A note before I get started...I do not like shopping...for anything. It's hard enough to get me to shop for clothes on a normal basis, so shopping for maternity clothes was definitely a challenge.
I didn't buy too much for my first pregnancy and I only bought 2 or 3 things for this one (due to season differences for the 2 pregnancies) since I figure my ever-growing belly will keep morphing and I didn't want to have the clothes taking up space waiting for the next pregnancy. I found a few pieces that were "decently" priced and actually fit on me from
Motherhood Maternity and
GAP (this was the best fitted clothes for me, but a little pricey). I think I got one thing from
Target (everything else there is way too big for me) and something else from
Old Navy. That was about it. A coworker gave me some clothes, too. The rest of what I wore was mostly non-maternity clothes that I already had but were stretchy or more baggie.
None of it is very stylish at all.
I feel like all the maternity pants that I own are baggie. I'm all belly. With both my pregnancies, I hardly gained any weight in other areas of my body...just the belly. My thighs didn't get any bigger, so they don't quite fit any of the pants.
What did I do? I looked online. There are some fabulous fashionable finds out there, but......they're all super duper expensive. If you ever look at the prices of the clothes that are featured in those pregnancy magazines, they're totally outrageous. I just stuck with the basic stuff that I had. I wasn't going to spend that much on something I would wear for a few months. Anyhow, since I'm pretty petite (even during my pregnancy), some regular clothes that were a little longer did well to cover my baby bump. Another mom caught me..."That's not a maternity shirt huh?" My pregnant friend was wearing some cute clothes, so I asked her where she shopped. She laughed and just said she didn't buy maternity clothes. She wore whatever fit, and for pants, she mostly wore leggings.
I only have 12 weeks (or less) left of my pregnancy, so I don't think I will be buying much else. I wish I could have had a more polished and stylish look through my pregnancy though.
So...I'm curious...(and in case, we plan for #3...).....
During your pregnancy, what did you do in terms of maternity clothes?
*Sidenote: I did win
this tank from bumpbabies.com though.
Comments (17)
If you buy Shalwar you can wear it during and after pregnancy because the bottoms are drawstring and can grow and shrink with you. One good site would be http://www.alhannah.com
I'm only commenting because I went thrift shopping today, and at Goodwill?
I seriously picked up about fifteen different shirts/dresses/whatever going, "Oh my GOD, this is SO cute....oh crap, it's a maternity shirt/etc". It was crazy. They had some really, really nice items, super affordable, and I could barely tell they were maternity clothes! (I probably would have noticed if I tried them on though, 'cause I'm definitely not pregnant, ha!)
but seriously, try it - I've had that happen at a few different thrift stores. And, you can always donate them back after the pregnancy!
I never bought maternity wear. I just bought bigger clothes. At the end of my pregnancy I wore about a 8 or 10 in pants and a medium top. I wore the waistband around my hips so it didn't bother my belly. It allowed me to stay stylish.
There are on-line places but I was not willing to pay $200 for maternity jeans.
I wasn't too into fashion when I was pregnant because it was so dang hot here. I wore what was comfortable. When I had to dress in something other than big t-shirts and athletic shorts, I bought stuff from Old Navy, Motherhood (clearance), and lots of consignment stores. That kept me dressed pretty well. My favorites were hippy style sun dresses and flip-flops.
My mom got things from mimi maternity. That store is awesome! I remember when me and my sis walked in with my mom we thought the clothes were so CUTE and we were disappointed when we found out the store was of the maternity kind.
However my mom gave me some of the tops because my boobs are so big and the maternity tops fit my girls well.
I wore yoga pants when I was pregnant and skirts with elastic waist bands. If I ever get pregnant again through I really want to get at least a few items of maternity wear, some of it is really cute.
I bought an awesome pair of maternity jeans from Old Navy. I got several maternity tank tops from Motherhood Maternity and I used those underneath non-maternity clothing. It worked much better than buying a whole new wardrobe!
I shopped at motherhood maternity and Target mostly- JC Penney as well. None of the stuff is what I would call a decent price for something I won't be wearing very long, but it's a sacrifice I had to make if I wanted to look well put together. The only non-maternity stuff I wore was the tunic length tops. They give full coverage when you are pregnant and can easily transition to your post baby wardrobe.
A Pea in the Pod has some beautiful clothes there - I almost walked in until I realised it's a maternity store.. and I think their stuff may be expensive too.
I shopped around and actually the maternity clothes that ended up fitting my body the best (I was all belly too) were from Wal-mart! And they were inexpensive! I "splurged" on some $25 jeans at Target that I really liked and fit really well, then bought a bunch of different shirts. No one notices if you wear the same jeans everyday!
a pea in the pod is outrageously priced. not willing to spend that much on maternity clothes.
old navy and target werent too bad, targets clothes fit me awkwardly. i mostly went with old nave because my cousin works there and got me a discount LOL
i checked out some clothes at Kohl's. they werent too bad.
theres a store in canada called Thyme maternity. A little on the expensive side, but I found an outlet mall that had one.
Believe me i searched high and low.
I definitely dont have the time to spend washing my one pair of maternity jeans everyday, and you can't wear jeans to the office, you just can't.
like any store you just gotta hit the shops in the right style season. I happened to be pregnant all huge toward the end of winter so for the whole season all i could find were sweaters and big bulky UGLY clothes. then in the spring, after i had my daughter, BAM cute tops and skirts everything.
At nearly 30 weeks pregnant, I can definitely feel your pain right now. I just went looking the other day for some maternity shirt (that aren't tents) because some of the shirts I have are getting too short and my belly is peeking out. A cute look, maybe, on a more petite person - but not on me (a size 18 - 20 generally).
So far, I am still able to wear my regular jeans. I just wear them a bit lower and use a rubber band to ad an inch or so to the waistline. Sounds a bit dorky maybe, but it worked so far and am hoping it will through the end of my pregnancy.
Problem then is that my shirts need to cover a bit more. I have a couple tanks that I just wear under other shirts to cover the extra that needs to be covered. Otherwise, I have seen these bellaband things on-line and am actually going out tomorrow to find fabric to try to make one (or two) and am hoping that will help.
I hate how expensive maternity stuff is - especially for how long you use it. And you think it is hard to find stuff in regualar sizes? Try looking for plus sized maternity clothes!
I usually invest in one or two pairs of regular pants that have a low waist and wear them under the belly. That handles it 'til the last month or so. And after baby comes, I can still wear them.
No one seems to have mentioned Kohl's, but I had good luck there. I'm not crazy into style, so I'm not sure how "stylish" the tops are. But I only gained belly weight too, and I definitely found things that fit. Many tops my friends even thought looked like non-maternity tops.
Good luck!
H&M has a maternity line which I like (and which is pretty affordable): www.hm.com
I just used their pieces to add to what was given to me so I could make cute and more or less coordinated outfits. Other than that, I don't know (I'm in the Netherlands).
Thanks for this, I will be sure to pass this onto my wife has just got the news that we are having another baby, whoohoo, the last time she was pregnant she moaned constantly about the maternity clothes that where on offer, with maternity clothes being made more fashionable for pregnant women these days she is rather exited this time around, I would like to say a big thank you to the maternity fashion designers out there, I could not go another 9 months of moaning about clothes lol, thanks.
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