What to buy when you find out you’re pregnant

Quick version: did you just find out you’re pregnant?! CONGRATS! Here’s what to buy if you’re not sure where to start.

Finding out you’re pregnant is SUCH a fun and exciting time!! We thought for a while about what we should include in this post, and what we’d tell a best friend to buy when she finds out she’s pregnant! So if you just found out you’re pregnant and you’re not sure what to buy first, this post is for you.

In a hurry? Shop my picks below:

First trimester pregnancy tips

Here are some helpful things we recommend to buy when you find out you’re pregnant, to get you through that first trimester!

Pregnancy Tests

First of all let’s talk about HOW to find out you’re pregnant. Pregnancy tests come in a bazillion different brands and it’s normal to get impatient and waste money on being overly excited about wanting to find out RIGHT AWAY ha! Corrine has said she’s often gotten excited about maybe being pregnant when she’s not – sometimes buying a box of pregnancy tests, and later a box of tampons, in the same day. It’s a bummer, but it happens.

Corrine usually buys first response pregnancy tests since you can tell earlier, but with most of her pregnancies she’s tested positive about 4 days before her missed period. She can always tell she’s pregnant before because she says she gets dizzy and her breasts are so painful!

HOT TIP: Amazon has this pregnancy test that has over 14,000 5-star reviews and for $7.89 you can get 20 tests! AMAZING.

We’ve also heard that the dollar store sells pregnancy tests, and they work like a charm! They might not be early detection, but if you’re willing to wait till the day of or day after your missed period, then you can grab one there for ultra cheap.

Prenatals

One of the first things you’re going to want to do when you find out you’re pregnant (or even when you start trying) is take a good prenatal vitamin. There are SO MANY of these out there. Corrine has taken a couple and hated them, because they make her even more sick, but she’s taken a couple she loves.

One of her favorites is New Chapter Perfect Prenatal because you can take them ON AN EMPTY STOMACH and not get sick! Pretty awesome. Maybe not as cheap as some off-brand ones you’ll find at the grocery store, but if you’re fighting morning sickness, then these are really, really nice. These also have more than 1,000 positive reviews!

Tips for a Growing Belly

One of the things you’ll start to notice, and it’s WAY worse with each kid, is that your pants are gonna get snug, FAST. Grab yourself this two-step combo of the support band + a matching colored seamless cami to pair over it. The cami makes it not so weird (esp. when you’re still not ready to tell!) that you have something sticking out of the bottom of your shirt, it just looks like a long cami. But this support band will make it so that you can continue to wear ALL your favorite jeans, even when you can’t button your pants anymore.

Stretch Marks

Okay mama, this is one of the BEST secrets for pregnancy – how to avoid stretch marks!!! Corrine always tell her friends to get themselves a bottle of Mother’s Special Blend RIGHT away when you find out you’re pregnant. Apply this magical blend on your belly and sides and back every day right out of the shower, through your entire pregnancy, to avoid or deter stretch marks from creeping in.

This is Corrine’s personal experience with Mother’s Special Blend!

“I’m very very prone to getting stretch marks – I have them all over my body from growing fast as a kid. On my legs, my boobs, everywhere. I got a ginormous belly with my older girls and didn’t have ONE stretch mark on my belly with Millie. Not one! I fully attribute my success to Mother’s Special Blend haha. $19 and an entire bottle might last you through your whole pregnancy. Worst case scenario, you’ll have to buy two.”

Morning Sickness

Morning sickness is so real and so rough! Corrine took Zofran with her two older girls their ENTIRE pregnancies, but things have changed and according to her doctor, there was a study done in Europe that showed a possible heart defect linked to mothers who took Zofran during pregnancy. SO with Millie she tried Diclegis.

Diclegis is amazing because it’s category 1 for pregnancy, so it’s completely safe to take while pregnant!! It’s fully approved by the FDA for pregnant women and luckily it worked really well for Corrine. A couple tricky things though: it does make you VERY sleepy. Like super hard to get out of bed in the morning sleepy. But, worth it. It’s also VERY expensive. Corrine said she had a hard time getting her insurance to cover it at first, because it’s so expensive. In desperation, she showed up to the pharmacy to just pay out of pocket, only to find out it was $550+ for one month’s supply. YIKES!!!

