21 Maternity Clothes You Can’t Live Without

RaCo Life 21 Maternity Must Haves

RaCo Life 21 Must Have Maternity Pieces

At the most vulnerable point in you life, splurging is essential. Don’t let discomfort take over and force you back into the comfy pajamas and crappy slippers – take a moment to put on something extra special that is made for the pregnant you! My mom made a point in my last trimester to buy me two really nice dresses: 1 super comfy, but still pretty, and the 2nd a gorgeous tight number to accentuate my belly and legs. She explained that this is one of the only times in my life that I am going to have that pregnancy “glow” and I should relish in the moment. And so I did.

Since I have done my best in this next pregnancy to always leave the house looking great… which has translated into a tremendous confidence booster the whole way through. I took time to pick things that I not only like, but that look really good on me and make me feel as if I were wearing my normal clothes. My husband and my friends are always complementing my outfits and that feels great!

RaCo Life Tip Maternity Nursingwear Go Multiuse

For the purposes of this article I have streamlined the choices to just focus on clothing basics, and a few fun pieces of flare. I didn’t want to share bras and stretch pants since those are pretty personal and available everywhere. Depending on your style preference you might have to look a little harder, but hopefully some of these options will help you out. If you are bohemian chic go for FillyBoo. If you are West Village, go for Hatch. If you just want the basics, go to Japanese Weekend or H&M. I think there is a little something for everyone!

During and after (maternitywear / nursingwear) is the best choice when making a purchase. It is expensive to buy anything baby related, so maximize your dollars! Buy something you can wear during pregnancy and then after when nursing. Trust me, you will be so glad that you have something that fits and functions as it is intended to.

RaCo Life Recommendations

Fashion is one of those things that can’t be forced. You have to really know yourself to create an individual style. But here are are a few general recommendations that will help with any selection:

  1. Remain neutral:

    Remember that you can always add color with funky shoes, hats, bags, jewelry and scarves. Keep the bulk of your clothes neutral in color to maximize wear. You will be so happy you did.

  2. Buy for a 2 year time span (per kid):

    If you are going to be nursing, anticipate at least the 9 months of pregnancy and the year+ afterward for nursing. If you are having multiple children, you may not be back in normal clothes for 4 or even 6 years, so buy as if you are buying a new wardrobe and add to it over time.

  3. Think about comfort and size:

    Normally when we buy clothes we go on style and do our best to pick the things that we are going to feel thin and beautiful in. When you are considering maternitywear / nursingwear you want to be sure you have room to expand. Obviously you won’t know how big you will get if you buy at the start, so just pick a range of sizes and consider comfort. Stretch is very important with maternity!

  4. Don’t forget about diversity:

    Many women start off working and then shift their lives to accommodate doctor’s appointments, playdates, school obligations, etc. Don’t just get a 1-sided wardrobe. Think about all the things that you might do in a given week and try to select pieces that can be mixed and matched accordingly. Casual wear becomes just as important as workwear with kids.

    • Exercise is very important, so don’t forget about getting something you can wear during it.
    • If you have a toddler, think about things like maternity swimwear and things for the park or playdates.
    • Always pick 1 or 2 things that can be worn out on a date night; it is now more important than ever for you and your spouse to find time to connect and you want to look rockin’ when you do!
  5. Quality counts:

    Since you are going to likely have a smaller maternity / nursing wardrobe than your normal clothes you will be wearing more of the same thing more often. In addition you will be eating more so spills on the bump area are more likely to happen and when you are nursing milk stains are going to be on everything. If you get discount clothes, you will very quickly see the pillage and wear. You won’t be sorry you spent that extra $20 per outfit… it will payback in spades and you won’t have to always look like a ragamuffin.

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21 Must Have Pieces:

 

RaCo Life Maternity fillyboo The Story OF Maternity Maxi Dress (Grey Marle)RaCo Life Maternity Harris Maternity Cardigan Isabella OliverRaCo Life Maternity Hatch Hudson Shirt White10px white LineRaCo Life Maternity Thyme Boyfriend JeanJapanese Weekend d&a™ nursing sweater dressRaCo Life Maternity The Classic White Button Down Shirt Hatch10px white LineRaCo Life Maternity Little Black Nursing Dress Milk NursingwearRaCo Life Thyme DL Maternity Boyfriend Riley Jean with SandblastRaCo Life Nursing Faux Wrap Purple Mother's Milk10px white LineRaCo Life Maternity Tee for Two maternity dress (Cream) FillybooRaCo Life Maternity Hatch The Ophelia Dress
RaCo Life Maternity NICHOLSON MATERNITY STRIPED DRESS
10px white LineRaCo Life Maternity Japanese Weekend Hug a Boo DressRaCo Life Maternity Hatch The Perfect V Tee10px white LineRaCo Life Maternity Hatch The Long Sleeve TeeRaCo Life Maternity Jeans Racer Skinny Citizens of HumanityRaCo Life Maternity Isabella Oliver Neville Maternity Shift Dress10px white LineRaCo Life Japanese Weekend MamaCoatRaCo Life Maternity Hatch The Long Sleeve Body DressRaCo Life Maternity Amazon Asymmetric Design Loose Linen Dress10px white Line

