second trimester helps.

I'm now well into my third trimester but I still can't even believe the enormous difference between my first and second trimesters! (That sentence deserves all of the exclamation points.) I was still sick and throwing up, but I wasn't completely exhausted and sick and trying to avoid food at the same time, and that made all of the difference. Sure, pregnancy is different for everyone, but that first trimester for me was a killer and my second trimester was heaven-sent in comparison. (Find first trimester helps here.)

Here's what I loved during weeks 14-28. . .

1 //  Heartburn aids. Again, different for everyone, but my heartburn got progressively worse as the second trimester went on. At first I was able to get by by popping some antacid tablets (these were/are my favorite flavor!) throughout the day and night (hint: buy multiple bottles and put them everywhere! Your purse, car, desk at work, nightstand, etc.), but by the time I was waking up and eating between 6-8 at night alone, I figured it was time to try something else. My doctor suggested giving Gaviscon and Zantac both a try, but unfortunately neither one did much for me. Around weeks 26 and 27 my heartburn started making me throw up at night, and at that point my doctor finally wrote me a prescription. Life changing! As long as I take my pill first thing in the morning, I don't have issues with any foods and can make it through the night with a few Tums. Hello, salsa! Hello, chocolate!

2 // Sleeping with an extra pillow. Everyone raves about pregnancy pillows and they sound really great. But. Shelling out $80+ for a body pillow wasn't something I was comfortable with. I did the next best thing and found an extra pillow laying around; I found that as long as I placed the lower half between my knees and the upper half under my belly, I was waking up with less back pain than before.

3 // Prenatal massages. Although sleeping with an extra pillow definitely helped with the lower back pain, it didn't completely get rid of it. So I searched for a Groupon and booked myself an appointment for a massage, went to said appointment, and left vowing to return. It was several days before I started to have back pain again!

4 // New bras. Around the start of my second trimester as everything started expanding and growing, I was in desperate need of some new bras. It took a few trips to various stores to find the right size/fit, but it was a necessity. Sports bras also turned out to be helpful for sleeping comfortably at night!

5 // Maternity jeans. Before hitting the stores to find some pants fit for an expanding waist I had nightmares of loose-fitting grandma jeans with a surprisingly high crotch. (Something to the tune of this.) Fortunately, I was wrong. So very wrong. Maternity jeans are sparkles, cupcakes, unicorns, and rainbows all rolled into a single clothing item and that makes them fabulous. My favorite jeans came from H&M and Target, and I never paid more than $40 a pair.

6 // Body lotion. Stretch mark cream, body butter, plain old lotion--whatever you want to use--was so, so helpful for me! Although I had been dutifully lathering up after getting out of the shower each day in order to avoid stretch marks, I started getting super itchy toward the end of my second trimester and really began to appreciate the goodness that is lotion.

What helped you through your second trimester?

Any suggestions on third trimester helps?