Pregnancy Reflection( Must Have Products and Cost of Healthcare)

Hello! I was pregnant from October 2024 to June 2025. I loved reading these blogs when I was pregnant so wanted to make one. Pregnancy along with everything else child related is so personal so these are just my thoughts and what worked(or didn’t) for me.

What are the pregnancy must haves for you?

I will section the products based on trimesters.

First Trimester

Unisom - Life saver. I was so nauseous. If I took this at night, the next day I wouldn't throw up.

Morning Ease - I would still feel terrible, so I would take these to get me through being at work.

Peppermint Oil - If I was on the subway or around any precarious smells, my smell was so sensitive I would put this in a mask or on my wrist to keep my stomach settled.

Stanley Cup - I didn't like water anymore, which was so weird. I found this cup where you couldn't see it was water, and filling it up with ice tricked my brain into drinking more water.

Form - Calyn Brooke has an amazing prenatal program which I did my whole pregnancy. I 10/10 recommend, unless you are someone who doesn't feel sick at all and are doing your normal workout routine. That was not me. I had to stop everything.

Second Trimester

Eight Sleep - Golden period, some would say. This Eight Sleep helped me rest so much. It would cool when I had hot flashes and warm when I needed to sleep, and I had back pain. This was a game changer and I was sleeping like 10-12 hours a day thanks to this mattress cover. It is super expensive, so it was worth it to me but maybe not to you.

Premom - This app helps you track questions and baby size and appointments, and you can read forums. I liked it.

Summer Fridays Babymoon Belly Balm - I used this after every shower and at night. Great products!

Third Trimester

Blood Pressure Cuff - Helpful for monitoring for preeclampsia.

Pineapple - Helps prepare body for labor.

Starbucks drink - Lol, this probably doesn't work, but the Starbucks induction drink is the Iced Passion Tango Tea Lemonade (which includes ice, water, hibiscus flowers, citric acid, natural flavors, cinnamon, apple, licorice root, lemongrass, fruit juice extract, lemon juice, lemon oil and ice). It was fun to get!

Treat Your Feet - Foot massage can trigger labor plus it just felt good. My feet were cramping so hard at the end.

What was the cost of everything?

Our total cost for all healthcare related expenses during pregnancy was $6,650 including birth. Now I have a high deductible plan, had some extra appointments because of low iron, in network, and a 5-day hospital stay due to C-section. So this could be not accurate for you, but I thought I would share my numbers because it was hard to find when I was looking to plan.

The most surprising to me was the cost of the ultrasounds. I went to a practice who does them in the hospital with an ultrasound tech. Honestly, I much prefer that over in clinic as they are experts and can catch things a lot better than I believe they can in a clinic. Who knows though! I know that's more expensive though. I met my deductible so that's why costs started to get capped. If you didn't have insurance… so much more.

Thanks for reading, if you have any products that helped you or huge cost discrepancies in healthcare expenses - I would love to hear - reach out :)