I know one of my favorite areas on my friends' pregnancy/baby blogs is when they review "must have" items. I swear it's the first place I turn for advice. Because hearing first hand experienced is always the best. If you've been following my weekly updates, you'll have noticed I've still been mostly wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes during the week at work.
On my internet board, when women were buying maternity clothing in the first 8 weeks they were practically commended. "There's no prize for being the last to buy maternity clothes." But really, there kind of is. First and foremost, there's the prize of saving money. My friends who have already been pregnant warned me that if you shop to early, you'll end up with a bunch of brand new clothes that won't fit you during the second half/last third of your pregnancy. Meaning you're going to have to spend money for 2 new wardrobes, each of which you'll only be able to wear for a couple of weeks. And frankly, I'd rather spend the money on Muppet than myself. (I have that problem - I'd rather spend money on practically anyone but me) So this is my trimester by trimester break down of my maternity wear!
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| Non-maternity shirt and Non-maternity PJ bottoms |
First Trimester - Boobs and Bands
The first thing to not fit for me was the bra. And this happened ridiculously early. Like before I had even taken a pregnancy test. I remember being in Arizona and J kept telling me I was spilling out of my bra. So the first thing I had to buy were some new bras. Since I didn't know how big I was going to get I wanted to get something good and cheap. I picked up two cotton bras from Victoria Secret for around $14 a piece, expecting them to last for a few weeks. Apparently I was just an early bloomer because after that initial jump, my breasts haven't grown since the first trimester.
With the new breasts, I needed to pick up a couple new shirts for work. Mostly because I was wearing suits every day, and as anyone with a larger chest knows, button down shirts show any size changes fairly quickly. So I went to Banana Republic and picked up a couple button downs in a size larger than I normally wear.
The second thing to hit was the bloat. This is when my pants stopped buttoning. Based on the recommendation of my friend Kim, I picked up a Bella Band. This little piece of elastic is fantastic and worth every penny. I wore it till the bloat went down, and then put it back in the draw until the belly started coming in. And then used it religiously all through third trimester, which kept me out of maternity clothes until this week (more on that later). I highly highly highly recommend this sucker.
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| Non-maternity shirt and pj pants in a size larger. at 16 weeks. I still wear the pants. |
During the second trimester, I kept waiting for everything to grow. The bloat had dropped and I was glad not to have shelled out a bunch of money for clothes that I didn't need again. But we were traveling and I didn't know what each day would hold. The last thing I wanted was to be away from home and not fit into any clothes I brought with me. So I started buying "back up" clothing.
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| First up was a dress for Easter - from Old Navy. This was a great purchase, although I didn't know it at the time because I definitely didn't need it. But it was cheap and came in handy later in the pregnancy. |
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| This is Liz Lange for Target. This was my "event" dress for anything that would pop up - like barbeques, showers, dinners, etc. |
The next stop was the outlets where I picked up a couple of regular non-maternity bottoms in a larger size at Banana Republic. I still wear both of these items. The short grey skirt on the weekends, and the long black skirt for work.
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| I picked up this swimsuit at Motherhood Maternity for a girl's weekend, but it was really too big at this stage. I had a heck of a time finding something that I wasn't swimming in. Now this swimsuit is a-dorable on me, but back in second trimester I was still wearing my regular tankini. As a side tip, during third trimester I picked up a regular tankini 1 size up from Old Navy which also works really well if you're looking to avoid maternity suits in general. |
I made a stop at Gap Maternity for some workwear because I was terrified I'd wake up one morning, have to go to court, and have nothing that fit. Honestly, I SWEAR by Gap Maternity for workwear. Good prices, flattering, good quality, and perfect for office.
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| Got this dress in black. I LOVE it. It might be my favorite maternity purchase. It's perfect for the office, court, and has been totally flattering since the first time I wore it, unlike a lot of maternity wear which looked awful during second trimester. |
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| I added this skirt in black. It does double duty for work and weekend wear. I ended up having to get it a size larger than I probably should have, but it's cotton and drapey, so it doesn't matter too much. I just double fold the demi panel. It's very comfortable. I could probably sleep in it. |
My second clothing issue during second trimester started as the belly actually started showing. I have a long torso, which meant when the belly started coming in, my shirts started getting too short. Bleh. Not all of them, but enough that the Bella Band started doing double duty of covering the gap between shirt and pants. So I had to pick up some shirts that actually fit.
