My Maternity Favorites

My Maternity Favorites

The challenge of maternity shopping. 🙂 Your body goes through the most insane changes when you’re pregnant. For me, there were highs and lows with feeling comfortable with how I looked. First my boobs got bigger so my tops weren’t fitting right. Then I had enough of a belly where I couldn’t button my jeans, but not enough to where I “looked pregnant.” Then I completely popped which was nice in a lot of ways; but clothes got more challenging.  And throughout this time I still wanted to dress cute and feel like myself! So at first I was like ok, this is going to be fine, I’m just going to buy the clothes that I normally would and order a size up. It was winter, so chunky sweaters saved me. That worked for awhile, but as the belly grew things just start to just fit super weird. Then I found myself on maternity sites in a black hole of shirts with lace or horizontal stripes. Like whyyy does every maternity shirt need to have horizontal stripes?

So I did my research, stalked some pregnant bloggers, and ended up with a small wardrobe of clothes that I actually liked. Below is what I lived in and where I bought them! I did my best to not buy a lot, and now that I’m not pregnant anymore I’m happy that I don’t have an overwhelming amount of maternity clothes that I won’t be wearing anytime soon. It made wearing the same four dresses out to dinner worth it. 😉

If you don’t have a pair of Lulu Lemon Align leggings, buy them immediately. I have six pairs. (I know- I’m ashamed). They are expensive, but I literally wore my same size 4 leggings that I started with for the first 8 months. These bad boys can stretch! They are super lightweight, yet I wore them all winter with a chunky sweater or flannel. 

Once you can’t see your feet, you need a pair of “over the bump” leggings like these from Ingrid and Isabel. I just felt more secure pulling something all the way up and over my belly because they won’t roll down on you. Lots of brands carry them!

I essentially bought all of my maternity clothes from three places: ASOS, HATCH and Ingrid & Isabel.

ASOS was probably my main go-to. Their clothes are pretty inexpensive and on trend. They have super cute dresses and all the basics you would need. Just note that the quality of some items are just not that good. It’s hard to tell until you get them. I am part of their free two-day shipping deal, so online shopping and returning when needed was super easy. Some of my favorites that I have below!

 HATCH was for my splurge shopping. Their pieces are gorgeous, high quality and can often be worn after the baby. I bought my baby shower dress from here, as well as their Georgie jumpsuit, which I literally lived in. 

 Ingrid & Isabel breaks their website up so you can shop by trimester which is really nice. They have really great basic essential pieces. I had to weed through their clothes a little bit, but the pieces that I do have I LOVE. Their tank dress I have in three colors and wore all the time. Plus I have their MAMA demin jacket that I cannot wait to wear.

If it hasn’t happened already, your boobs are gonna grow. This might be a blessing or a curse, depending on where you’re starting off. 🙂 The hard part (at least for me) was that the growing of the boobs was a gradual process. I changed sizes at least two times. So GAP was my go-to for new bras. They are cheap, super comfortable and get the job done. I have a few of their styles, but love their favorite coverage and demi bra. I also bought a few of their bralettes for immediately when I got home. 🙂 

This is tough to give advice on because it really depends on your body. I started out tying a hair tie around my regular jeans (trying to avoid the inevitable haha). Then I went to the maternity jeans with the side panels which I found to all be so low rise! It makes sense, but I am used to a high rise jeans so it felt a bit weird for me. Eventually I ended up in a pair of “over the bump” jeans because I felt more secure. But again, I didn’t go crazy with buying maternity jeans! I bought one nice black pair and one nice regular jean pair. The rest I borrowed from friends!