Maternity Clothes 411: The Week 17 Update

I recently found the blog of G&D, who recently had their first daughter. The fun thing is that she is also from WI. Today she posted some helpful thoughts about maternity clothes, specifically jeans. I know some of you are currently pregnant or hoping to be soon so you might find this post helpful.

As with so much of the whole pregnancy thing, some advice will apply to you and others won't. There isn't one thing that usually works for everyone. For example - in the example of G&D, she is 5'4" and said she didn't need maternity shirts until trimester 3. In my case, I am 5'11" and have a long torso. I wish I had bought maternity shirts years ago! Ok, so not quite, but the basic long sleeve and short sleeve t-shirts fit me way better than any t-shirt really has. I have a problem finding shirts that are long enough for me on a regular basis, so the extra length in these types of maternity shirts, while isn't really necessary to cover a huge belly at this point, is much more comfortable and works well to cover any rubberbanded pants. As for the non-t-shirt type shirts, I haven't really found any yet that I like. Luckily, I haven't really needed these yet and my belly is just a small bump still.

I have the same issues with my belly band that she describes. I have found that the rubber band trick plus the belly band is the best option, though still not great. If I only have to wear the pants for a short period of time (aka jeans out for dinner), I love it. All day wear of the belly band is annoying though.

I still have not rocked any maternity pants, although I officially cannot button any of my pre-pregnancy pants. I wore my last holdout pair on Monday and by the end of the day, I was ready to rip them off. I am still wearing the two pairs of regular pants (AKA non-maternity) that I bought a size larger than my typical size. The one thing i would caution with this is to not spend a lot of money if you are going to pursue this option. As I mentioned, one of these pairs is from Goodwill and one is from a clearance rack at an outlet store. $20 bought me 3, maybe 4 extra weeks of pants but that's about it. I think that $20 was worth the extra month to get me through the colder months of WI.

Luckily for me, I will be "uber pregnant" during warmer months. While most people sort of give me the, "oh you'll be pregnant during summer, that won't be fun", I actually am excited about it because I plan on wearing dresses and skirts the entire time. Even now, dresses are the most comfortable thing to wear ever, also echoed by G&D. I still fit in most of my pre-pregnancy dresses and have two maternity dresses. It is funny though that when I wear my maternity dresses is when I get the most "oh you have a little bump comments". Do the makers of maternity dresses purposely make them to accentuate the bump?!

I also liked G&D's maternity fashion show pictures at the end. Why didn't I think of doing that?! I must say that even though you go through a feeling like a gross blob stage, pregnancy does force you to get creative with your clothes which I have enjoyed. So while you are still wearing your "old" clothes, reinventing them in some new ways or new combinations makes them feel "new".

Maternity Clothes I have bought to Date. The asterisk indicates what I have worn.

Belly Band*: $16.95 @ Target
4 Short Sleeve T-shirts*: $15.90 total at Target (check those clearance racks!)
2 Long Sleeve T-shirts*: $13.96 total at Target
1 pair of maternity jeans: $50 (Damn you Heidi Klum)
2 Dresses*: 1 wrap dress from Gap ($27) and 1 short sleeve from Motherhood ($19.99)
1 pair of khakis: $10 from a consignment store - these teeter the edge of being too short so I'm planning on fixing them to be cropped pants.
1 tunic: $4.17 at Boston Store

I have bought a few more tunic type dresses (non-maternity) from Goodwill and a variety of second hand stores that have helped me avoid dress pants and rock leggings most days of the week. I'm so happy I embraced the leggings trend before getting pregnant - they are a godsend for days when I don't have to be really dressed up for work!