Pregnancy #GameChangers… How I prevented stretch marks, saved on Maternity Clothes and eliminated Back and Hip Pain

I am nearing the end of my 5^th pregnancy!  2 of my beautiful babies I will meet in heaven someday.  So I have had 3 full term pregnancies.  Crazy…It still boggles my mind the amount of weird, uncomfortable and downright annoying things that can happen in pregnancy.  I have experienced several of them and many I fortunately have not experienced.  I have found through my experiences there are a few products I highly recommend to help ease the annoying and uncomfortable parts of pregnancy!

I am not paid to promote these products.  I may receive a small commission if you purchase some of these products.*  I have no medical training, please check with your doctor to make sure these suggestions are appropriate for you and your pregnancy. All of my recommendations come from my own personal experiences and I cannot guarantee the success of any of them, for anyone else.

1. 1. Blanqi Support tanks.I found these during my current pregnancy with Ezekiel and they have been a #gamechanger.  In all of my pregnancies I have experienced, back, hip and shooting leg pain.  Resulting in me needing physical therapy, and during my 2nd full term pregnancy,  I developed sciatica and could barely walk.  Every pregnancy the pain would start earlier and earlier, in this last current pregnancy it started at week 15!  I pretty much panicked…how in the world I wondered would I continue to care for my 2 rowdy toddlers while going through my 2^nd and 3^rd trimesters with this kind of pain.  I started physical therapy again and had to go every 1-2 weeks.  I had been researching…again…for the millionth time..anything that might give relief when I stumbled upon the Blanqi tanks which have built in support for the belly and back and according to many reviews alleviated back, pelvic and hip pain.  Friends, I was skeptical – I mean first of all the price tag was expensive and I had already tried belly bands and they had never done a thing for me…except for make me really  hot and itchy….oh and compound my wardrobe problems- because how do you hide those things?  Anyways, I was desperate and decided to buy one!  #gamechanger  Tomorrow I am 36 weeks pregnant which is usually around when my pain would be excruciating and intensifying daily.  I have little to no pain every day.  Within 30 minutes of taking this tank off, I begin to have shooting back, hip and often leg pain, which shows me how important it is to keep this sucker on!!!!!!!!!  I ended up buying 3 because with sweating, and wash and air dry time, I never want to be without it.  Choke…the cost is high, but if you use THIS LINK you will find a code for 20% off.  Also at this point I would rather spend $72 on a tank top than be physically unable to care for my kids and have to get help and eat way to many take out dinners.  That alone makes it worth it too.   This post is not sponsored by Blanqi in anyway, I just know there are other women out there who have suffered like I have and want to get the word out that these are game changers!  So there you have it my number 1 recommended pregnancy item.  You can also find Blanqi on Amazon if you are addicted to   really  enjoy Amazon like me.
   2. Lavande Lotion – I randomly found this product at a farmer’s market about half way through my pregnancy with Caden (my first full term pregnancy). I bought it because it smelled really good and the ingredient list was very simple – my skin is very sensitive to many lotions and skin products especially those that are highly fragranced with artificial fragrances.  So I just started using this on my expanding belly and boobs at night.  Guess what – I got ZERO stretch marks on my belly.  I got only 1 stretch mark on one of my boobs when my milk came in, but it eventually faded.  So not knowing if this lotion was a miracle  or just a coincidence I decided upon the same regimin with my next 2 pregnanices.  Guess what…no stretch marks either.  So there you have it – can I guarantee you won’t have stretch marks if you use this lotion?…of course not…but at the very least you will be well moisturized with a beautiful, calming scent.  This is much nicer lotion than I typically buy so it has felt like a fun way to pamper myself during a time I don’t feel so pretty…and also a bonus for others that have sensitive skin or are trying to use more natural boycare products – this stuff has worked very well on my highly sensitive skin!  Photo Cred:  Lighthouse Fine Art Photography  Make-Up:  Natalie Verboom
