Good Monday morning, y’all! Gosh, I am feeling SO much better during this second trimester (currently 17 weeks + 1 day). That first trimester was a doozy. It actually felt like the morning sickness and overall crappy feeling would never go away. My mom kept telling me that it would ease up soon and I would start feeling so good. I immediately called her a liar. But again, momma was right. IT DOES GET BETTER!

So today, I want to share a few of my first trimester necessities with y’all. These are things that I just absolutely couldn’t have lived without during those first weeks of pregnancy – some things that I never knew I would need, that I now know I would include in any gift package to newly pregnant ladies.

Here we go…

1  |  Preggie Pops – My friend Whitney told me about these and I don’t know what kind of voo-doo magic is in them, but they help ease the nausea tremendously. I seem to get this sour metallic taste in my mouth (pretty common among pregnant ladies, so I’ve heard) and popping one of these bad boys seems to put that taste at ease and keep the nausea a bit more at bay.

2  |  Saltines + Snacks – So, my morning sickness was so bad that I couldn’t even lift my head from my pillow in the mornings without eating a few saltines first. How did I not cry more that first trimester? So, even if you start out feeling great (I did), you may want to grab some saltines at the store to keep on hand. Majority of the time, my nausea would set in when I waited too long to eat. I found that it was best for me (everyone’s different) if I ate snacks and small meals throughout the day instead of any big meals. My favorite snacks have been bananas, apples, Babybel cheese, yogurt and popcorn. They’re easy to throw in my bag in the morning before I head to work. But do what works for you! If there’s one thing I can’t stress enough, it’s if it sounds good to you when nothing else does and you think you can easily stomach it then EAT IT. There was a solid two weeks there when I could hardly stomach saltines…but somehow a chocolate milkshake sounded and tasted delicious. So, chocolate milkshakes it was!

3  |  Beautycounter No. 3 Lustro Face Oil – My skin is normally crystal clear. No blemishes, no breakouts. But that changed and suddenly I was having a few breakouts and my skin just looked dull. So, in swooped my makeup savior – Beautycounter’s No. 3 Face Oil. This stuff is completely safe for pregnant ladies and nursing momma’s (even safe for kids!) and was magic on my blemishes. I used two drops and rubbed it into my clean skin at night. It calmed my angry pregnant skin and made it smooth, hydrated and a bit more like my normal skin. Halleluyer.

4  |  Oil Diffuser – Oh man. Eventually, I’ll have one in every room in the house and my office at work. Because there’s very little medicine you can take during pregnancy (and Tylenol did not agree with me that first trimester), I totally relied on essential oils and an oil diffuser. My favorite oils to diffuse were lavender and peppermint (sometimes together). Lavender helps calm and relax and ease me into sleep, while peppermint helped with headaches and the nausea.

5  |  Peppermint Essential Oil – The holy grail! I didn’t get many headaches/migraines (I’m prone to migraines anyways), but when I did I would slather on my peppermint oil on my neck, shoulders and forehead. Not only did it help with my headaches, but it helps with nausea and heartburn. When needed, I would put a drop or two of peppermint on my tongue and swallow a bit of water with it.

6  |  Ginger anything (and everything!) – Pretty sure I (or rather Zach) bought out our local herb shop with anything and everything ginger. Ginger helps with the nausea so I had gingerale, ginger candy, ginger chews, etc. There were definitely a few weeks there where it was hard for me to even stomach drinking water, so gingerale was on hand almost non-stop.

7  |  Dry Shampoo – You’re not going to want to wash your hair. Hell, you’re barely going to want to shower. Thank goodness for dry shampoo. I mean, I use it anyway on a regular basis, but when you have super thick, unruly hair and washing and drying it takes a solid hour and a half – NOPE. So, I’d usually wash it on a Saturday or Sunday when I could take my time and lay down in between drying sections. Then I’d go all week without washing (which is actually pretty normal for me…should I admit that?…). Dry shampoo saved me time and effort and mostly my sanity and stomach.

8  |  Raspberry Tea – Zach actually found this remedy (I’m pretty sure he deserves a medal for taking care of me and putting up with all my first trimester demands). I don’t know what it is, but raspberry tea seemed to help with the nausea. He would make me a cup almost every night for several weeks and it helped a ton. I drank the brand I linked, but there are several different kinds out there.

So those were my go-to first trimester necessities in a nutshell. What were yours? Any we have in common? Any nausea remedies I missed?

Happy Monday!