Pregnancy Style

Being nearly 7 months pregnant with my first child, I've had an interesting time navigating through maternity clothes. Starting right off the bat at 9 weeks, I was so bloated and I figured why be miserable? I went and purchased some maternity work pants and jeans. That was a good decision, one I highly recommend! I've had trouble fitting into maternity tops as they are still all too big for me. I settled on buying regular clothes at my favorite clothing stores in a size or two larger than I'd normally wear and it seems regular stores still carry much cuter stuff than the maternity stores. I swapped my normal high heels for lower heels or flats and thankfully flats are fairly in right now. I figured I'd share some of my favorite outfits right now as I know it can be super hard to feel cute or stylish when pregnant.

I love this look with a colored or gray dress/tunic style top, dark leggings, dark boots and dark jacket. The nice thing about this outfit is you can wear it during any trimester and when you feel fat before your bump protrudes as it hides the fat feeling pretty well (I say fat feeling because I definitely felt like I looked fat from eating too many donuts not from a bun in the oven). The jacket could easily be swapped for a sweater and the boots for flats for warmer weather.

Okay, so I know this isn't a pregnant picture but what I love about this outfit is that the brightly colored skinny's allow for a more neutral top and I've been definitely taking advantage of that neutral top. From a basic black top with black boots, flats or heels or a white top and neutral or animal print flats. I find I wear a lot of dark colors on top to minimize the knockers that have grown tremendously during pregnancy and the color on the bottom adds a nice pop!

I love this look as well: skinny jeans, tank, flats and jacket. I'm big on using colors in accessories so I'd probably add some fun color or print with the flats, scarf or purse. Lastly, here is my list of what I think every pregnant woman should have in her closet:

- Basic black and white tank top (1 of each is probably sufficient and doesn't necessarily have to be maternity so long as they are stretchy and long enough)

- Maternity leggings (2-3 is probably enough and standard colors such as black, gray, etc. plus maybe some fun prints or colors)

- Comfortable pair of flats and get a size with room to grow

- Sweaters or jackets (light or thick depending on the season and you'll definitely want a good selection of these)

There are many ways to style the bump and I just listed a few suggestions of what I've found work for me. Have fun with colors and if you're shy with color, accessorize with it. With those basics, you can easily swap them out and trade outfits to keep it fresh without spending a lot of money on maternity clothes.