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Maternity Clothes

'Maternity fashion' was an oxymoron until relatively recently.

When I got pregnant with my first baby nineteen years ago, I was a student who spent her life in black thigh-high boots, stripy pirate trousers and an oversized fireman's jacket. Once pregnant, I was supposed to morph into a 'Stepford Wife', wearing big flowery smocks with Peter Pan collars. I refused.

By the time I was expecting baby number two a year or so later, I opted for a pair of dungarees that I thought looked cool at the time, but I now see in photos that I looked like the dancing baby from Ally McBeal.

By the time babies three and four came along nearly ten years later, I realised a quiet revolution had taken place. Maternity clothes had gotten a lot more chic. Unfortunately, I was past the time when I would have worn a crop top even in my non-pregnant state, but I loved the voluptuous bellies peeping out from the midriff of many a pop chanteuse or actress. Belly power!

For the first trimester, you will probably get away with wearing clothes you already own (unless you are a 80s-obsessed spandex and boob tube freak). Leggings and T-shirts or drawstring 'hippy' trousers and skirts can expand along with you. Don't forget to look at maternity 'sale' rails. Your pregnancy will span a couple of seasons, and you may well find bargains in sales when you are first pregnant that will fit you at the end of your pregnancy.

You can also buy similar clothes to the ones you already wear in larger sizes - but be warned, it's not only your belly that grows. My particular problem was 'bustin' out all over' as my bosom took on Pamela Anderson proportions. It wasn't just my growing belly that obscured a view of my feet.

Look at the clothes in your partner's wardrobe. Baggy sweats, untucked shirts - purloin what you can. He can't complain: it's saving money, right? Then turn to friends and family. You may well know folks who have just had babies who will be only too pleased to lend you their gear until they need it again.

If you do decide to buy maternity wear, there are now many suppliers with great clothes. But be warned, maternity chic does not come cheaply. Compare like for like - surf the net to check out what's available and compare prices. Look on sites such as eBay too, especially if you don't mind the quaintly termed 'gently used' goods.

It is also worth buying clothes that will see you through pregnancy and nursing, if you intend to breastfeed. You can buy cunning tops with flaps, holes and cantilevers to pop your boob out surreptitiously as your baby needs feeding (and babies choose the most appallingly embarrassing places to wail for milk) but I have found them more akin to bondage wear, what with the peep-holes and torture straps. T-shirts and jumpers lifted up to tuck the baby underneath work fine. People may think you have a snorting hedgehog secreted up there. My babies were never discrete. As they fed, they waved their arms with delight and gurgled like drunken old men at a Guinness-tasting festival. You have been warned.

Maternity underwear is worth looking at - and not only to point and laugh. You will need to buy three maternity bras - and make them good and supportive. It is worth buying reinforced, functional bras that will help you to maintain firm, shapely breasts after the baby is finished with them! Don't wear a bra with an underwire when you are pregnant - the pressure they exert has been linked to a painful condition known as non-infective mastitis, and it can also hinder the development of milk ducts during pregnancy. You will also need breastfeeding bras if you intend to feed your baby yourself. In the UK, The National Childbirth Trust market great bras and have a network of agents who will measure and fit you. The bras come in an impressive range of sizes (32A-46K!).

You can also buy special pregnancy knickers from huge soft granny pants to gorgeous maternity thongs to wear under the bump. Personally, I found wearing these akin to flossing my bottom and the spectacle of me trying to get them on 'blind' under my bump even made our cat laugh. But she is cruel. I eventually found that cotton bikini pants in a bigger size than usual that I didn't mind throwing away after the birth did the trick.


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