My Favorite Pregnancy Resources

I'm excited to share my absolute favs/must have items and resources from pregnancy. I hope you benefit from the items that call to you :)

My Registry:

Everything On My Baby Registry: The Complete List

Books/Education:

Pregnancy & Birth Made Easy Podcast (By My Essential Birth): I binged the F out of this podcast and can't recommend enough.

My Essential Birth Course: I got this course because I loved their podcast so much (above) and it was a great supplement/deeper dive to complement the podcast.

Montessori Baby: Absolutely loved this book and the principles of Montessori.

Hypnobirthing: A great guide to staying calm in birth and seeing it as a natural, healthy process.

HelloBirth Hypnobirthing Course: This was a great overall childbirth education class (my husband and I did it together which he found really helpful too) but I especially loved the long hypnosis recordings!

Mothering From Your Center: I really enjoyed the main sentiments and themes in this book (following your intuition and tuning into your inner energy) but the language was a little fluffy for me. Overall, I would recommend it as the high level intentions really resonated.

These are the episodes I recorded during pregnancy on my podcast, The Magnetically You Podcast:

• My Pregnancy Journey: The Highs, Lows & Everything In Between So Far (21 Weeks)
• My Pregnancy Journey Part 2: The Highs, Lows & Everything In Between
• From Conflict to Clarity: Releasing My Doula and Reclaiming My Peace & Power
• Thriving In The Unknown: 6 Reminders For When Life Feels Uncertain

Meditations:

These were my go to meditations during pregnancy - all from my meditation app But First, Exhale (if you want to try any of these, you can start a free 14 day trial here).

• Surrender Meditation
• Come Back To The Present
• Surrender, Allow & Let It Be Meditation
• Release Stuck Emotions Meditation

Maternity Clothes:

Babymoon Outfit Ideas: this is everything I wore on our babymoon and has most of my bump-friendly favs including dresses and athleisure wear.

Slippers: these aren't maternity specific but I loved having cushion under my feet while pregnant.

Lounge/PJ set: I got this in 3 colors and was obsessed during pregnancy. The t-shirt goes great with biker shorts if you want to wear it out as a casual outfit.

Hatch Nursing Tank: I wore this a ton in the 3rd trimester because it was so comfy.

SKIMS Boyshorts: these were my fav to sleep in all throughout pregnancy!

Physical Support:

Prenatal Massages: Laura at Powerful Healing Arts is INCREDIBLE if you're in the VA/DC area.

Prenatal Chiropractor: Kara at Optimum Wellness is amazing if you're in the VA/DC area. She comes to your house which I loved and is incredibly knowledgable and good at what she does.

Daily Stretches: I did these stretches daily starting around 34 weeks. They're a combination of recommendations from My Essential Birth, my chiropractor and my own intuition. I really enjoyed stretching (I treated it like a meditation and breathed really intentional every time I did them) and all of these intuitively felt really supportive for my body. I felt great in the 3rd trimester...I obviously can't say it's for sure because of these stretches (every pregnancy is so different) but it did feel like these made a really positive difference in my body.

• Malasana Squat
• Cat cow (pelvic tilts) on all 4’s or on ball or both
• Forward leaning inversion
• Childs pose
• Seated figure 4
• Butterfly
• Inner thigh adductor rock backs
• Side bending stretch (gently and not too far)
• Windshield wipers
• Side lying release (I did this one a few times a week since it required a partner and just didn't flow for me to do daily)

Movement: I went on tons of walks, taught sculpt classes at The MVMNT Society until 35 weeks and also loved the prenatal workouts from The Sculpt Society.

Epsom Salt Baths: I took a bath (or multiple) pretty much daily during pregnancy. These are my favorite epsom salts because they come in a 19lb bag and are unscented.

Massage Gun: I had a short phase of inner thigh spasms later in the 3rd trimester and this massage gun felt really good and seemed to help loosen the tension in my legs. Inner thigh stimulation can potentially start labor so make sure to speak with your doctor before using.

Supplements:

Evening Primrose Oil: With my midwives recommendation, I started taking 500mg vaginally at 37 weeks then went up to 1000mg vaginally at 38 weeks. It's said to help the cervix ripen.

Red Raspberry Leaf Tea: Another recommendation from my midwives, I started drinking about a cup daily around 32 weeks (a ratio of 1 cup of water to 1 tbsp of tea steeped for 10 minutes then strained) then switched to 1-2 cups of a stronger concentration daily around 38 weeks (a ratio of 12 cups water to 3/4 cup tea steeped for 6 hours). It's said to nourish and tone the uterus. Many believe it helps make labor contractions most effective when they occur and it may be helpful in preventing Pitocin augmentation and postpartum hemorrhage. 

Magnesium Glycinate: I slept great throughout my entire pregnancy and never had any issues with constipation and I definitely think this helped.

Magsoothium: for achy muscles/legs.

Hospital Bag:

What's In My Hospital Bag For Labor

Babymoon:

Dream Babymoon In Anguilla: Your Complete Travel Guide

You Might Also Love...

• Everything On My Baby Registry: The Complete List
• What's In My Hospital Bag For Labor
• My Favorite Postpartum Resources
• My Pregnancy Journey Part 2: The Highs, Lows & Everthing In Between
• The Highs, Lows & Everything In Between Pregnancy So Far (21 Weeks)
• Thriving In The Unknown: 6 Reminders For When Life Feels Uncertain