To Wear Or Not To Wear Maternity Wear: 7 Items A Preggy Girl Needs



5 months

I've never been the type to gush over kids. I don't volunteer to hold babies and I get irritated when I find myself in the midst of noisy, yelling kids whose parents can't seem to keep them under control or aren't even trying. In the back of my head I've always thought I'd like to have my own little family someday, with a loving husband, 2 kids, 2 dogs, a cat, and of course an efficient yaya.. but I used to think this would be something sooo far away. I couldn't see myself as a mom.. and I most especially didn't see myself in maternity clothes!

I thought they looked funny with the elastic waist bands for pants, gigantic floral prints, very synthetic fabrics and limited styles. I dreaded having to put anything that looked buntis on. I felt this way up to my 5th month of preggyness and continued to wear my old clothes simply because they still fit. Then came the 6th month and all of a sudden I looked like I swallowed a soccer ball. I've never been a waif but I would much rather look preggy, because I am, than fat. I began looking for baby bump friendly clothes. Fortunately, loose shirts and tights were fashionably acceptable at the time so I was able to survive a couple of weeks in these and my clothes that had a loose fit. Most of the time people couldn't even tell I was expecting.

So what mommy clothes does a girl need?

1.) Bras: Yep. Your breasts grow quite substantially. Enough anyway to make wearing your old bras uncomfortable. I think I went up 2 sizes. Don't worry about looking like you're going to tip over though. Your belly catches up soon so your boobs don't really take center stage. I just got a week's worth of bigger bras and another week's worth of nursing bras. The nursing bras I got (from 168 Mall) don't have any padding and have hooks at the base of the straps so you can unhook one side and you don't have to remove the entire bra or stretch it off your breast when breast feeding.

2.) Leggings: I used to joke that leggings or tights seemed to be the preferred uniform of preggy ladies. Now I know why. They're unbelievably comfy and can really accommodate a growing belly. These babies will take you from month 5 to 9.  Of course, do get a size bigger than you normally would and try to get good brands as these don’t look so good when they’re overstretched.  I got mine from the Ruins bazaar in BF Homes and at bazaars.  The H&M leggings are pretty good and don’t wear out easily.  There are cheaper leggings sold pretty much everywhere but these turn translucent when stretched and show signs of wear easily.  You might be tempted to squeeze into stretch jeans as I was, these are really uncomfortable especially when sitting down.  The metal button kept digging into my stomach and I hated having a muffin-top at the sides.  I was able to get a nice pair of denim-looking tights at the Karl Edward Bazaar for 300.00.  I wanted to get another pair recently but sadly they'd run out.  Unlike the ones sold at palengkes, these actually looked like denim and had real pockets.

3.) Long, loose tops or tunics or loose knit wear:  I’ve always been a fan of these since they’re nice and comfy but I find them especially useful now.  Look for ones that are really loose around the belly since that’s going to grow pretty fast.  These you can get at bazaars or regular clothing stores.  I bought about 3 white ones from Greenhills' tiangge for 350.00 each.  I use these at the office and just dress them up with accessories.

6 months

4.) Maternity tops and dresses: Gingersnaps.  They have several styles that aren’t boring or ostentatiously floral.  Seriously.  I don’t get why the brands at SM and Landmark only carry cheap fabrics and icky table napkin like prints for their maternity tops.  I was able to get tops for 250.00 to 400.00 at Gingersnaps on sale =)  I never buy sticker price.  They don’t really post “sale” signs so its best to drop by and ask if they have anything on sale and just browse through what they have.  I’ve been able to get a couple of blouses suitable for the office from Gingersnaps.  You don’t have to limit yourself to maternity wear!  I have some loose tops from Forever 21 and can still wear some of my old dresses with the waist lines cut higher on the torso. 

5.) Maternity pants and shorts:  Try Nine Months at Landmark.  These cost a little under 1k per pair.  Since I can’t wear leggings on serious office days and in my line of work there are days that I can’t wear dresses (My office is at a construction site) I had to invest in maternity pants.  These were a pleasant surprise as they really do make cuts that accommodate a growing belly comfortably but fit nicely around the legs.  The waistbands are usually in spandex or have notched adjustable pull-garters so you can tighten or loosed the waist depending on the size of your baby bump.  Though Gingersnaps has these, I liked the slacks from Nine Months because of the comfy elastic waistband and because they’re really flattering.  Between the type of pants with elastic waist bands and the ones with the regular waist bands and adjustable garter, I find the elastic waist bands much more comfortable.  These also don't ride down to settle under your belly.

7 months



6.) Maxi-dresses: Traditional buntis wear.  I have 4 of these for weekends, I’m not such a fan of these as I seem to look bigger and wider like a refrigerator when I put these on plus the darkening of your underarms which is too umm.. dark to show off, but they really are comfy.  I packed these into my hospital bag so I have something loose and easy to wear on my trip home from the hospital.  I didn't have to buy any of these since I had these left over in my closet from various beach trips.  As I said, check out your closet, you may have belly friendly outfits in there.

7.) Comfy shoes and slip-ons:  I’m still in heels.  1.5” to 3” heels.  I do try to alternate them with ballet flats and loafers though.  Just go with what’s comfy and safe.  By safe meaning you don’t slip or trip aver your own feet when wearing those shoes.  I walk a lot so I keep a pair of running shoes in the office for when I have to walk around the construction site and change back into my regular shoes when I do office work.  I still love Crocs.  They really are the softest, cushiest, most abused shoes in my closet.  I don’t care that Froggy thinks they look funny.  Lots of preggy women are also out and about in Fit Flops.  They’re comfy too.  I guess with the extra weight we’re carrying we need all the shock absorbers for our feet that we can get.

My advise would be to get 2 weeks worth of clothes and just rotate them.  Remember since you'll probably start showing at 5 months you'll only use these clothes for 4 to 6 months (You may still be big after giving birth or so I've heard).  At eight months I can still use some of my old clothes especially the knits.  I also skipped buying clothes for sleeping and pangbahay since my stretchy shorts and tank tops still fit.  Until the baby's out I think its better to save, save, save on anything and everything so that we'll have some extra funds just in case we need it.  I also cleaned up my closet and put away all the clothes I couldn't fit into for the next few months.  I did this week by week and basically put everything into garbage bags to be stored on a high shelf in my closet.  This way, I can take them down bag by bag since the clothes that will fit the soonest would be on top =)