   3. Cheap and Cute Maternity Dress –  Y’all, my favorite maternity dress EVER!  Was around $25!  And it was from Amazon…hello FREE 2 day shipping and returns.  If you have looked on other sites for maternity clothes you know that most maternity dresses easily range from $40-$100, which I have always found a little ridiculous considering how few times you get to use them.  I don’t know why I had never thought to look on Amazon for maternity clothes before, but I was blown away by how many adorable and affordable maternity clothes they had.`Here is the exact style I am wearing, I think they are sold out of my pattern.  But are so many cute patterns!  For reference I was 7 months pregnant when these pics were taken and I am wearing a size Medium.  My pre-pregnancy size is a Size Small.  I think for this particular style of dress you should size up one size, especially if you are wanting to wear it in your 3rd trimester or a little on the tall size.  I am 5ft 8 in.  Here are a few more that I think are adorbs!
   4. La Croix –   Keep your fridge stocked with this magical drink if you are having Nausau – like I did in all my pregnancies!  With Caden I drank a lot of ginger ale and sprite to help calm my stomach – which I didn’t love doing because #hellolotsofsugar   But it was one of the few things that helped so I drank it.  When I was pregnant with Finn a friend suggested I drink La Croix (sparkling flavored water) because you get the bubbles without the sugar!   #win  When I am pregnant I find the lemon flavor particularly soothing.  When I am not pregnant, I love them  but am currently obsessed with grapefruit.
   5. Nuun tablets – leg cramps at night?…ummm yep me too…because its not like getting up to pee every hour is enough of an interruption  to your REM cycle… At first I drank a lot of Gatorade and powerade to try and give me more electrolytes…but like the soda the problem was #sugar  – if I am going to consume sugar I would like to in a dessert format…i.e.  ice cream, brownies, cheesecake..ya know the good stuff.  So I eventually found these and have found in my own scientific research that if I don’t drink one of these tablets in my water…I will have leg cramps that night…side note:  bannnas and a magnesium supplement have also helped with the leg cramp issue.
   6. Therapedic mattress topper. What Blanqi did for me during the day, this topper helped me with at night.  In this pregnancy we splurged and bought one of these.  Because #desperate.  My hip pain was so bad at night starting with week 15 and I was barely sleeping…It has helped so much in alleviating the pressure on my hips when I hit the point in pregnancy where I had to sleep on my sides.  Before this mattress topper  I would wake up every 30 min-1 hr all night long with stabbing hip pain, would roll to my other side and flip flop all night long….it was miserable.  I tried one million pillow configuarations, body pillows, pregnancy pillows and none of it helped.  I realize these are expensive..but again if you are having to pay for consistent chiropractor care or PT care or aren’t able to move well and take care of your kids its worth the investment.  To save on this cost, we used a Bed Bath and Beyond 20% off coupon, bought the Therapedic brand instead of the “name brand” Tempur-pedic.  They have a phenomenal return policy and we bought a twin, much less than the cost of our king size bed…although now my hubby is jealous of my deluxe mattress topper and wishes he had one too . #sorrybabe…  I also found this less expensive version on Amazon, if you are interested in that.

Kines Tape – My physical therapist would use this tape to tape my back and hips and it helped give me a lot of support.  Unfortunately for me, my skin after a week or two becomes very sensitive and irritated by the Kines tape so its not a good long term option for me.  Which is why the Blanqi tanks are a much better solution for me!  But this stuff really is amazing, and there are lots of tutorials online about how to tape yourself to support your back and belly in pregnancy.  Like this tutorial I found on Pinterest.  If you’re not following me on Pinterest yet, you can find me here!

All right Mamas!  I would love to hear from you! What are your Pregnancy #Gamechangers??? 

*(Note:  Clarity with Charity is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. These are my amazon affiliate links, if you should decide to buy them, I receive a tiny percentage.)