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| Not Maternity, but I'm still wearing these Target Long and Lean tanks. Holy awesome Batman. They're super cheap so I picked up a couple and they still cover the belly even though I'm now decidedly huge. |
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| This is GAP Maternity's version. I picked up one of these too, but only because they were on super sale, less than the Target ones. Between you and I, I like the Target ones better. |
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| Welcome back to the GAP. My favorite non-maternity T-shirts are Gap's "favorite tees." Luckily they have the same t-shirts in maternity wear, so I could do a real easy swap. |
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| Another GAP shirt for work. I picked up a couple of these too, but they are so freaking low cut! I swear they show off just about everything, so I also picked this little baby to go underneath: |
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| This one isn't incredibly fabulous on it's own, but it's perfect for underneath v-necks and some of my non-maternity shirts because of the length. |
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| Non-Maternity shirt and Non-Maternity Pants at 27 weeks. |
At the beginning of Third Trimester I was still basically wearing non-maternity clothing. Then around week 30 I was sitting in my office in my non-maternity pants when I REALLY didn't want to wear them anymore. I wanted to peel them off. I felt like I was a sausage in casing. It was time to retire my non-maternity wear. The ironic thing is, about a week or two later, many of them women on my internet board began complaining about how their maternity clothes didn't fit anymore, but they didn't want to go out and buy more. I seem to have successfully navigated around those rapids which is what I had foretold many many weeks ago.
First stop was some weekend wear.
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| After we went hiking one weekend, I realized I needed a pair of shorts to get me through the summer. These are from Old Navy and have served me well. |
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| I was dreading maternity jeans, because really, who likes shopping for jeans even when they're not pregnant? I splurged and went for more expensive jeans from Joe's Jeans and I'm really glad I did. While I can't say they're "more comfortable than my regular clothes" they fit really well and don't make me look half bad. |
Another trip to GAP for work clothes was an unexpected goldmine as everything was on sale with additional off. Although my work wardrobe seems to be near exclusively black.
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| I was having a heck of a time finding black pants at GAP in an "ankle" length and really didn't want to spend money on tailoring for pants I wouldn't be wearing long. So I ended up getting a pair of capris that hit me right at the top of my shoes. There are benefits to being short. |
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| A black work skirt is another staple for the work wardrobe. With this skirt and the black pants and my black suit jacket I have two "maternity suits." |
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| This is an example of why sometimes you're better off waiting. I tried on this dress during second trimester. At the time it was $60 and looked awful on me. Third trimester this is one of my favorite things to wear because of comfort and fit, AND it was only $10. |
And of course, Third Trimester is where my events calendar got stacked, so I ordered a bunch of dresses from Asos.com for special occasions.
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| For my brother's engagement party. |
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| For my shower. |
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| For a wedding in September. |
Work: 1 skirts, 2 dresses, 1 pair of pants, 3 shirts. Tip - GAP is the place to go for work clothing.
Play: 1 swimsuit, 3 shirts, 1 skirt, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of jeans. Tip - Pick up some non-maternity tanks at Target. Both Target and Old Navy are where I'd go for casual wear, but neither has a great in-store selection.
Occasions: 5 dresses. Tip: Some of the more casual dresses are great for summer weekends (or if you work in a more casual environment). I would highly suggest Asos for nice dresses. They have great sales, a great selection, and the clothing ships quickly.
Total weight gain/loss: +15
Next Appointment: Friday, August 26
Maternity clothes? I'm really trying to wear them exclusively, so this week I've made a point to wear maternity tops every day. I've been in non-maternity bottoms twice.
Stretch marks: nada.
Sleep: We're back to getting up frequently for bladder issues. And everytime I get up, J gets up too. I'd feel sorry for him, but really? He's been doing the same to me for years.
Best moment this week: Getting everything we need for the nursery. Once I do laundry, it'll be all set up and ready.
Movement: lots and lots and lots of it.
Food cravings: Nothing
Food aversions: Nothing
Gender: Tell you in October!
Belly Button in or out: in. J doesn't think it'll last this way much longer.
What I miss: Wine!
What I am looking forward to: Our Babymoon!
Contractions: Nope.
Milestones:
We're seeing movement from the outside all the time now and we're pretty sure there's a foot imprint pushed against my left side.
Baby officially has fingernails that go all the way up. Read in a baby book last night that they suggest nibbling them instead of cutting them when the baby comes out. I don't see myself doing that.
Baby Names: Names from the kitchen
Boy: Vanilla (Van for short)
Girl: Bruschetta
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