Its all in your Maternity Jeans!
Get this purchase right and you've just got yourself the most comfortable trousers you will ever wear. Get it wrong and you will spend the entirety of your pregnancy either hoyking up your trousers as the gusset (along with any feeling you had of looking good), fall to your knees.
If you done a pregnancy before, you may well have saved your favs from last time around. But if you're new to this whole 'elastic waisted clothing' world or your body has changed a bit....
First timer: "What?! My body is going to change forever?!"
No no you'll be fine nothing changes you look great.😬
There are various options for you.
1. Over the bump - As it sounds, there is a large panel of elastic which quite literally clings to your bump. In essence, your unborn child has the sole responsibility of your trousers not falling like your Nan at a wedding.
2. Under the bump - Far less pressure on your bump to hold together your dignity, but get the wrong cut and you can spend your whole time pulling them back up into place.
3. Insert panels - I have to say here that this is my first choice by a long shot. You can still wear a belt with them (albeit it longer length than before) and you don't need to worry about your top alway covering the waistline as they look like normal (don't freak out just because I used the word normal, you know perfectly well what I mean) jeans.
There are more and more retailers and websites giving a vast range of styles, cuts and lengths. A few I looked at were...
www.seraphine.com - Great range and designed to flatter your new found figure.
www.next.co.uk - Very reasonably priced and will last you a pregnancy for sure.
www.gap.co.uk - This was where I shopped in the end as they were one of few places that do the inset panels.
There are of course plenty more retailers to suit every budget from H&M to ASOS etc. Google and look around, but do be prepared to ordered several sizes and send a lot of returns. The range is almost always better online and some shops only have their maternity wear online.
Don't get me wrong, we all know you would be most comfortable in a pair of loose fitting yoga pants or maybe dungarees (if you can pull of a 70s look and cope with your kids referring to you as 'Minion Mum' for a few months), but that's not always the look you're going for outside the house.
Welcome to the every expanding world of Maternity wear!