Maternity clothes are a dream come true. Why aren’t all clothes this comfortable and adjustable!?
I went to Motherhood Maternity this week in search of a dress for my cousin’s wedding this weekend. I pull dresses off the rack with low expectations of them fitting well or making me look like anything other than a person in a cloth sack. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I felt in the dresses – both mentally and physically.
You would think that the only difference between maternity dresses and traditional dresses is extra fabric over the stomach. However, what I noticed was that they all had STRETCH in the RIBS. Most of my traditional dresses do still fit over my bump no problem, but they are all tight in the bust/ribs now. Probably from my barrel chest growth! These dresses fit over the head without a zipper yet the belts and elastic fit nicely to give me a waist – whatever kind of waist you can call your ribcage : )
Here are the three dresses I brought home:
Flowers for my cousin’s wedding tomorrow and my Hillsborough shower
Summertime knit for the rehearsal dinner (and maybe my Cville shower!)
Black lace with leather belt for miscellaneous occasion – a few “family of 2” date nights?!
I didn’t buy this one that I felt tugged in the wrong places:
And I would have bought this if I had wanted to spend more money, but I decided 3 was enough:
My other to-do on this trip was to get a few nursing items for the first few weeks. I know, I know – wait to buy nursing bras. But I have to have SOMETHING to wear in week 1 and 2 and I know I will not want to go shopping quite yet! I plan to go back sometime in the first month to get a nice supportive official fitted and sized nursing bra or two, but today’s trip was just something to wear so that I am not braless for 2 weeks! (I am someone who almost always wears one…especially if we have company!)
Bras were buy-3-get-one-free so I picked up three of these sleep nursing bras – the kind you just push to the side. I bought mediums and there is room to grow! I hope to wear these for lounging, in the hospital and maybe during labor!
I also bought this stretchy sports-bra style one that clips down. This might be my training bra for going out of the house before it’s time to buy a real supportive one. I was surprised that the S/M fit me – but also, plenty of room to grow!
I tried on a few of Motherhoods build-in-bra tanks, but I found them to be less supportive and not quite big enough on top, so instead I bought two of these tanks:
The top is super stretchy and you just pull it down. I imagine they’ll be good for hospital/lounging at home too. Cute enough I might even wear them this summer!
I have gone on 3 shopping trips for maternity clothes – one for jeans and a few tops in the first trimester, one for lots of cheap summer clothes (shorts and tops) in the second and this one for dresses and nursing gear in the third. I’m pleased to consider myself done with maternity shopping and have been happy with my wardrobe options. Not sick of anything…yet!
I probably spent about $500 total on clothing. I would have loved to borrow some from a friend, but I never got any offers, and my one experience shopping for second-hand stuff was quite disappointing – I could sense that all of the clothes had been worn over and over and over and were really tired looking and smelly. But sometimes you can hit a jackpot! I do consider these purchases to be “needs” more than “wants” and hopefully I will wear them again if we’re lucky enough to have a baby #2! I better not be in the complete opposite season next time…!
My favorite maternity items are my ribbed tanks from Old Navy – I wear them every single day! Under clothes, to bed, to workout and now that it’s summer – as a stand-alone tank. I love having so many colors to choose from and am glad my favorite item was the most inexpensive.
What was your favorite piece of maternity wear?
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