I always knew I wanted to have a baby, so for as long as I can remember, I have been thinking about what I would wear when I got pregnant.
I never planned to buy a whole new wardrobe (and in fact, most maternity clothes are not my style), so I always knew I would just work with the clothing I had. Every loose shirt and shapeless dress I bought, I would think "I can wear this when I'm pregnant."
Well, now that I am in my ninth month and birth is imminent, I am reflecting back on my pregnancy wardrobe with some interesting learnings:
1. I didn't actually look really pregnant until I was about 8 months pregnant.
Therefore, although my pants and most of my woven blouses ceased to fit me past 5 months, I was until not in full-blown maternity territory until almost the very end.
2. I didn't need a lot of clothes due to my new career.
I found out I was pregnant 10 days after quitting my full-time job. Being a consultant means that I work mostly from home, and being a pregnant consultant means that I mostly wear oversized T-shirts and sweatpants all day. As such, I really only needed a handful of outfits for client meetings. In fact, I survived on basically five professional outfits throughout my entire pregnancy, and only the bottoms (leggings and pants) were from a maternity store. The rest were just really loose or stretchy dresses and tops.
3. Some things change, some stay the same.
I was amazed at how quickly pregnancy changed some aspects of my body, and how it basically left others the same. For example, at only 2 months pregnant I could no longer wear regular bras. Since that time, I can only wear sports bras and maternity bras.
Also, my hips widened considerably, which meant I sized out of my bottoms and skirts very quickly.
On the other hand, my face, arms, legs, and feet stayed exactly the same. I was afraid my shoe size would increase like some women, but that didn't happen to me.
I never planned to buy a whole new wardrobe (and in fact, most maternity clothes are not my style), so I always knew I would just work with the clothing I had. Every loose shirt and shapeless dress I bought, I would think "I can wear this when I'm pregnant."
Well, now that I am in my ninth month and birth is imminent, I am reflecting back on my pregnancy wardrobe with some interesting learnings:
1. I didn't actually look really pregnant until I was about 8 months pregnant.
Therefore, although my pants and most of my woven blouses ceased to fit me past 5 months, I was until not in full-blown maternity territory until almost the very end.
2. I didn't need a lot of clothes due to my new career.
I found out I was pregnant 10 days after quitting my full-time job. Being a consultant means that I work mostly from home, and being a pregnant consultant means that I mostly wear oversized T-shirts and sweatpants all day. As such, I really only needed a handful of outfits for client meetings. In fact, I survived on basically five professional outfits throughout my entire pregnancy, and only the bottoms (leggings and pants) were from a maternity store. The rest were just really loose or stretchy dresses and tops.
3. Some things change, some stay the same.
I was amazed at how quickly pregnancy changed some aspects of my body, and how it basically left others the same. For example, at only 2 months pregnant I could no longer wear regular bras. Since that time, I can only wear sports bras and maternity bras.
Also, my hips widened considerably, which meant I sized out of my bottoms and skirts very quickly.
On the other hand, my face, arms, legs, and feet stayed exactly the same. I was afraid my shoe size would increase like some women, but that didn't happen to me.
Overall, here are the stats:
Maternity Purchases:
4 bras from Motherhood Maternity
1 pair of pants from Motherhood Maternity
1 pair of leggings from Motherhood Maternity
1 winter coat from H&M
Regular Clothes purchased while pregnant:
2 dresses from H&M (in Portugal)
1 dress from Uniqlo (in Taiwan)
The Evolution of a body and outfits:
When you are pregnant, the whole notion of "does this outfit make me look fat" takes on a whole new meaning. Not only do we not want to look fat, we want to look beautifully pregnant without looking like we put on extra weight. We want curves to show in the right places, but we don't want our bottom to look as big as our belly! More than ever, this is a time in a woman's life where smart shopping is key to building a stylish, functional and flattering maternity wardrobe. affordable maternity clothes
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