You know what is not that fun about being pregnant? Needing to create an entirely new wardrobe around your ever-expanding belly.
Well, some people might like that, but I do not.
Luckily, I have been able to craft my maternity wardrobe in a handful of ways that help keep my own personal impact down.
Borrowing From Others
My cousin and her friends have been accumulating maternity clothing for years and through a number of babies. They kept passing the collection back and forth to whoever was pregnant next.
They were happy to loan me their 3 BINS OF CLOTHES! After doing some sorting based on style and size, I picked out a good start of long sleeve shirts, sweaters, and some pants.
A friend who had a baby in 2018 also let me borrow some more clothes from her. Now that I have multiple peoples’ clothes, I had to make a mark on the tag of each to help me remember whose is whose when it is time to give them back.
Buying Secondhand
I love ThredUP normally, so I looked to them for some secondhand maternity styles. I ordered some basics like a few t-shirts, tank tops, a dress, and leggings so far. The dress and leggings still had tags!
Given that there is just one of everything it is important to check every once in a while on their ever-changing availability.
Using What I Already Own
For the most part, I am still working in my regular clothes into my wardrobe. I bought some longer tank tops that I can wear under a lot of my shirts to extend them and I have one of those belly bands to keep my pants up. In the beginning, I employed the hair tie trick with my pants.
Unfortunately, as I get bigger it is harder and harder to incorporate my normal clothes. My shirts and sweaters are not long enough and when I wear my regular pants with the belly band, I live in constant fear that the band has ridden up and 1) my unzipped fly is exposed or 2) my bottom is hanging out!
But Also Buying What I Need
This is not to say I have not bought anything brand new. I did get a couple basics (the tanks I mentioned, 2 long sleeves, tights, jeans) and some workout gear (2 tanks, 2 shirts, and 1 pair of leggings), but I consider my purchases to be pretty minimal so far. We shall see what happens when my belly really starts to get big in the third trimester!
Overall
The absolute worst part about buying maternity clothes (whether secondhand or brand new) is you cannot try them on! I literally have no idea what will fit me and basically, all stores that have maternity lines do not carry them in the store, meaning you have to order multiple styles and sizes just to see what works for your body! To add to that, most physical stores do not accept maternity style returns and require returns to be mailed in only.
It is frustrating and annoying and I totally get why leggings are the primary uniform of the pregnant woman.
waste not want not 
That’s where the Goodwill & other second hand shops come in handy: you can try everything on, look good, and do good! Got me through my pregnancy fabulously.
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Gosh I had no trouble trying on maternity clothing in the UK – Jo Jo Maman Bebe and H and M were my go to at the time as I wasn’t buying preowned as much as I do now (and still wear some of the H and M breastfeeding tops as an under layer now son is 12 – they still look good as new!). I also had a lot of passed on clothing from my sister which was really handy – which I adapted to my style by layering with other things.
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Lucky!
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