Pregnancy Top Ten Must-Haves/Dos

This is the first installment in a series of "Top Ten" lists. These are things I found most useful/used/helpful during my pregnancy:

1. Belly Band: Keeps the pants up when you're in that "between" stage of not fitting in normal clothes, but also not big enough to buy maternity quite yet. You can walk around with your pants unzipped and nobody knows.

2. Healthy craving: For me, it was oranges. I pretty much had an orange every night from 2nd trimester on. I indulged guilt-free. Glorious. Although, you are not in control of your cravings!3. Comfy pants: Throughout pregnancy, I wore a pair of exercise pants, and later bought a pair of lounge pants from Old Navy. After an entire week of stuffing yourself into work-appropriate pants, these are a real treat on the weekends. They were able to stretch as my belly got bigger, and go back to their "real" size/shape as I got back to mine.
4. Underwear: Get your faves, but in a size bigger. During the 3rd trimester, I'd wake up in the middle of the night because the seams of my underwear were digging into my hips. It seriously hurt. So...a trip to WalMart for my favorite Hanes, and I didn't have any more problems.

5. Pantiliners: From the "snail trail" to all the post-partum "stuff," the bigger the box, the wiser the investment. Trust me, you'll use them all.

6. Jafra Royal Almond Body Oil: I used to sell Jafra (and by "used to," I mean technically I still do, but the only customer I have is my mom), and had heard that rubbing this on your growing belly keeps the stretch marks away. So I did it...and no stretch marks! Coincidence? Maybe. We'll never know. I'm just glad I gave it a whirl. It helped with the skin itching as well. If you want some, let me know and I'll hook you up, or point you in the direction of someone else who can.
7. Jolly Ranchers: Being a teacher, there was no sitting at my desk feeling like poo. No siree, I had to buck up and pretend like there wasn't a little boy growing inside of me who, despite our love for each other, was making me feel like I had to vomit. Jolly Ranchers were a great quick fix until I could eat a real snack/meal.
8. Snacks: Keep them in your desk, your purse, your car... Frequent snacking kept the nausea away as well. I chose granola bars and crackers.

9. Ginger Ale: Again...the nausea. I became a fan of the Ale.
10. A husband who doesn't go the store when you say, "fetch me some brownies, boy!": Trust me, you'll thank him. If you really want brownies/cupcakes/doughnuts/etc. badly enough, you'll get in the car and get them yourself. If you don't want to do it yourself, then you don't want them bad enough.