By Reba from California
Pregnant with twins was not the most beautiful experience of my life. Not even in the top 100. Pretty much a complete nightmare. Don’t get me wrong, I love the end result, it’s the process that I despise. When I delivered at 36 weeks, I had gained 60 pounds. My husband referred to my belly as “the nose cone.” Toward the end, the only clothing I could fit into was an xxl maternity swim cover-up and that was stretching toward risqué. Currently, being pregnant with a singleton and not being nearly as large ranks one measly step above being pregnant with twins. The only consolation for me is that up until the 7th month I could work cute and pregnant. Barely. I have discovered when first pregnant and not showing but not exactly fitting into anything, more like being really bloated with a hefty dose of nausea, the best solution is tunics.
I also discovered the Solomon Frock. This little piece of joy saved me. I could wear a tight tube dress -something i wouldn’t do UNLESS pregnant, strangely the same goes for pigtails, but i digress – with the Solomon over top and totally work it. I could also still wear heels. We are talking first trimester here. The Solomon also worked well with leggings and a long tee shirt. Seeing how sucking it in wasn’t an option I could just relax and still look good. In the second trimester, the Camilla Skirt came in quite handy. Never one to admit to owning a long sleeve unitard UNLESS pregnant – you see how rules are tossed when one procreates – I have one (ok, two). I would never wear just the unitard, that would be not only absurd but obscene. However, the unitard with the Camilla Skirt looks amazing. The baby bump is obvious and cute without screaming “i need a epidural stat”, and I find that paring something having volume (the skirt) with something not having volume (tight unitard) helped me feel less frumpy. Frumpy is bad. Really bad in general, especially bad when pregnant.
It’s hard to dress with any structure when one waddles. It’s also hard when your belly becomes the repository for scone crumbs. Therefore, I find it uplifting to dress well, even on those days when all I wanted to do was eat saltines and watch my stories. After the 7th month, that all goes out the window and I would rather only leave the house for a dr. appointment or ice cream run while wearing some jokester’s idea of maternity sweats and sensible shoes.
As I lose the baby weight in the coming months and start to look normal, or as normal as one gets toting a newborn and chasing twins, I envision the Camilla over leggings with a sassy tank top. I also envision the Mercer set coming in quite handy. Comfortable without having to sacrifice individuality. I swear I won’t be going platinum, but I just might add a couple more tattoos… 2 weeks to go.
The end.
Right on schedule, Reba had a healthy baby boy. His name is Max.