The Efficient Minimalist Pregnancy: 1st and Second Trimesters
After 7 months of pregnancy, this is the ‘best-of’ or ‘only’ list of items and resources I recommend for pregnancy.
When we shared the news on Instagram it’s pretty safe to say no one saw that coming from us! We are seven months pregnant, starting the third trimester and no we didn’t post this online anywhere before now. If there’s been an upside to COVID, it’s that it’s very easy to keep a pregnancy private for an extended period of time. If there’s one part of pregnancy I wasn’t looking forward to it’s the utterly strange impulse people have to treat it as a spectator sport, while giving you extremely unsolicited advice, horror stories, and also touch you (don’t even think about it). The second you announce a pregnancy or start to show, you become community property… and that’s a hard pass from me.
But with that said, you have to admit this is a hell of a way to announce a pregnancy. I’m so happy with this maternity shoot the two of us pulled off at our home studio.
Before we jump into this, I feel like with the cultural shifts we’ve experienced over the past few years I’m almost required to disclose my acknowledgement of privilege of being healthy and being able to work from home. In fact, I saw someone on social media say they thought that people shouldn’t be able to announce their pregnancies during this time because it was “cruel and ableist”, especially to those who are struggling with fertility. To be honest, I think we’ve gone a bit overboard….I acknowledge the struggle others have during this time, be it with conceiving, or not feeling like themselves mentally, but I definitely don’t believe we should be squashing other people’s happiness or life progression.
What I will say, is the entire industry surrounding fertility, pregnancy, motherhood, etc is uncomfortable for me. Maybe it’s because I’m not necessarily a “kid person” (I have never felt compelled to ask to hold someone’s baby) or it’s because this is how I view every topic: but I feel like many times I can’t relate to articles written on a given wellness topic. I want the bottom line, the science based, and I want it without the emotional poetry that often accompanies every article. I totally understand that’s what some people love and enjoy, but it’s just not for me. I don’t want journaling prompts. The other thing I struggle with is that this industry feels very capitalist promoting (Chris and I think baby clothes should actually be biodegradable). Much of the content is also guilt focused and discusses what’s best for the baby with nothing related to the health of the mother. And anything related to supporting the mother, feels tied to a product sold with promises to make you a better mom. The entire cycle is terrible. If you were worried there would be a bunch of baby content, I’m pretty sure this introduction alone has made it reasonably clear there’s no chance of this becoming a mommy blog.
Truthfully, I’ve had an amazing pregnancy and feel extremely lucky. I haven’t had any nausea, GI complaints, etc. Sometimes I get tired, but truly, the only thing that really feels different is I miss rye whiskey, CBD, and my NR supplement. Being pregnant during this time has actually been ideal. It’s given me the ability to say no to the non-essential, to focus on the bigger picture, the less minute, and to be able to focus only on our family. If that doesn’t fit the idea of essentialism, efficiency and minimalism I don’t know what does.
Since there isn’t a lot of content for people like me…I felt I should do my part and give that bottom line of what’s been helpful during pregnancy. I think our reputation for researching best options- paired with my general distaste for “should’s” that don’t make sense- proceeds us.
The only pregnancy book you need:
Expecting Better by Emily Oster. This book is an analysis of literature and scientific evidence to answer a lot of what you ‘hear’ about pregnancy. It covers caffeine, alcohol and tons of other topics to give you the bottom line in a non-judgmental way. There are so many other books that people recommend that can help fill your desire to have an emotional experience , but that’s not the kind of person I am. After spending over an hour researching a specific ‘but WHY can’t I have this particular item?’ that yielded article after article without good evidence, this book revealed itself multiple times in google searches as a source of data and practicality. This is the only book I personally recommend.
The only pregnancy app you need:
The Bump. It tells you week by week what the **** is going on with your body which is great because apparently no one tells you about the things that happen (leg cramps, nose bleeds and something disconcertingly called lightning crotch that occurs later). It gives you produce based measurements for your baby which I find very relatable and there’s no slog of frothy whipped cream about the joys of motherhood involved. It even emails you a weeky 101 in case you forget to check the app (which you don’t think you will but some time around week 23 you definitely start to forget how far along you are).
The only pregnancy supplement you need:
Ritual prenatal (Get $15 off your first order) It’s the most bioavailable and well sourced version of every vitamin and mineral recommended for pregnancy in two pills that smell like beautiful lemon. I don’t have time to sit around and pick various brands of folate or omega 3’s. This company is exactly what I would be if I ran a supplement company. In the past two weeks they’ve also announced a post-natal vitamin as well.
Because of COVID, I did go an extra step further and add on Mother Dirt’s AO+ mist which helps develop your topical microbiome. With all of the disinfecting, I want to be sure I’m still promoting a good external microbiome which will be especially important after the baby arrives.
