Must Have Pregnancy Mobile Apps

Every time I went to a doctor’s appointment while I was pregnant, I always came prepped with a list of concerns. Mainly, diseases I was convinced I had, or things I thought must be wrong with my baby. My doctor would always kind of laugh and asked me where I came up with some things, to which I replied, the Internet. One time, after I went on and on about how I must have listeria because I ate a piece of canteloupe during an outbreak, he told me, “Listen, the Internet is for sports scores and the weather. NOTHING ELSE.”

But my doctor never said anything about medical apps on smartphones. Because I use my smartphone for just about everything,  I downloaded tons of apps concerning pregnancy, particularly health during pregnancy. I mean, who knew when I’d be somewhere and I needed to figure out if the sudden leg cramp I had was a blood clot, or, actually just a leg cramp (I promise I’m not as big of a hypochondriac as I’m making myself out to be. Pregnancy just brought that out in me. Now I’m just convinced my son has every single disease instead. ) Here are some great apps downloadable to smartphones (mainly the iPhone) to help make pregnancy go a little smoother (hopefully. Maybe it will just give the on-call doctor a little more sleep at night instead of being woken up by pregnant women with silly concerns).

1. Baby Center My Pregnancy Today

I think this is an awesome app, and best of all, it’s free. I loved this website during (and after) my pregnancy, and it’s nice to have it on the go. It can help give piece of mind on what symptoms are normal during pregnancy, provides week by week information, and tips on how to deal with things like morning sickness (did anyone else have that the whole time, or was it just me?), heartburn, etc. There are also handy videos, pictures, and nutritional guides. It gets down to the nitty gritty of pregnancy, so for the woman who gets embarassed asking the doctor, friends, or family about different things, this is a more discrete way of getting answers from a legitimate source.

This is available on both Android and iPhone operating systems, which makes it a win-win for everyone. I had an iPhone the entire time I was pregnant, and recently made the switch to an Android phone, which unfortunately doesn’t seem to have quite the selection of pregnancy apps (including theBump.com one…which I mainly used to  get sympathy from other pregnant mom’s at 3AM when I couldn’t sleep and my husband was at work), so I’m excited I can still use this one.

Download it for the iPhone here.

Download for Android here.

2. Pilates for Pregnancy

This one is going to cost a  few dollars to get, but has some pretty good reviews with about 3.5 stars. At $8.99 in the app store,  the app includes three different pilates workouts — each one designed for each trimester of pregnancy — developed by an actual pilates instructor. In addition, there is a built-in notebook that lets the user record goals, pictures, or simple to-do’s.

Critics of the app warn that there are no videos, so if that is desired, this might not be that helpful. However, others said that the gradual progression of difficulty level throughout pregnancy was nice. One reviewer said “The exercises got harder as my pregnancy progressed but I feel like my back has been supported and in general they feel really good to do.”

I’ll be honest, I have never used this, mainly because I didn’t know it existed. However, I think it’s a handy tool for those times when a computer isn’t accessible or there is no energy left to get in the car and drive to a pilates class at the local gym. I know that toward the end of my pregnancy, I wouldn’t be caught dead in any public exercise class (besides water aerobics with all the other pregnant ladies).

Download for iPhone here

3. Full Term – Labor Contractions

There are a lot of apps out there to time ontractions, but I really think this one is the best, especially because it doesn’t cost anything. Simply just press the start button when a contraction starts and press the stop button when it ends, and it keeps a running total of how long each one was, the the length between each contraction. The intensity of each contraction can be recorded, it keeps a history of all the contractions that have been timed, and charts can be emailed with contraction history to anyone (maybe if a doctor needs convincing that a woman’s contractions are actually as close together are the lady is claiming? I have no idea!). It’s not the fanciest interface, seeing as it was created by a dad who said, “I created this application for use during my own wife’s labor and have paid special attention to keeping the interface as clean and clutter free as possible,” but it certainly gets the job done.

I used this the night I went into labor. I wasn’t sure at first if I was feeling contractions, so I hid under the covers and used it while my husband watched TV (don’t ask me why, but I didn’t want to tell him I thought I was in labor unless I was sure!). Because of it, I was eventually convinced that the pain I was feeling was contractions, and I even told the admitting nurse at Labor and Delivery that my contractions were, on average, 3 minutes and 2 seconds a part. I definitely recommend this one! It also is the only contraction counter in Apple app store that has 5 stars across the board.

Download for iPhone here

I didn’t review this one…but here’s a contraction timer for all you Android users out there!

4. Foods to avoid while pregnant

There are a lot of myths concerning foods to avoid while pregnant, but there are also a lot of things you really should avoid! I wish I had known about this app, because it has all the foods, broken down into specific categories (such as milk and cheese, meat and eggs, etc.). And unlike all the message boards I visited with moms convinced that certain things were or were not okay, this seems like pretty legitimate information. It’ll cost you .99, but it might give more piece of mind while eating out or at a friend’s home for a dinner party.

Download for iPhone here

5. Perfect OB Wheel

This one is simple enough — it calculates the estimated date of conception, estimated due date, the beginnings and endings of the different trimesters (dates in pregnancy really confused me!), and the approximate weight of the baby. This is actually based off of the calculations the obstetricians and mid-wives use, so it’s about as accurate as these apps come. While this shouldn’t replace visiting the doctor during pregnancy, it can give some updates on baby in between appointments! It costs 1.99

Download for iPhone here