Prego With Style | Comfortable & Covered

Around 20 weeks (which would've been the last week of August) I started having trouble with my regular shirts and tanks fitting and/or covering my belly. As you can see from the photo below the baby bump is starting to show quite nicely and as this is now mid-October it's grown even more since the photo was taken. Before I was pregnant I would usually wear a size medium in tanks and some fitted t-shirts and I'd wear a small in the casual t-shirts (aka the non-fitted kind such as men wear). For the most part I was able to wear these throughout the first trimester of my pregnancy and even into part of the second trimester too.

Near the halfway point (which is usually around 20 weeks) I started to have a little baby belly pooching out from the baby growing. Many of my tanks and size small t-shirts were no longer fitting and/or covering my full belly. This was becoming a problem so I started checking thrift stores and WalMart for larger shirts. Finding "maternity" clothes was and is a lot harder than I ever expected. Fortunately I remembered something one of my once pregnant friends had said, "I usually shop for larger sizes in regular clothing when I can't find maternity." This has helped me a TON.

In the past few months (and weeks) I have created a small collection of clothing items (shirts and tanks mostly) which are sizes large and extra large. Since about 20 weeks I've been able to wear a size large tank and it's covers my belly really well without riding up (a problem I was having with size medium tanks). The extra large shirts are still really big on me right now so I haven't been wearing them, but I have a feeling they'll come in handy during the last few weeks of my pregnancy when my belly will probably be quite huge!

I have found a few actual maternity items at our near-by thrift store. Shirts are more difficult to find than skirts/pants since many of them are styles I don't want to wear (like the cross-over tops). For now I stick with loose fitting shirts with a comfortable fitting tank underneath and this has worked well. I have found several maternity skirts which are heavenly! I did not realize how much I was missing out by trying to make non-maternity skirts work instead of investing in a few real maternity skirts. Maternity skirts are made to be a little shorter in the front so you can wear the band under the bulk of your baby belly. I've found this to be extremely comfortable as I don't like any added pressure around my belly right now anyway. Not only that, but wearing regular skirts under your belly does cause them to hang lower in the front than it does in the back and this can look quite goofy on some skirt styles.

Now I did mention shopping for maternity pants above and as many of you know I wear skirts so you might find that confusing... I have been looking for a pair or several pairs of maternity pants so I can change them into maternity skirts. I have yet to actually make a denim maternity skirt, but I have a pair I plan to use eventually for that. I also have a pair of regular pants which I may eventually try to change into a denim maternity skirt as well... My creative juices in the sewing department have been shot down by the huge lack of energy and motivation though so I haven't started on this project yet. I will say that the Knee-Length Denim Skirt w/Ruffle I made last summer has served me pretty well for the first part of my pregnancy...up until about 20 weeks. One day I went to put it on and it had a little over an inch of a gap between each side of the buttons so it has joined the side of my closet where all my pre-pregnancy clothes are hanging out for now. I desperately miss having a denim skirt in my pregnancy clothing options because it really gives me a lot of outfit options on days I don't feel like dressing up.

So basically my whole point in writing this long post is to say that when you're pregnant and having trouble finding actual maternity clothes, don't despair! Buy slightly bigger sizes and layer up! I have found a few really nice things at thrift stores (though not much...but if it's comfy you can always wear the same things multiple days or whatever works for you). I did find a few nice maternity shirts at Old Navy in the clearance section which I LOVE. They're made especially for your growing belly and when I got to 20+ weeks they really have helped me with outfits on days when I have to go out of the house.

I don't have a lot of actual 'maternity' clothes (3 skirts, 2 shirts to be exact), but the ones I have are much more comfortable than wearing regular clothes...even the ones in larger sizes. I still plan to hopefully make myself a denim maternity skirt (at least one if nothing else before this pregnancy is over!) and if I come across any winter maternity clothes I'll probably pick up a few things there as well, but for the next few months the few things I have along with some of my pre-maternity sweaters should probably get me through most of the fall months even though I probably won't be able to get them buttoned.

Hopefully this post might help you out in shopping for maternity clothes. I know it's not exactly an easy process especially if you're not wanting to spend a lot of money on new clothes you'll only wear for a few months or if you're shopping at thrift stores where you never know what you'll find, but it should give you some hope & ideas. Because I'm home most of the time I don't really do a lot of outfit posts, but I have shared a few which you can find under the Prego With Style label. At home I wear whatever is comfortable because it's usually just me or me and hubby, going out usually requires more decent clothing than just a tank top and sweat pants and many times I don't feel well or necessarily like the outfit enough to share it here on the blog.

What are your comfortable & covered clothing ideas?