The one maternity clothing item I bought:
You heard me. ONE. ASOS maternity legging 2 pack. Since we are only planning on being a 1 kid family, it makes absolutely zero sense for me to invest in any maternity clothes. And besides that, I honestly think most of us have an extensive, flexible enough wardrobe to pick up only a handful of items and work them into our current wardrobes. When I meant the ONLY maternity clothing item purchased, I mean it. I did buy the following NON MATERNITY clothing in my normal size which I will continue to use post pregnancy: two long cardigans from J Crew (to wear with the dress I’m about to mention and the maternity leggings), one sized up classic sleep shirt (I’ll probably get it tailored post pregnancy-yes, that’s the kind of person I am) and a black stretchy sheath dress from J Crew. The stretchy dress can be paired with any jacket, sweater, button up etc already in my closet to look drastically different. The sweaters I pair with a normal black tank top and the two pack of maternity leggings. That’s it.
The one thing I will say about these leggings is they’re not meant to be worn without a longer shirt or tunic. They’re not thick so be warned. Since I work from home (pandemic or not), I obviously need less ‘outfits’ than someone who may work in a button up firm. You absolutely may need to pick up a few more specific items, but let me reiterate: you don’t need as many things as you think.
In what I can only describe as an utterly degrading backwards publication, a book for first time Dads that was given to me to borrow by someone recently pregnant, I found an entire section on GIVING A MATERNITY CLOTHES BUDGET TO THEIR WIVES. I’m sorry, WTF? Are we still using our significant other’s check book too?
The one registry:
Babylist: This system allowed sourcing from multiple shops which was important because many of the products we actually wanted were Scandinavian/smaller shops instead of a standard Amazon/Target/etc. The website also provides a 15% discount 60 days before your due date for anything they list within their own shop from your list that wasn’t gifted.
While Chris and I hate bridal showers/baby showers etc (we both haaaate opening gifts in front of others and dislike the cultural expectation that makes gift giving feel mandatory), a registry is actually important because it allows you to show people what you would actually use and the style you like which cuts down on waste.
The Best Wellness Investment I made:
A Chiropractor: I had never been before but this was a Chris recommendation. If you start to look at the nasty weekly side effects of pregnancy, there’s a lot of discomfort and body pain. So I booked my first appointment at the end of my first trimester. In a total surprise boon, my chiropractor was a woman who had just moved back from Japan where she worked at a hospital for four years seeing pregnant women. At her hospital in Japan, it’s standard care to see pregnant women weekly!
I really credit her for my continued ability to workout and feel comfortable. There’s also good evidence that seeing a chiropractor during pregnancy can help reduce labor time, reduce emergency c-sections, and improve sleep. I want to be clear that I’ve elected to go to a chiropractor for spinal/hip alignments and my chiropractor does nothing nutrition related (which would obviously be a big issue for me personally as a dietitian).
In conjunction with this, I also finally started wearing house shoes and bought insoles (it’s terrible for you to walk on completely flat surfaces all the time without arch support).
The stupid pregnancy unitasker I can’t live without:
Just do it. Sleep is so important. I fought buying a pregnancy pillow for weeks because it is literally the most unitasker item I could think of. It’s big. It serves one (maximum two) functions and by this time next year I won’t need it. BUT did you know (because I freaking didn’t) that you aren’t actually supposed to sleep on your back past a certain point in pregnancy because the weight of your child will crush your internal organs and blood flow-GREAT ME NEITHER. And as a back sleeper this became increasingly difficult. This pillow forces me to side sleep and provides support on joints and the bump. If you’re naturally a side sleeper, you might not need one or you can opt for a much smaller wedge pillow. If you’re a stomach sleeper, I’m so sorry and maybe you’ll get to sleep in a couple months?
The best habits I formed pre-pregnancy:
When we started sharing we were pregnant with people and how well it was going, I started to get a lot of questions about if I thought it was due to my lifestyle pre-pregnancy.
I feel like as a health professional I should also mention the following: I have been OFF hormonal birth control for probably 2 years, switching to other types of contraception before we started not-NOT-trying to get pregnant (and then immediately got pregnant…we’re a very fertile household and I swear Chris gets new 23&Me relatives daily). The reason I mention this is because hormonal birth control’s job is essentially to make your body think you’re already pregnant. And if you really want to dig into this topic many types of hormonal birth control were actually created to be far more short term than we currently use them. I personally was really unhappy with what hormonal birth control was doing to my mental health and decided it was time to change the situation. I encourage you to do your own research, talk to your OBGYN, and obviously still use some form of contraception.
Here are some of the other habits I had in place that I think ended up being helpful.
Natural beauty and home products:
I’ve been using natural products for years now (you can see my most recent yearly round up of natural products for 2020) and I’m so grateful. There are lots of conventional products that you either can no longer use during pregnancy or are recommended to switch to natural versions. Since I was already doing this, there was no stress and no change for me in my routine.
