Stretching All Over: Making My Wardrobe Work While Pregnant

Oh hi! I know I haven’t been on in a while. It’s good to see you again! My attention has been focused on three things: growing this human, prepping our house, and keeping my business afloat. I feel like I only have the energy for one, but alas they all need work. And so does this blog.

Despite my general feeling of overwhelm I’ve really missed this site and chatting with you, even if it’s about something silly like clothing during a time you’re likely sitting in your house all day. This will be far from the most important thing you read, sure, but I think my brain needs to bring it back. You’re doing me the favor, really.

I’m more than half way through this absolutely amazing pregnancy (exhausting and often painful, but nothing short of spectacular given our years of infertility treatment) and rapidly running out of clothes. And when I say that, I really mean almost everything stopped fitting last month. Our baby girl is measuring a bit big, as is my stomach apparently thanks to my lack of height, so I outgrew my options faster than expected. That’s one of the other reasons it has been hard to keep blogging, but I digress.

Since I worked from home before the pandemic I already knew I didn’t plan on buying too many maternity pieces if and when I’d get pregnant ideally just a couple of bottoms, like leggings and jeans, and maybe some fun splurge items. Now that everyone is home most of the time picking up pieces with a short shelf life feels extra silly. That’s where the three wardrobe fixers come in: a belly band, a comfy bra, and a shelf cami. With those items I’m able to stretch the last remaining pieces of my wardrobe to fit my ever-growing knocked-up bod.

I was turned off by the idea of the belly band at first, but after a few wears I instantly fell in love. The idea is simple: an elastic tube goes from your belly button to the bottom of your fly to cover the fact that your pants don’t close anymore. I think it’s the easiest to pair with button-fly bottoms, as you can also create a web of hair elastics for extra support and you don’t have a rough zipper digging into your suddenly sensitive skin, but they work with nearly everything. The only thing you need to remember is that you can still tell there are unbuttoned pants under the band — it just isn’t thick enough to cover up the texture. Pair with a longer top if you’d like to keep your undone bottoms to yourself. (Or don’t. You’re pregnant in a pandemic. Congratulations for putting on pants at all.)

The comfy bra and the shelf cami are obvious wardrobe staples for the masses, but I love them during pregnancy for one specific reason: there’s a chance your boobs are suddenly too huge to function. Stupid me wished for bigger boobs when I was younger. What an idiot! It never dawned on me these giant new jugs would keep clothes from fitting even faster than my growing stomach. Depending on the top, I try either the comfy bra or the cami. My normal bra gives my girls a little too much shape and lift, which frankly they just don’t need right now; instead, I’ll try the comfy sport bra-like option to keep them as small as possible in hopes of actually fitting into something I already owned. When that doesn’t work I try the unbuttoned + cami option, like seen above with this dress. Tits just too big for the top? Leave it open! Add a cami! Pretend it’s meant to be worn that way!

Speaking of shopping, in case you’re also stuck bored at home (like you should be during a pandemic) and spending too much time online shopping, here are some of the non-maternity items I’m eyeing right now. Clearly the theme is oversized and loose — perfect for a baby bump, all those extra quarantine snacks, or in my case a combo of both.

Stay healthy!

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