DRESSING MY PREGNANCY BUMP AS A WEDDING GUEST.

I've spoken previously about how I've struggled accepting my new pregnancy body - Unfortunately hand in hand with that comes the battle to find clothing which a) fits your new spherical body and b) looks good on said spherical body... Now this is difficult at the best of times, but when it comes to finding something Wedding guest appropriate, flaming nora, now that's an ordeal! And one I'm thankfully not going to go through again during this pregnancy. Praise the lord!

You want to be comfortable, but you don't want to look like a tied up sack of spuds.
You want to embrace your new body, but you don't want to be that pregnant lady.

(By 'that pregnant lady' I mean the type who chat pregnancy non stop, the ones who yabber on 24/7 about it being the most amazing thing in the world... Yes it's amazing Karen and it's a wonderful thing to experience, but there's more to you than the baby inside of you, come on!)

There's a great deal to think about when it comes to the mater of finding something to squeeze your pregnant ass into for a wedding. I struggled for a long time. I'm talking months, not weeks, months, much to the annoyance of my other half!

I looked online, I never actually went into any shops (that's a whole other ramble for another day, maybe I'll write a blog post on that too) and eventually decided on a sage green Maya embellished number from ASOS. I'd never heard of the brand Maya before but I wish I'd known about them before my wedding because there's some beautiful bridesmaid appropriate dresses on there - In fact when we were checking into the hotel I got mistaken for one of the bridesmaids because my dress was so nice. Eeek! That was a lovely little confidence boost especially since I'd been feeling a bit down in the dumps.

To say this dress spoke to me would be the understatement of the century. My husband never heard the end of it, after weeks of searching and nothing even sparking the slightest bit of interest I fell hook line and sinker for this baby... Until it went out of stock... Then it came back into stock but didn't fit, but third time lucky this piece of sage green wonderfulness was mine!

To quote Theodore Roosevelt 'Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain & difficulty.' And if that isn't the over statement of the century than I don't know what is... But you get the jist!

Everything about it is perfect & on the day I felt like a force to be reckoned with, which again after feeling not so great about myself was a wonderful feeling. I was comfortable, I felt super girly and like the dress flattered my new figure perfectly. It was an absolute dream to wear & one I'll continue to wear post-pregnancy. I think the cut and the materials will work amazingly well when babys here & I've hopefully got my body back. I'm hoping I'm going to be one of those women whos' body magically pings back into place once the baby's born. #PrayForClaire

PS. The heels admittedly didn't last half as long as the dress did, but that's not the point. Haha.

Dress - Asos

Heels - Kurt Geiger*

Dan's suit - River Island

Dan's Shoes - Debenhams

Have you or are you finding it difficult dressing your pregnant body?

Claire. X

Have you read my other posts?
Lifestyle | Adjusting to my pregnancy body
Lifestyle | Finding the perfect wedding dress
Lifestyle | The first trimester

Lifestyle | Adjusting to my pregnancy body.

If you told past Claire that in 2018 she'd be married with a baby on the way, she'd never have believed you... Maybe not even in a million years. Granted of course the marriage part was planned, but the pregnancy part, well I thought it was never going to happen for us.

I came off the pill January 2015 so my hopes for us falling pregnant naturally were lessening more and more as the years went by. I'm telling you that first in the hope you can appreciate my anguish before I spill the tea on how I'm really feeling about my new pregnancy body.

Because I was in two minds about whether to write this post or not - I understand it's a sensitive issue.

Hand on heart I've never been 100% body confident... I don't know how many of us really are. If you are I commend you, and I for one am bloody well jealous of you. I spoke a little while ago about my body hang ups, which looking back now at my insecurities feel like a world away from where I am now... Truth is when I look at the person staring back at me in the mirror, she has a body I don't recognise. What's happening to me is such an amazing and beautiful process, but at the same time it's the most bizarre, mind boggling thing.

Pregnancy is weird!

The physical changes and how the way I view my body changing has been a bit of a roller coaster for me over the last 25 weeks. The angel on one shoulder tells me pregnancy is an amazing thing & I should be grateful (which I really really am) whereas the devil on the other fills me with questions and self doubt. Truth is I've always been slim & have had the same body shape & weight for probably the last ten years or so... You could say I'd gotten comfy with my body & who I was - I'd accepted who I was & what I looked like.

I've found adjusting to the changes quite hard.

My ever expanding stomach is becoming heavier and heavier as the days go by. You can often find me grunting away trying to get comfy, and trust me, it takes me a while to get comfortable these days, even more so on an evening. Dan goes mad, come 8 o'clock I literally can't sit still, he thinks it's annoying for him, but for me it's ten times worse.
I'm struggling with dizziness and feeling light headed - I've spoken to a few people about this who believe what I'm suffering from is low blood pressure, something I'm going to ask my midwife about later on today actually. I find my dizziness is heightened if I'm busying myself or doing too much, a sign I know that my body is doing more than what it should be. I've found adjusting to what my body can't do anymore, to be really difficult.
The change I'm most surprised by is my fitness levels: I've never been massively into the gym or fitness, but I eat well & am out walking with Willow every day so I'd like to think I do my bit, albeit not much but still. What usually would be a half an hour walk around the park now takes at least 45 minutes and when we get back I am absolutely 100% shattered! Speaking which, I'm so tired in general these days! I was reading that tiredness supposedly wears off during the second trimester, however for me I feel like this isn't the case.

In the grand scheme of things if tiredness is one of my only pregnancy symptoms, I think I've gotten off pretty lightly! But the body I have now isn't one I recognise & I think it's that which weirds me out.

So how have I been trying to overcome my new pregnancy body hang ups?

Putting myself in others shoes - Never in a million years have I looked at another pregnant person and thought it was anything other than amazing! Over the last six months I've found a new respect for pregnancy & the changes a persons body goes through so I've been trying to give myself the mindset that what's happening to me actually is amazing... Which it most definitely is!
We've also been photographing & documenting how my body has changed over the last 25 weeks. We're hoping to make a time lapse style video when baby's here & I can't wait to see the end result. Both the video & baby!
And finally it goes without saying that talking to other people about how you're feeling is amazing. Honesty is the best policy & reaching out, speaking to others who may or may not be feeling the same works wonders. It's amazing to know that you're not alone. And that's the main reason I'm writing this blog post.

At the moment I view my body as more of a vessel for our baby, it's just doing the job it needs to do for nine months & although I don't quite feel like myself, I'm 100% aware of how lucky I am to be experiencing this feeling. I can't help but feel guilty for feeling the way I do about myself - It's a really difficult one to explain & one I hope I've conveyed well and not rambled too much about.

Have you ever felt the same as me during pregnancy?

Claire. X

Have you read my previous posts?

Lifestyle | Finding the perfect wedding dress

Lifestyle | The first trimester

Fashion | Feeling body confident with Tobi