Maternity Style: A Guest Post

By: Meghan Wolf

When I found out that I was pregnant, I was determined to find a good balance between comfortable and stylish clothes. I pretty much refused to buy anything that screamed maternity! After a little searching online, I found a good variety of affordable clothes…with a few splurges thrown in for good measure!

My favorite places to shop have been Belly Dance Maternity (You don’t have to be in Chicago to shop here, they have a great website), Nordstrom, Target, Old Navy and Gap.

Here’s a look at some of the things I have liked the most:

My favorite tops are from Michael Stars, Tees by Tina, Gap and Isabella Oliver.  I also can’t live without a variety of tank tops to go under everything. I picked up a few of these from Target, along with some of these from the Gap.

I haven’t had the greatest luck with maternity sweaters, so I tend to gravitate towards wearing an open cardigan with a maternity t-shirt underneath.

Don’t be fooled – tops from Tees by Tina are “one size fits most” and they really do stretch out to fit your body shape. I was totally skeptical until I tried one on, but I’ve been wearing the same top since late summer and it still fits!

My splurge was a top from Isabella Oliver. I love their scoop neck top, but this tunic is super soft and can be dressed up or down. Plus, the crossover neckline makes it a lot more versatile. I can probably get away with this while nursing too.

It took me a while to figure out which pants I liked best because I didn’t realize how much I’d hate having the over the belly panel! Some people love it but I found it to be really uncomfortable. Instead, I looked for pants with a low panel or stretchy sides.

My go-to pants are TopShop from Nordstrom. They are really soft and the belly band is very comfortable.  I actually wish I had bought these in more colors because I think I’ll want to wear them all winter, even after the baby arrives.

Now that it’s cold, I’m wearing leggings as much as possible! While I did purchase a pair of Isabella Oliver maternity leggings, I’ve been wearing Old Navy leggings and maternity yoga pants a lot more because of the thick material.

For work and evenings out, I love the J. Crew Minnie pant. There is always a sale at J.Crew, so don’t even think about paying full price for these. However, they are worth every penny of a sale price! I’ve been wearing them since the summer and they’ve held up really well.

My splurge was a pair of Citizen jeans . I went with a style that had stretch at the waist and they’ve been really comfortable so far. I love that they have belt loops and a real zipper fly, so they look more like real jeans.

I lived in dresses for the first few months of my pregnancy, especially this Mott 50 dress  (Bonus, it is UPF 50 so it protects against sun damage!). Along with Gap and Old Navy, I found a lot of cute dresses at Target, similar to this.

For dressier occasions, I copied Courtney’s look and got this Ingrid and Isabelle dress from Nordstrom. It’s really comfortable and is also versatile since it’s a nursing dress.

Since I won’t be pregnant for the entire winter, I’ve been trying to get away with buying as few coats as possible.

I found this cute jacket from Lululemon, which I can actually zip because the back un-zips and opens it up a little more.  For workouts, I’ve been wearing this Old Navy maternity jacket.

My favorite outerwear purchase has been this jacket from Isabella Oliver.  Even though it won’t get me through the snow and cold of December, it’s been perfect for the fall.

Thanks to Courtney and Julie for letting me share my favorite maternity wardrobe items! You can see more on Pinterest and I’d love to hear about your favorite maternity looks in the comments.