In my family, I am the younger sister x2. I have both an amazing sister and sister in law ahead of me who have paved the way into new stages of life for me, and I LOVE that I have a little “life cheat sheet” from them:) Both of them have already had their first child (and both are pregnant again at the same time as me!). One thing that stuck with me during each of their first pregnancies was how expensive they said maternity clothes were, so when it came to the beginning of my pregnancy, I had it in my mind that I would make it until 20 weeks at least before I had to buy anything maternity. One problem, my clothes got real tight…REAL fast! Ha!
Now for me, I was more impacted by my lack of properly fitting clothes at work. This was a place that I was trying to keep my pregnancy under wraps the most but also, there is nothing worse than the tight band of your work pants digging in as you’re sitting all day! On top of it all, you can’t rubber band work pants that are in the hook and button style…basically the list of issues that I encountered is endless. So I found out real quick that I would not be the type of person who would be able to rock non maternity clothes, especially pants, for very long. Heck, I wanted to rubber band my old jeans after having a slightly large dinner BEFORE pregnancy! Finding an affordable way to dress my pregnant body is still something I am working on but here are some tricks that I have used to help me along so far! **Post partum update: looking back, I would “invest in” (spend a normal amount on) QUALITY maternity clothes…especially if you plan on having multiples and can reuse later. I quickly found what was actually cheap/bad quality vs my go-to’s and I really wore my few go-to’s out by the end!
WORK PANTS WITH AN EXPANDABLE PANEL
These pants gave me LIFE the minute I tried them on. During my first trimester, when I was really trying to conceal my growing belly/growing bloat, all I wanted to wear were dresses but a pair of these pants were better at allowing me to (decently) hide what was going on! My work style is usually cropped work pants from the Loft and a cute blouse or tank + cardigan so even the thought of switching to dresses seemed like a dead give-away to me, but to make it through those first few weeks I just bought one pair of maternity pants and made them work! I am not sharing the exact ones because after a few weeks of the being my only pair, I just don’t love how they have held up, but the style is fantastic. I also wouldn’t recommend buying too many of this style because, for me, once I was around 20ish weeks, I felt like the full panel was more smoothing and I never looked back!
UPCYCLE YOUR CLOSET
Those work pants that were ill-fitting or a little too big before? That midi dress that you thought your pudge showed in (but probably didn’t)? These are both great items that you somehow have held onto over the years that will do you so many favors now! I had some larger pants just from a time when I wanted this design but they didn’t have my size so I went up (rational thinker over here) and they were so nice for keeping me feeling normal at first! I have loved incorporating pieces from my closet that I didn’t usually wear often because of the fit. The real MVPs? SWEATERS. Bless them. I was able to wear all of my normal sized sweaters all the way through. I did buy one at Old Navy that was a high low style so I bought it in a “tall” so that it would cover my belly as i got really big and it was fantastic. Once I announced, there was no shame in the bump so I went immediately into my dresses that were stretchy but form fitting. It has been so fun to find new ways to style these old pieces I already had!
JUST BUY IT!
Suddenly can’t fit into any of your gym shorts? Your bras are too small? I felt a lot of hesitancy and guilt at first in thinking that I may need to go out and buy something new. Like, why couldn’t I just make it work? Sometimes, you just can’t and there is nothing worse than getting bigger and having NOTHING to fit in to. Some other items I pulled trig on lately were workout tops, basic tops (highly recommend Gap maternity here) and jeans! My favorites to purchase from so far is ASOS Maternity (affordable and keeps me trendy!), GapFit Maternity, and shopping a Pea in the Pod from retailers such as Macys who often run amazing sales!
**24 WEEK EDIT: STILL LOVING ASOS MATERNITY FOR OCCASION DRESSES. BUT WARNING, THEIR STANDARD TEES THAT ARE SO SO CHEAP…ARE SO FOR A REASON. I HAVEN’T SEEN A TOP SHRINK THAT MUCH AFTER ONE WASH SINCE MY FOREVER 21 DAYS WHEN I WAS 15. SO FAR I AM ALL ABOUT THE BASIC TOPS AND BELLY HUGGING TOPS. GAP HAS A GREAT SELECTION AND I ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO BUY DURING A SALE WEEKEND. ALL THE WAY UNTIL I WAS DONE WITH MY BEER BELLY STAGE, I WAS REALLY THANKFUL FOR THOSE CASUAL A PEA IN THE POD SHIRTS FROM MACYS. THEY WERE SO FLATTERING AND QUALITY MATERIALS THAT I KNOW WILL LAST ME THROUGH HOWEVER MANY PREGNANCIES I HAVE.**
This is such an exciting time but also a time of a lot of change, and sometimes the growing pains can be a little rocky! Feeling good about yourself in the clothes that you wear can be the difference in your emotional state during that day, so go on momma, and treat yourself!
