By friend and guest Blogger Emily Norton of the “The Little Window Shoppe”

Pregnancy is a beautiful experience. It brings about its own mix of wondrous joys and little challenges along the way. Some of my most cherished memories are of my pregnancy. I loved experiencing the happiness of feeling my baby grow and the glow of new motherhood. It was an exciting time for me, however, behind the scenes of all the fun planning and preparing, I was experiencing weight gain, swollen ankles and couldn’t find ANYTHING to wear!

All of my favorite clothes didn’t fit and I was in need of a little fashion makeover.

Throughout my pregnancy, I went shopping for clothes about three or four times just to keep up with my growing tummy. Here is a list of some of my favorite places to shop that I think will help you to look beautiful and stay comfortable the entire way.

Clothes:

Motherhood Maternity

This is one of my favorite local places to shop, we live by a Motherhood Maternity Outlet store, since I didn’t wear many of these outfits more than a few times, it’s nice to find cute items on sale! My very favorite dress came from Motherhood Maternity - it was black with white flower trimming and it was a little stretchy in front so I was easily able to wear it from start to finish. It was crisp, so I was able to wear it to work, yet it was stretchy and soft and was definitely comfortable. I am excited to wear it again for any future pregnancies. Currently, Motherhood Maternity is having a Fall Sale and you can find pretty cardigans, dresses and skirts at an affordable price.

Figure 8 Maternity

Figure 8 Maternity is a another great place to shop. They have a great selection of clothes, pajamas and accessories from pregnancy through nursing and they always have special deals and clearance items so that you can save! They always have a clearance for the Bella Band too.

Isabella Oliver

I wish I had known about Isabella Oliver when I was pregnant, this collection features luxurious pregnancy friendly fabrics and they create clothes that are designed to work from day to night. You can shop by trend, budget, size, or temperature! Isabella Oliver features wrap tops and dresses that are so beautiful that you may momentarily forget that you’re pregnant when wearing them.

Baby Style Maternity

Another great place to add to your list as they have a chic collection of modern clothes with a touch of Italian luxury. These sophisticated tops are sleek, simple and their crafted in Italy. You can also catch their Fall Sale with prices up to 60% off.

Shade clothing

These next two places have mainly women’s clothing, but I like Shade because their tees and camis are long and modest - which is great when you need a longer shirt to cover your growing tummy. Those first few months are a little hard to get used to because you are essentially “caught in the middle”. Your pre-pregnancy clothes are a little too tight: buttons won’t connect, shirts don’t tuck in like they used to, yet you’re still too small for maternity clothes.These shirts give you that extra length you need so that you can relax through this phase and move around throughout the day without having to worry about your skin showing.

Onto The Shoes!
The last few months of my pregnancy, it was hard to bend over to tie anything and my feet wouldn’t fit into my normal shoes! It was very limiting…
Flats (i.e. Mary Janes), or low, wide shoes or heels with a good arch support were the way to go…and it was helpful if they were easy to slip on and had a little breathing room.
Crocs and Sketchers have excellent shoes that look stylish, but that also add comfort to your stride. And recently, Angelina Jolie (when pregnant with her twins) sported a pair of Cole Haans with a low heel and Nike sole that were perfectly comfortable.

Accessories

Finally, my last fashion focus is on the accessories.

Blush

Blush Topless Undershirts are so useful and cute for everyday use, they add the layered look to your shirt, without adding straps. They fit perfectly just above your waist and they stay on effortlessly under your favorite shirts.

Bella Band (Find it for about $10 at almost any maternity clothing store).

This is something you definitely should have. It is the perfect cover for when your jeans won’t button up. Just slip this ultra-soft, seamless knit band around the waistline, over unbuttoned jeans, skirts and shorts. It’s very comfortable and no one will know your pants are slightly unbuttoned. I LOVED mine as it helped me to wear my favorite pre-pregnancy jeans a little longer.

Thanks Emily for your Tips shopping suggestions! All these cute pregnancy clothes makes me want to be pregnant!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 11:30 am and is filed under fashion tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.