I’ve given up the fight for now.
In the past two weeks, I’ve purchased about 10 shirts, a couple of cardigans, two pairs of jeans, leggings and a pair of dress pants. If you run into me, you can be sure I will be wearing a combination of any three of these things:
I’m done. I don’t want to outfit myself for pregnancy. I don’t want to experiment and keep trying to find a top that doesn’t make me want to wretch. I am tired of avoiding mirrors because I don’t want to waste an ounce of energy even allowing my head to go to that place where it recoils in horror at seeing my body “get fat again” when dear sweet Jesus it’s a BABY, it is not me going back to a dark place where I only found solace in potato chips, cheap beer and bad decisions.
Everyone and their brother seems to be watching in rightful awe at this photo series of a man documenting his lovely wife’s pregnancy.
(I love her hair and am seriously considering bringing this with me the next time my sister-in-law does my hair. And her style is just lovely, though I’m certain that my pre-pregnancy behind wasn’t given its rightful due in American Apparel clothing so there’s that.)
I would love to be that lady, documenting her growing belly and taking snapshots left and right and woe is me that is not me. I certainly don’t hate my body or the massive changes that are taking place, but I’m going to have to hurdle years worth of photo phobias that will take more work than for which this pregnant lady has the time or patience. I’d rather read and sleep and make playlists for that evening’s music lesson. My friend Jessamyn generously offered to take pregnancy shots of me as a gift, and she’s wickedly talented and a professional, so I’m going to put my belly and insecurities in her capable hands, rather than try and tackle this one on my own. She’s never steered me wrong before, and so I’m blessed in this capacity to have such a member of my tribe.
I’m learning quickly how very much I don’t have to try and overcome because my neuroses aren’t particularly scalable.
So I’m probably going to be wearing some variation of the same outfit for the next five months. And there won’t be weekly belly shots. And it’s unlikely that I will ever be fully comfortable with passing by our massive dining room mirror and seeing my squat little body and think, “Gee, Erin, you are a shining vessel of femininity and motherhood and you are just beautiful,” but I think it’s OK, and doesn’t make any less grateful that I’m able to have this experience.
It simply makes me, well, me, and while it means I am committing a grave offense (“Leggings are not pants!”), and I don’t have pictures of every moment of this pregnancy, I am super comfortable and sweating the important stuff, and not the size of my ass.
I highly recommend yoga pants and those items you have chosen are very chic, my friend.
If it’s any consolation, I pretty much wear some variation of one outfit to work every day and I’m NOT pregnant, just too chubby to fit into my normal clothes and too stubborn to buy new stuff (plus, everything I try on looks awful). So I applaud your attitude – and that sweater pictured up there? Super cute.
Totally cute! And I don’t know about you, but I did find that pregnancy was about the only time I really wanted to wear dresses despite feeling/being huge. Strange. But nice, since I got several stretchy maternity dresses from target.com that were under $10 apiece. Also, hey! Yay for taking photos of you! I’m excited!
I am on the same maternity fashion path. I normally wouldn’t touch leggings with a ten foot pole, but they are a preggo’s best friend! I wear mine unabashedly most days in the week. Look! Fancy sweatpants! yay!
Oddly, it’s kind of a cozy/casual and sort of chic style that I would never attempt NOT pregnant. Normally I’m a jeans/sweater/button up girl all the way.
Seriously, maternity leggings saved my life. When I got ginormous and all other pants squeezed me, the leggings were like a happy hammock for my belly. It’s also possible I still wear them around the house, but I’m not telling anyone that for sure.
There’s no point in investing a huge amount of money for maternity-wear because, really, you’re going to be completely sick of wearing it all after a few months of it, no matter how cute and stylish it might have been in the beginning. Be comfortable, make things easy for yourself, and save your energy for important things like choosing names and taking naps.
Don’t be shocked if the dress pants no longer feel good once you get bigger. I got to a point where no pants (except yoga pants) felt good and since I work in an office that makes no concessions for pregnant women to wear sweats, I ended up wearing tights, black skirts, and maternity shirts for the last two months. It wasn’t a bad uniform. And the tights feel sort of comforting on the belly — like they’re doing their part to hold you up!
Also, I’m sure that the photo series couple is perfectly lovely, but I occasionally wanted to punch them. No one should look that lovely and energetic while pregnant! It’s just not fair!
See, I hear a lot of people say ‘Don’t spend money on maternity clothes that you only wear for a few months!’ and I don’t know where they are coming from. First of all, its so nice to be comfortable, that I think its worth buying stuff early on in the pregnancy. And secondly, I didn’t gain a lot of weight, but I wasn’t fitting back in my regular clothes for atleast 3 months after the birth and probably even longer. It was nice to have some pretty things to wear. I suppose the trick is to try to add clothing that isn’t necessarily ‘maternity’ but which is cut to accomodate a larger tummy (ie empire waist dresses, wrap sweaters, extra long shirts, anything with lots of stretch). I had no fun seeing my body change and it did help my morale to have a nice wardrobe. For me, maternity clothes were a very worthwhile investment.
It’s an excellent look for you.
I like it!
Super cute! Leggings, dresses (with leggings underneath to protect the thighs) and tunics. All I wore. I spent too much on a pair of designer maternity jeans and never wore them. Actually, I did, but after Bennett was born. In fact, I just bought myself a few new pairs of gap maternity leggings on sale and free shipping! Gap and Old Navy have great maternity clothes, great prices and stylish.
[...] Not looking cute. Remember this post? Do you know how much cuter those items looked back in early September? Lots. Now they look like [...]