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Best Discount Brands & Consignment Sites:

H&M LogoGap LogoB to B Maternity LogoMotherhood Closet Maternity Consignment

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A Couple of My Choice Clothing Brands:

Japanese Weekend MaternityFillybooMilk Nursingwear MaternityHatch Maternity

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Best Fancy Dress Award:                       Best Jeans Award:

Rachel Pally MaternityCitizens of Humanity Logo
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Best Shopping Sites for Variety of Brands & Great Prices:

 Amazon LogoShopBopIsabella OliverThyme Maternity

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RaCo Life Funny Story

 

RaCo Life Maternity Dress Blue HillBlue Hill at Stone Barns is by far one of the most pivotal restaurant concepts of our time. Chef Dan Barber has transformed this incredible farm into a consumer friendly educational experience through a high-end one-of-a-lifetime dining event. For our Baby Moon we decided it was essential to head to Blue Hill at Stone Barns and have a full day and night enjoying a meal from food we were able to see growing. On the way into the farm are two speed bumps. It felt like it was meant to be!

This image is in an adorable dress from Japanese Weekend called the Hug a Boo. It has a large black flower and ruffle neckline on the upper left and it ties in the back to create an empire waist. I know I am bunching it up at the base and you can’t see, but the best part of the dress was the structure in the front which had darts sewn in to accentuate and flatter the belly. Very thoughtful design. It worked with flip flops for the day and then at night I transitioned to heals and a black cashmere shrug over my shoulders to fancify it.

Ra'Co Life Related Post

Solo Mama

Kurt is going to write a separate post on this to share his perspective, but here we are – 1 month in without nursing and Iza is still crying and latching onto my leg at every moment. She is what we refer to as “Solo Mama” (only interested in being with me). I am exhausted from the noise… constant, penetrating crying which makes my milk start up again and my head pound. I don’t know how to handle this, except to run in the other direction. He has these perfect little moments with her when I am not around. She is laughing, playing and happy. Bring her near me, and she cries.

As a mother I could get upset about this, but instead I am just getting annoyed an impatient. I want my little girl to want to play with me; to feel excited when she sees me and want to do something fun!

 

 

 

Breastfeeding: Finito! Woo Hoo!

Iza Nursing

It has been a long road; paved with lack of sleep, double meals and a lack of possession over my own body. Since August 2012 I have been attached to Iza physically in one way or another – in the womb or on my breast. After leaving NYC, we really felt it was important to continue allowing her to nurse. It was really comforting in all the upheaval of moving, but it took a turn towards the worse over the last two months and she abused it. We called it “chain nursing” or “toggling” because as she would finish with one (I had very little milk), she would start up with another one. She would go as long as we would let her go back n’ forth before I would cut her off. Screams would ensue. In public it was embarrassing, and in private it made both of us so frustrated (and annoyed) that she was taking advantage of me.

So, we made the decision to wean. (I say “we” because I am lucky enough to have a very invested husband and father.) But when is the right time? We asked ourselves that a million times over the last 4 months and I am not sure we ever came to the right conclusion. Some women nurse until their kids are older (we hold no judgement, but maybe a little compassion) and some women don’t nurse at all (again, no judgement – it is fucking hard work). On our end, we nursed merely because we were told it was the best thing to do for the baby for general health, immune system and future, and we are stopping because we feel as though she has had what she needs now. We want to wrap it up and let Iza move onto being a big girl.

Truth-be-told, I am really not one of the kinds of mothers who relish in the love affair or romantic notions of a cuddled baby next to her breast (I am not a touchy feely person in general, especially not 24-7) and I kind of find it annoying. It is the single hardest thing I have ever had to learn and consistently do. I need a break, and be able to be alone for a change, I need to lose the extra 10lbs I have packed on from my double meals and be able to detox, work out again and be on my own schedule, void of my milk ‘coming in’ f0r Iza’s feeding time (and pumping sucks as an alternative). There you go: decision made.

Today we are at 48 hours without a latch. Watching your kid erupt because they are not getting what they need from you is horrible. 1 day in my period came back, and this morning I woke up and my ears are ringing from her piercing screams (girls can really give it to you, huh?), my stomach is bruised from her kicking and fighting me, and my breasts are full and on fire. But hell yeah, I am FREE.

Bells Palsy During Pregnancy

Photo-on-3-19-13-at-1.03-PM-3-150x150Certainly pregnancy is never a walk in the park, and mine was no worse than any other experience. It was actually a great pregnancy filled with time, pampering and happiness with my wonderful husband.

