want to use a pump with stronger suction at first anyway (like the Medela) as your supply is getting built up.

  • I've also heard amazing things about Spectra's pumps. There are a LOT of options out there, but Medela and Spectra are two of the biggest/most popular brands from what I can tell.

  • If you travel a lot, you may want a more portable option. Karrie Locher has some recommendations for super portable ones that are still really effective.

    • I got the BabyBuddha for baby #3 and it is SUPER POWERFUL

Get organized.

• Consider if you want to take any baby prep classes. I was a true COVID mom and had to do absolutely all of my prep from home/online. My husband has still never stepped foot into my OBGYN's office and there were no cute baby classes at our hospital like I grew up seeing on TV. So you may have more options than I did - see what your hospital offers!

  • My company has amazing parental benefits and I was able to take some free virtual classes including L&D prep, breastfeeding, and newborn care. I work in tech so this may not be the norm, but check to see if your employer offers anything similar!

  • Because I have a real problem and just needed ALL the information available, I also took the Moms on Call 0-6 months online course. It's $99 but they do periodically put it on sale. I found it very helpful as it covers things like how to diaper a newborn, how to bathe a newborn, how to handle a sick infant - all things I knew literally nothing about, despite growing up with a big family and babysitting from a young age. I also had my husband watch most of the videos so we were on the same page.

• Master to do list. I'd recommend making one big, exhaustive list of baby to do items so you can start chunking things out and figuring out when to do what. It feels much more manageable to have a few things to do each month instead of looking at a huge unprioritized list, to me at least.

  • Here's the one I made - no judgements, please! Feel free to make a copy and use!

  • I do what's called "time blocking" and make my to do list and literally put time on my Google calendar to do each thing. If I don't get it done that day, I move the invite to another day. For those final months leading up to baby, I put a big block on every weekend with a list of what to accomplish for the nursery and baby prep. It helped to space it out and also to have it captured somewhere so I didn't forget what we needed to do!

• If you can do it now, go ahead and do it. Start on the nursery and your registry when you start having more energy. I started on both around 4 months with my guys. This is totally my personality to do things in advance and I wasn’t sure how I’d be feeling later in my pregnancy, so it felt like a good time to get some things checked off the list. My first arrived at 37w 6d (full term, but still early!) so I was grateful everything was ready.

  • Here's my registry recommendation list & hospital packing list

  • For baby #2, since I was having another boy and so close together (they're 19 months apart) we really already had everything we needed. So we decided to do a "Sip and See" after Brooks was born, to have people come over and meet him, vs. a shower or "sprinkle."

  • Since baby #3 was a girl we did a small sprinkle to celebrate.

  • This is another place where IMHO, there is no one right way and you should do whatever you want to do to celebrate you and your new baby!

My biggest advice for the second trimester.

Now that you’re (hopefully!) feeling better, get into a regular workout schedule - even if it’s just walking a few times a week. Labor is physical and this really helps! Check with your doctor first if this is new for you.

• For my second pregnancy I went to Pure Barre 3-4 times a week and it was absolutely incredible! They tell you how to modify everything for pregnancy and it’s also really great for your pelvic floor. Truly believe it helped me with my delivery. If this is in your budget and you enjoy classes, I cannot recommend it enough.

• Two apps I used during my first pregnancy at the beginning of COVID:

  • Melissa Wood Health - pilates/yoga based. Has some very quick (10 minute) options for when you’re tight on time as well as prenatal and postnatal series. Check out her IG!

  • Move Your Bump - mixed this in for my third trimester. It’s strength training and light cardio and also has helpful information for pelvic floor exercises. Here's their IG!

• There are free prenatal workouts on YouTube from Bump’N Body that are good too!

Like everything else, there are a lot of weird limitations around working out while pregnant. I tried to follow programs specifically for pregnant women vs. modifying workouts myself because certain things (i.e. laying flat on your back, being inverted) are not recommended during certain times of pregnancy and I didn't want to have to remember everything myself. If you’re taking classes in person, be sure to mention your pregnancy to the instructor and they can help you modify as well.

NEXT UP: Third trimester

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Your friendly reminder that this blog is not medical advice! This blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if they seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment for you or your family.

Affiliate Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will be compensated if you click through and take action. These are all items that I purchased with my own money, or was gifted from my registry, so please know I am only recommending things I truly use.