Luckily, she only had to wait a few days before hers was approved by her insurance, but in the meantime, and when she’s felt really sick and already taken the maximum dose for the day, she’s used the Doterra oil Slim & Sassy. A few drops in a capsule internally or even rubbing a little on your belly helps tremendously with easing nausea. It’s a blend of all plant based ingredients: ginger, peppermint, grapefruit, lemon, and cinnamon so it’s all stuff you could ingest individually but for some reason in that blend it just really helps! You can get it retail here or sign up for a wholesale account here to get it wholesale.

TIP: If you’re just a few weeks pregnant but you haven’t had your first doctor appointment yet and you’re so sick you want to die, DON’T WAIT till your first appointment to call your doctor and ask for something! Most likely they can help you out with some samples or calling in a prescription for something that’ll help you, and you don’t have to suffer in silence until your 9-10 week appointment rolls around.

Favorite Pregnancy Books

• What to Expect When You’re Expecting – A great reference book for each stage of pregnancy, even if it’s not your first time
• Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy – This is a fun book to read if it’s your first pregnancy!
• Baby Wise – It’s pretty early to be worrying about this, but if you want to read it a couple times before baby comes so you really have the idea of a sleep schedule mastered, this is an amazing book that we recommend 1,000%!

Maternity/Nursing Bras

Most likely your chest is going to grow a size or two in the first few weeks of pregnancy! It can be so uncomfortable. Like we mentioned earlier, while your bras are getting tight, you’re probably super sensitive and maybe in a little pain too in that department! So in our opinion, it’s VERY important to have an incredibly comfortable bra.

It’s smart to invest in a good nursing bra a size or two up from your normal cup and band size since you’re probably going to keep growing. We’d go 1 size up from your normal size and that’ll (hopefully!) be a good guess as to how much your band and cup will grow. That’s worked for Corrine in the past.

This Sexy Mama Nursing Bra was Corrine’s VERY favorite nursing bra that she lived in while nursing her older girls! It looks and feels like a regular bra, but it’s actually pretty comfortable, too. It’s pretty and structured and is super easy to nurse with.

The ThirdLove 24/7 nursing bra is incredibly comfortable, and we love that it’ll stretch and grow with you comfortably throughout your pregnancy.

But you can find a more detailed post HERE with our most recent top 4 nursing bras!

Pregnancy Constipation

Sorry for the awkwardness of this, but you’re probably going to have a tough time going #2 if you’re anything like 90% of the pregnant population! Two things that really help and are safe during pregnancy: Colace and the Squatty Potty – funny and weird, but it works!

Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless leg syndrome is another fun (ha) thing you may experience during pregnancy. It’s exactly what it sounds like – your legs feel restless, to the point of making you absolutely a crazy person. Perk Chill is something Corrine would drink every night to alleviate her restless leg syndrome from pregnancy. They have so many amazing flavors to choose from like Mint Chocolate Candy Cane Truffle, Chocolate Salted Caramel Pretzel, Mexican Hot Chocolate, and more!! Trust us on this one! And they even make an energy option if you need a little boost!

Be sure to use this link to get 10% off!

Pregnancy Pillow

This is very debatable and subjective to each woman carrying a baby. Corrine’s honestly tried SEVERAL of these and hasn’t loved them or felt like they were worth the money! THIS is the #1 rated on Amazon and isn’t too crazy expensive. But to be honest, Corrine really just likes a king size pillow in between her legs and sleeping on her side better!

Favorite Maternity Shops

We’ve gotten questions about favorite maternity jeans and cute maternity clothes which we’ve fully covered in this post. Here are some of our go-to spots to find cute maternity clothes, though!

• ASOS maternity
• Nordstrom maternity
• H&M maternity
• Amazon Fashion maternity
• Shopbop maternity
• Target maternity
• GAP maternity
• A Pea in the Pod (where Corrine’s gotten some of her fave designer maternity jeans in the past!)
• Nordstrom Rack maternity

More pregnancy tips

Good luck, mama! Corrine’s really tried to record things that help her throughout her pregnancies so that if and when you find yourself in the same situation, we have some helpful tips to share! To see all of our baby and pregnancy favorites and must-haves, go to the best baby registry list ever here!