Healthy eating:
I was already cooking 90% of meals at home pretty much from scratch (yes, I am the person who makes bread, bagels, pitas, sauces…basically everything) and as a dietitian it’s kind of the nature of my work. I’m not saying I’m eating only vegetables and zero sugar. We eat everything, but it’s all minimally processed and we opt out of eating stuff that’ doesn’t taste amazing (hence why we make it at home).
I also feel like I want to highlight here, that yes, I’m still consuming MSG (which has been shown to be safe period!!!) and I’m also ignoring the generalizations about deli meat (this warning is related to the fact that pregnant women are far more likely to contract listeria), egg yolks etc, and am incredibly selective only consuming products that are low risk, extremely high quality and from sources I trust. I’m not over here ordering slices of turkey and sushi at a gas station.
This year we are also members of a CSA that is an organic vegetable farm, a mill that produces regional flours/beans/dry goods etc and provides a local chicken, eggs, and cheese each week. To round it out (knuckle crack) I am also working my way through a rating spreadsheet Chris built me to compare 30+ varieties of potato chips (Lays Dill Pickle chips are currently the front runner). It’s just about balance.
I have an entire dedicated post on how we do this and what services we use. I always hear about people saying they have no time after having a kid, so I wanted to make tasks that were easy to automate handled.
Workouts:
This varies greatly depending on each person’s pregnancy and what their doctor says, but I’m lucky enough that I’ve been continuing my 3 days a week of Peloton spin classes that I was pre-pregnancy (although on week 27 I did have to start modifying and at week 28 there were days I opted for more barre vs cardio) as well as upper body weight exercises from Peloton and archery. I added in walking every morning for 20-30 minutes and LOVE it. It’s a great way to start the day, get some vitamin D, clear my head, and a good habit to get into with a kid especially since I won’t exactly be able to do spin classes for some time after giving birth.
Peloton has also started offering barre classes which have been great since often times pregnancy workouts recommend squats. A class makes it far more fun. I also just found out they do prenatal yoga sessions and while I’m not a yoga person I’m willing to give it a shot. If you are thinking about buying a Peloton, you can use the code XJGKNU for $100 of bike accessories.
I picked up archery again last year after a ten year hiatus and I’m so happy I did. It’s been a way for me to ‘meditate’ and it’s also an activity I can continue pregnant (the way you stand, your bump size doesn’t really matter). This has been important since some of my other stress relief tactics are no longer options while pregnant.
Nursery Decor:
When people ask our nursery theme we tell them ‘Scandinavian Natural History Museum/ Just Like The Rest of Our House”. Babies don’t care about the nursery decor. It’s totally for the parents. So we figured, we would use some of the amazing art and decor pieces we are already lucky enough to have from our families that have lived all over the world, and pair it with pieces that this kid will be able to use for as long as they want or that we can repurpose in other parts of the house.
For example: a changing table makes no sense to us. So we bought a vintage campaign style dresser from a local interior specialist and will use that surface and storage as a changing station. The dresser can then be used literally anywhere, forever. The art? All art that we had or purchased and will gladly use elsewhere. The crib? Ikea for less than 100$ for a modern, simple option.
One place we did kind of have fun was purchasing a teddy bear and blanket, which to be honest we purchased over a year before we even decided to have a kid (the items were ones we always loved and were being discontinued from the designers so we figured we would either gift them or keep them for our own kid). One was a teddy bear from the Danish company Menu. One was a blanket with a Tibetan tiger. Both are neutral shades. We are who we are.
I also want to highlight a recommendation to do any house things, especially the nursery painting as far in advance as possible when you have more energy but also to allow for off gassing of VOC’s etc. It’s another argument for buying products that use natural materials or materials that are second hand. We have so few plastic/high chemical residue products in our house, when we open something in the mail for work that’s plastic we can immediately smell the off gassing and put it outside.
Shopping Ahead for Sales:
Once we knew our due date and entered the second trimester, it was summer so allll the sales were happening for winter. Which was fantastic because all of the winter clothing was deeply on sale. We picked a 0-3 month winter outerwear item (very early Jan birthday) and up fall/winter clothing for the 9-12 month range for next year. My sister did this with her pregnancy last year and was glad she did since that kid grew like a weed and she already had a wide range of sizes ready to go.
My pregnancy experience may be completely unlike yours. They’re all incredibly different (thankfully because I have friends who are still vomiting daily deep in their second trimesters and I don’t have that kind of mental fortitude). I hope you walk away from reading this empowered to not listen to ‘must have’ lists if you feel like they don’t apply to your life.
You don’t need as much stuff as websites say. You don’t need to read every book under the sun and listen to every piece of advice. You do you. Be smart. Talk to people you trust. And on that note, a deep thank you to the handful of people who have given me amazing, level headed advice and resources.
Stay tuned for a third trimester update!
Dietitian Nutritionist and cookbook author sharing flavor-forward recipes and simplified science-driven wellness.
