It surprises me how few fashion posts and info there is out there for pregnancy. I mean even fashionistas get pregnant, right? Any who, I thought I'd write a bit about my process with it all, because I think it can be difficult to deal with the changes of your body and the pressure coming from everywhere about how big or little or whatever you should be while pregnant. At the very least you should be able to feel cute in what you wear.
I got pregnant in December, so the fist part of my pregnancy was while it was cold. We did have a colder, longer winter than we usually do in Northern California. It lasted through March, because of that I do have some cold weather clothes this time. One thing I do suggest is, if you can, get maternity clothes sooner rather than later. It just makes life easier and more comfortable. I found that I wasn't comfortable in normal clothes around 8-10 weeks. This was because my pelvis poppped out pretty quick and made pants, leggings and things of this sort tight. It was also uncomfortable for me to have anything squishing my uterus. So getting leggings and a pair of maternity jeans at about 10 weeks made me a lot more comfortable. When you feel sick and fat, because of being bloated, having comfy bottoms make things nicer.
In the beginning I used a lot of my normal clothes, and honestly still use quite a few pieces that I wore before. While it was cold I just layered more, I would wear dresses with a shirt under or a coat over. Here are the pieces I used most often for that, and they all still fit at 5 months. The green blazer is a linen blazer that I wear often in the colder months, but is too hot now. It tightens an outfit at the waist while leaving space for growing belly. The brown cardigan is something I crocheted up for the changing temperatures and it's wonderfully comfortable in lots of weather. If your curious, it's a wool silk blend yarn, which is amazing. The blue button-up was a loose fitting shirt when I wasn't pregnant and even now it fits, although not so loosely. I would wear it under dresses mostly, but now wear it over and tie it up at the waist. The other piece is a slip. It's the only one I own for now, but it's a great way to add another layer for warmth and since I don't really wear bras, it really saved me some pain from rubbing against fabrics while my breasts were developing.
These were my main garments until very recently and some still are. The two top items, the dress and top, are no longer being worn, because it's too hot now. The dress is a cute linen dress with an empire waist line (so under the bust and not at your natural waist). It served me well when it was colder, but now with the long sleeves and it being a the high 80's, it's too hot. The top was bought with some maternity clothes and I wasn't paying close enough attention to the fiber contents. It's, of course, polyester and as soon as it wasn't 60 degrees or colder I felt like I was going to die in it. So it's out now too. The beautiful white dress was one I made years ago and was designed with pregnancy in mind. It's empire waisted as well (which is very flattering during pregnancy) with a bust area that can expand. I wore it earlier in the year with my slip under and the green blazer for some more warmth and it's so pretty! Now that it's a bit hotter I wear it with the blue shirt tied over and it's just as cute! The overalls I bought a few years ago for gardening, but wear them often just because I like them. I knew they would work throughout my pregnancy, because when on a hike once, my niece who was 7 at the time, got in the back of them when she was too tire and she fit well back there. Before being pregnant I would wear them in the summer with a bandeau or bralet under and it was actually comfortable. So I plan to continue that this summer.
These are a few of the things I actually bought for my maternity. Now that I'm bigger the maternity tees are more comfy, because they don't ride up like normal tees will. Most of my normal tees do still fit though, but probably not for much longer. The leggings are amazing! I got some from Kohl's which were ok, but the ones from target are super cool! In total I got what you see here, plus two other tees and two leggings that are mid-calf length. I think I could've gone without the tees and the jeans, but it did help having options while I was still getting used to dressing for pregnancy. The leggings you should definitely get! If you buy nothing else for pregnancy, these will make the difference!
As it's gotten warmer I've pulled out more of my summer clothes and with all the time I've had I mended a few older pieces that have added to my wearables. The only piece here that is technically maternity is the shorts which I did buy along with the other items from before. The shorts don't have the belly bit, which is needed for summers here, since it gets so hot. They are really comfy and I plan to make one more pair out of linen and some elastic, because I don't think one pair will be enough. The lace top I've had forever and because it's see through the fact that it's big on me normally was not a negative. Now it still fits me fine and I have an under tank that fits me great. The white top was actually something my mom passed onto me and I kept it since it wasn't fitted at the waist and thought it would be a good top for pregnancy. I often wore this under that green blazer before I was pregnant and while I was still small. It was very cute. The green dress is a repair I did a few weeks ago after the decluttering when I rediscovered a bunch of mending projects I had set away and forgot about completely. So I mending it all up and it is the cutest maternity dress! It makes me look like a pregnant faery, which I am so down for!
There of course have been some clothes I tried to make work for maternity that just didn't go well. The romper/jumpsuit whatever you want to call it, in the light tan color was something I got while shopping for the other maternity clothes. I got it two sizes too big so it would have belly room and the only part that was way too big and looked bad was the armholes sagged out. Luckily throwing a dart in there took, maybe, 10 minutes. It looks nice, but my husband just doesn't like it and always has a sad face on when I wear it. Plus after getting it home and trying to wear it a few times, the color doesn't lend itself well to being paired with anything! I may try to dye it and hope that maybe that revives it. The dress breaks my heart a bit. I love the fabric so dearly! It's this beautiful rustic silk, that has the most amazing texture. However, it's really not a good fabric for this style of dress. It's quite thick and makes the gathered skirt stick out on its own. I don't think this would be the worst look when I'm big enough, but by then it will be very hot and I think that fabric will be too thick for the time of year. The blouse is cute and looks pretty good on me, but with my belly it sits kind of high. With some shorts in the summer I don't think it will be too bad, but it's not great.
I plan to make a few more items to fill out for the summer. As I mentioned earlier, a pair of linen shorts, another two sundresses, a pair of overalls that are short length, and some bralets/tops. My biggest trick for keeping cool enough is natural fibers, even 20-30% polyester can make a huge difference in the garment ability to breathe and you need all you can get around here, especially being pregnant. Here's some pictures I have of these clothes actually being worn. Hope this was helpful or at least interesting!
The tie dye dress is my most recent addition. Stay safe and sane out there!
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