But, sadly there is a dark side for most mama-to-be, which is unique to each of us. My dark side came during my 7th-month, and was in the form of Bell’s Palsy.

Don’t know what Bell’s Palsy is? Bell’s is a dysfunction of the cranial facial nerve, which causes temporary paralysis. There are a million reasons why it happened to me, but likely it was a weakened immune system due to pressure on my body (when Iza was breach) in the middle of my pregnancy. The first day, I lost my ability to drink water, then by the end of the day, I couldn’t see out of my right eye. When I looked in the mirror it was as if an alien was staring back at me; my wrinkles on my forehead were gone, I couldn’t raise my lip, and my nose was suddenly tweaked to the side. My eyebrow didn’t raise, and I had a dull pain all along the backside of my right ear.

Over the course of the last 3-months of pregnancy, I had the unique experience of seeing people’s reactions to me. It was hard not to look. My family’s reaction was heartbreaking. Their reactions were in the form of their own contorted facial expressions of sadness and compassion, and I had to see what I looked like in their gasp’s and stares. The mirror was not my friend and I avoided photo opportunities. I tried to avoid people all together, but Kurt had several large art shows and I had to be present for them; stares and more uncomfortable moments. I also had to keep working and a huge job opportunity came up right at that time. White rooms with lots of light were the worst (since I couldn’t close my right eye), and art shows and hip office spaces love white.

It was a wild ride of emotions; and in hindsight I wish I had embraced my condition instead of resenting. It was a life experience which has provided me the ability to explore inner strength.

Photo-on-6-7-13-at-4.03-PM-2-150x150I have tried every form of alternative medicine possible, avoiding steroids and other Western medications while nursing. Acupuncture worked for brief moments. In the morning with Green Tea I can feel my right side of my face rise from the jolt, and in the evenings I can feel the same side droop from wine. There is still a dull and achy pain behind my right ear. I will always notice these things and they will never go away.

Some of the little things you wouldn’t think have bothered me: I will never blow bubbles or whistle again. I will not be able to make fishy faces with Iza when she makes them at me. I will never kiss Kurt squarely and I will never fully be able to smile or drink water out of the right side of my mouth. I will always struggle with my right eye and work extra hard to shut it each time I blink.
It has taken a lot for me to get here with my own acceptance and even be able to write this post, and it is still very raw.

18-months out, I am roughly at 85% where I was before pregnancy and I probably won’t improve further from here. Will I ever stare back at my new self and not miss the old one? Probably not, but hey – we all get older and ‘wiser,’ right? I always said that I was totally vein before and it was the Universe’s way of showing me that my life is no longer my own and knocking me off my high horse. I know I am extremely blessed; I am healthy, happy and can do most things with my baby girl (no blowing bubbles or whistling for me). The rest is just icing on the cake!

Sleep Training for Baby

Its just after midnight and we are going on our second crying fit the current one lasting already nearly an hour already. I can’t sleep, I can’t breathe. I feel for my beba and I want nothing more than to scoop her up in my arms and let her know it will all be okay and that Mama’s here.

Sleep training is not something we ever wanted to do, but here we are at almost 13 months and none of us has slept through the night since birth (for me maybe since I was 7 months pregnant), Iza included. It is driving Kurt and I emotionally apart in some ways since we physically have no interaction and we are over taxed, exhausted and never have time to be together. Iza also really needs her sleep. For weeks she has been the crabbiest from wake up to morning nap time and then again from about 6pm on to bed time. She has started to sleep less and less throughout the day hours and the dark circles under her eyes have begun to deepen.

We have to try something new.

As mothers we are wired to hear our beba’s distinct noise from a crowded room of crying little ones. Our leche comes in and when we do not use our given assets to comfort the little ones we begin to ache something fierce. The reality is that life has evolved to a point where we all need enough rest to get through a relatively busy existence.

My step-sister breastfed and co-slept and her method worked for both her girls by establishing a routine and then her husband getting up to rock the girls to sleep in the middle of the night. It helped to still show comfort, but to remove the breast from the equation. My friend’s little girl was placed in her crib from day 1 and slept through the night, establishing the routine from the get go. There was no question in her beba’s mind that her comfort zone was the crib. She didn’t breastfeed which made this possible from the beginning, but the principle still works for breastfed children if they are placed back in the crib after a feeding.

Iza eats enough to sleep through the night, but she is still feeding at least 1 if not 2 times a night. We have been moving around a lot, so our assumption was she needed the comfort and the stability of on demand feeding, but clearly it is not working for any of us. We question if it is now too late to change without permanent psychological damage. Yikes.

I feel a little crazy from the noise. Now we are going on an hour and a half and I still hear no end in sight. So I sit here in the dark, and eat chocolate and try to zone out and concentrate only to the waves while writing.

Una noche completa. (1 night complete)