Mommy-To-Be Fashion

When I first got pregnant, I made a conscious decision to buy as little maternity clothes as possible. Why spend money on something that you can wear for just a few months? I started outgrowing my jeans around the 4th month and my coworker introduced me to this clever accessory called the Bella Band. It's kind of like a tube top that you wear around your belly. The purpose of the Bella Band is two fold: it holds up your pre-pregnancy jeans while you wear them unbuttoned or unzipped, and it lengthens your pre-pregnancy tops that have become too short because of the growing bump. The Bella Band allowed me to wear my regular jeans until I hit about 4 months. Then I broke down and asked Santa (aka Rick) to bring me some nice maternity jeans. Around the same time, I started checking out maternity stores like A Pea in the Pod and was unpleasantly surprised by how much cute maternity clothes cost! A simple t-shirt was $50 and a slightly embellished one would be $100! On the other hand, maternity clothes at lower end stores like Old Navy just don't look very nice. I soon realized that it was mostly unnecessary to buy tops from maternity stores. Now that baby dolls and longer tops are in fashion, you can find something cute and wearable at stores like Banana Republic and American Eagle without paying inflated prices. I'm wearing a top from Banana Republic in the picture above. It seems to me that maternity fashion retailers try to charge more because they know that you are in an emotional stage in your life and that you probably will easily succumb to the hoopla of over-priced hot mama fashion. However, it is getting harder and harder to stay away from maternity clothes as I enter my 7th month of pregnancy. I'll need to get a little more creative to find clothes that look good, feel comfortable and are suitable for work.