26 weeks! You’ve been great.

Skirt, ASOS | T-shirt, Illustrated People | Trainers, Stan Smith

Right now, I’m truly enjoying pregnancy. I feel full of energy and motivation, I love the way my body’s changing and I’m so excited for the future. Everyone tells me this middle bit is the ‘golden time’, so I’m gonna ride that for as long as I can. When a lady in House of Fraser told me I was looking well I almost shouted ‘I KNOW!’. Everyone loves a pregnant woman!

I don’t have many updates for you – bump’s getting bigger, baby’s kicking lots and I’ve really started to pin down a pattern of movement, which is lovely. Heartburn’s a bitch and sleeping is still no fun, but whatever. Nothing’s bringing me down this week!

So, a short but sweet post for you this week. If you fancy a more in-depth read, take a look at my rather long rant on maternity clothing. And I’ll be back, hopefully with a bit more to say, next week!

As someone with an ASOS Premier account and three full-to-bursting double wardrobes, maternity clothing was always going to be a big part of my pregnancy. There are many women who go for nothing but comfort during their pregnancies, and I salute them. There are also many women who can make their existing clothing work throughout pregnancy, and I salute them, too. I am neither of these women, and I have spent rather a lot of time and money on my maternity wardrobe.

The thing I’ve found about being pregnant is, I want to feel like myself. My body is no longer my own – everything I eat, everywhere I go and everything I do now affects more than just me, and that’s quite hard to accept. Clothing is one area where I can please myself without thinking about potential repercussions… although it’s not entirely without consequence, as opinions on what pregnancy women should and should not wear are rife, too. But I digress. This is a post about how I’ve approached dressing my burgeoning bump throughout the first half of my pregnancy, so let’s get on with it.

When I’m not busy growing a baby, I live in jeans and probably have about 10 pairs. But 10 weeks into pregnancy I found that jeans were just deeply uncomfortable – I didn’t really show until about 14 weeks, but as I favour a skinny style, everything just felt so tight and restrictive. I gave bump bands a go for a while but they just rode up until they sat in a useless bunch around my stomach. So from about 12 weeks, I was in maternity jeans.

I’ve had four pairs of maternity jeans and to be honest, none of them are particularly great. Aesthetically speaking, my faves are the Topshop Jamie’s pictured above (nicely slim right down to the ankle, stylish rips) but they’re an under the bump style and they literally just fall off me whenever I walk anywhere. Maybe they’ll fit better when my bump is bigger, who knows. For now, though, they’re relegated to days when I don’t have to move about much. I also have two pairs of over the bump jeans from New Look – one blue, one black. These were super cheap at £17.99 a pair and they look perfectly fine, but the extra fabric around the belly is just too much for summer and they make me hot. So again, relegated. Jeans, it seems, aren’t great during pregnancy.

Day to day, I wear leggings. In true blogger style I don’t have many pictures of me wearing leggings, but I have a few maternity pairs from ASOS, some regular ones from H&M and a denim-like pair from Topshop that are all super comfy and reasonably priced. Leggings paired with an oversized shirt, t-shirt dress or smock tends to be my daily outfit because it a) is comfortable and b) makes me look like a stylin’ Danish mother-to-be. Or at least, that’s what I tell myself. 

I stick to basic colours like black, white, navy and grey and finish off my outfits with a big necklace, cool bag, denim jacket and pair of trainers. The great thing about this kind of dressing is you’re not restricted to specific maternity clothing – an oversized shirt or smock dress will accommodate your bump (maybe size up if you want it to last throughout) and won’t come in the standard butterfly print many maternity retailers inexplicably think pregnant women want to wear. I’ve had great success with pieces from ASOS, Monki, Zara, Cos and Topshop – these pieces will last me beyond my pregnancy and there’s not a floral pattern in sight. 

When I’m not slobbing about at home and I actually have to go out into the world, I like to show off my bump in more form-fitting pieces, and this is where it gets a bit tricky. Firstly, let me point out that I’m a straight-sized woman who has no problem dressing herself from the high street – I can’t speak for petite or plus size women, for whom I know clothing in general is difficult, never mind with the added element of pregnancy. If you know of any bloggers with different body types who are writing about maternity clothing, please do link them in the comments and I’ll include a list at the end.

Even from my privileged position, dressing to ‘show off’ a baby bump is bloody hard work. I’ve found that aside from the oversized look, regular clothing does not work for me – I can’t just buy a stretchy dress from the normal range, because my bump pulls it all out of shape. So it’s maternity clothing all the way, and what’s out there is dire. There are only three places I shop for maternity clothes – ASOS, Topshop and H&M. ASOS is my current favourite because there’s lots of choice, it’s reasonably cheap and in general, the offering is stylish (although there are a few suspect ‘hands off the bump’ type t-shirts). Topshop comes in second as their maternity range is just a replica of their regular range cut for a pregnant body, so everything fits really well (bar the jeans) and looks great. Sadly it’s pretty pricy and there isn’t a huge selection, but still worth a look. H&M I’ve found best for basics – long-cut t-shirts, stretchy vest dresses and comfy pants have all been top buys, and cheap to boot.

