Maternity Clothes

I figure before this pregnancy comes to a close I should jot down my observations of maternity clothing…  Hopefully this will be helpful to those of you who will be embarking on pregnancy soon or who are newly pregnant and haven’t had to delve into the world of elastic waist bands yet.

1. First and foremost we are damn lucky to be pregnant during the retro-popular return of leggings and long shirt/dresses.  This is the biggest gift fashion could have given to a pregnant woman.
2. Invest early in at least 2 pair of good quality maternity jeans, make sure they are long enough and the kind that has the full stretch panel that comes to your boobs.  The little ½ panel was an awful invention, your belly lays on top of it and makes it fold over so that it doubles (i.e. pushes even harder) directly on your bladder.
3. Did I mention that the little half elastic panel pants suck.  Don’t buy them.
4. Buy several plain colored long sleeve (or short depending on where you live) maternity shirts with the rutching (little elastic squashed sides).  These shirts are cute when your belly is little and when it’s big.  If the shirt doesn’t have the rutching when your belly gets really big it doesn’t tuck in to the bottom of it and makes you look fatter, not pregnanter. 
5. Steer away from horizontal striped shirts.  They make you look wider and by the end of the pregnancy you really don’t want to feel any wider than you actually are…
6. Yoga pants are your friends.  Buy black (they are slimming and match everything) ones with the fold down waist panel.  Don’t bother buying the expensive version made for pregnant people, they’re the same damn thing just twice the price.
7. When your boobs get too big for your normal bras buy good quality nursing bras.  You’ll never wear bras that big again unless you’re pregnant or nursing so you might as well have them all be capable of nursing in.
8. If you eventually have to wear compression socks because of fluid retention DO NOT buy the ones at wal.mart or wal.greens, go to a good quality sports store (think R.E.I.) and buy smart.wool brand.  I bought my first pair from WG and they are incredibly ugly and cost 38 dollars for 1 pair.  I bought my second pair from R.E.I. and they are great quality, look way nicer, wick sweat away and cost 38 dollars a pair.  (Update on my giant feet: the compression socks are magic!  I have ankles again and they don’t hurt anymore!! Well worth the $38/pair.)