Reader Question

Heather Asked:

Chelsea ~ I have purchased many items from you on Etsy for friends with babies on the way. Now it's my turn! And I'm wondering where you get most of your adorable tops...you are super stylish in all of your pics - where are you shopping for maternity clothes? 

Thanks for the blog....Duke is adorable.

Thanks so much Heather, and congratulations on your pregnancy!  It is really the most exciting time of your life (well, until the baby comes :), so try to enjoy every second of it.  

I had fun dressing my baby bump and I did my very best to buy as few maternity clothes as possible.  My husband even gave me props for not spending a lot of money on maternity clothes....and I LOVE to shop.  It actually wasn't that hard.  I did buy some maternity basics, and I also swear by a few American Apparel pieces that I literally wore under everything, every day.  I just went through my closet and packed up my maternity clothes to put away for (maybe??) another day.  Here is the extent of my maternity basics:

It includes jeans, leggings, a pair of sweats (not maternity, just size xl for the waist band) and some thermal maternity tops from Target.  My favorite maternity jeans came from the "Loved" by Heidi Klum line at Motherhood Maternity.  They were reasonably priced and super cute.  I just couldn't see spending tons of money on clothes that I would literally wear for only a few months.

  I wore these tank tops from American Apparel literally every day.  They are long so they cover your booty over leggings and are great for layering.  They are also great for nursing, as are their deep v-neck tees.  I did a post on my favorite maternity leggings here.  Since my little guy was breech with the cord around his neck, I had no choice but to have a c-section and these leggings were the only thing that were comfortable to wear for weeks after he was born.  They are only about $25 and they are worth every penny.  I ended up with a few pairs since I wore them so often.

Luckily I gravitate towards flowy empire waist tops and dresses and longer stretchy tops so I was able to wear a lot of my existing wardrobe in my closet.  I did buy a few new items from favorites like H&M and Forever 21 that worked as maternity clothes.  My favorite place in the whole wide world to shop is the Anthropologie sale rack, and I did find a couple of cute pieces there that worked during and post pregnancy.  Honestly, I think it would be a lot easier to be in your biggest stage of pregnancy in warm weather because it's so easy to throw on a dress and flip flops.  Winter was tough.  Here are a few of the outfits I came up with and where the (mostly non-maternity) pieces came from.

First Trimester

Second Trimester

Third Trimester

You can see the "Be" maternity leggings and Diesel booties made a strong appearance in the last couple months of my pregnancy.  They were comfy and easy to put on which becomes more important than cuteness at a certain point.  Also, I am lucky to work from home so I spent the majority of days in sweats or leggings, a t-shirt, sweater and slippers.  I just don't have pictures of those days (for good reason, haha!).  

Hope that helps!!  Have fun dressing your bump...!

Love,

C