When dressing to say ‘hey look, I’m having a baby!’ I like to wear bodycon or A-line midi dresses, a maxi skirt with a tucked-in top or skinny jeans with a fitted t-shirt.

The final thing I want to cover is maternity occasion wear. I’ve been to two weddings so far this summer, and finding an outfit for each was such a struggle – and that’s just in the first half of pregnancy. If I get invited to another formal occasion later on I’ll probably have two options – admit defeat and wear something with ribbons or just not go (preferable tbh). Maternity occasion wear is, quite plainly, awful. From my extensive searching, ASOS is the only retailer that offers anything halfway decent when you need to be a bit dressy and even then, a lot of its scuba-fabric dresses are horrible quality. Why the vast majority of maternity retailers seem to think pregnant women want to look like trussed up sausages squeezed into sheaths of lace when they attend a wedding, I don’t know. 

The printed dress above and the navy lace dress further up were found after hours of searching and endless returns – thank GOD wedding season is almost over. If you know me in real life and are planning to invite me to a formal event in the next 2 months, please tell me now so I can spend every waking hour searching for something to wear. 

So! That’s my experience of dressing during pregnancy, up to 26 weeks. I’m planning to do a part two later on when the bump’s much bigger and dressing becomes even more of a challenge but for now, if you have any maternity clothing recommendations leave ’em in the comments and let me know your own trials and tribulations. 

I spent most of my 25th week of pregnancy in Copenhagen, walking about 20,000 steps per day and doing a lot of STUFF.

Dress, ASOS | Leggings, ASOS | Jacket, Primark | Sandals, old | Bag, Kanken | Necklace, Gem Smith | Sunglasses, Céline

Before we left home, I was a little bit worried about how I’d fare in Copenhagen. My last big trip during pregnancy was to the US and it involved a lot of afternoon naps, slow walking and ‘resting’ in bars with a bowl of mac and cheese. But Rob and I were heading to Denmark with all our combined siblings, and I didn’t want to be the preggo at the back asking for a toilet break every 5 minutes. I was determined not miss a single section of action, and really didn’t want the rest of our group to feel like they couldn’t do things because of me.

I needn’t have worried, though, as Copenhagen was the perfect city to explore while pregnant.

Shirt dress, Monki | Leggings, ASOS | Trainers, Nike | Jacket, Primark | Sunglasses, Céline

Copenhagen is chilled out in a way I’ve never experienced in another major city. Apart from the one main tourist street in the centre, there were hardly any people… anywhere. The streets are so wide and clean and peaceful – it’s really quite something when you’re used to the hustle and bustle of literally every other big city.

There was a lot of walking, my feet did hurt and I did start to flag a little… and then we discovered the bikes. We cycled all over the city and even in rush hour, I didn’t ever feel unsafe. The roads are exceptionally flat and the bikes we hired were motor assisted, so pedalling was hardly any work at all and journeys took no time. We zipped all over the place, locking our bikes up when we stopped for food then jumping back on to continue exploring.

The ease of cycling (no long walks, no packed metros) combined with the laidback pace of the city and the manageable temperatures (around 16-19 degrees) made it an absolute dream trip at 25 weeks – if you’re currently preggo and thinking about booking a break, I’d highly recommend. Full post coming soon!

Dress, ASOS | Shoes, Bertie | Bag, ASOS (similar)

In other preggo news, my bump is getting bigger every day and Baby A’s movement has been really strong this week. After a horrible few weeks with my skin, I changed up my products and things are clearing up nicely – I’ll write a proper post on this, as I’ve really struggled with my skin during pregnancy and there are quite a few things you need to avoid, which makes it even more difficult!

Sleeping is another point of contention at the moment – I usually love sleeping on my back but that’s not advised during pregnancy as the extra weight at the front can press down on a main artery in your back, leaving you gasping for breath. I’ve been trying to stick to the recommended left-hand side but my hips are achy and it’s just not very comfortable. 

Vague moaning aside, I’m still thoroughly enjoying being pregs. Yesterday I read Milly’s 6 month baby update (how adorable is Florence though?) and got very excited and a little bit impatient for Baby A’s arrival in November. But although I can’t wait for the actual baby bit, I am loving the pregnancy bit too. Hopefully it’ll continue in this fashion for another 3 months… it’s pretty easy all the way through, right? 😉