Pregnancy brain is a real thing. I once drove to work in the wrong direction for almost two miles before realizing what I had done.

And now I’m asking myself if I’ve written this already because it feels like I have…(see what I mean!?)

I can’t give you a scientific explanation for it, but I do know that the minute you look at that little positive stick a whole new world of thought opens up in your brain and sticks with you (I’m assuming) for the rest of your life. It’s not just about you anymore, it’s about a whole lot more.

Knowing the mental load that pregnancy carries with it, I determined early on that I didn’t want maternity clothes to be a point of frustration for me. So I did a lot of planning, looked at a lot of pictures and started formulating how I was going to translate my style while pregnant. I did something else that I believe was the greatest help of all, but you’ll have to wait to read about that on Friday :)

Shopping for shower dresses started way early and I went at it hard. Dresses are a very tricky thing to shop for when you have very specific taste. Then add to that a baby bump and you have me for the past month – scouring every dress website known to the wide world.

If I found one with a pattern I liked, it had two slits up the sides that my husband pointed out would only get higher when worn with a baby bump. Ha. True. Pass.

If I found one with a perfect bump-accommodating shape, it would have some kind of print that definitely didn’t translate “Elizabeth” (more like boho hippy child, on an Indian reservation).

I even ventured into the world of maternity dress shopping, which I’ve purposely treated like the plague so that if I can wear as much as I can now and later.

This dress gorgeous non-maternity-yet-bump-accommodating dress was found on Amazon (Lord help us all when you can get free 2-day shipping through Prime) but I originally found the same dress much more expensively on a big department store’s website. I copied the name of the dress and searched for it on Amazon, and sure enough there was a cheaper version (over $20 cheaper). Score!

It’s so comfortable and it’s got pockets!

I wore it to a beautiful baby shower thrown by my sister-in-law, and I’ll be able to wear it to Jackson’s kindergarten graduation if I so choose (and that’s no joke, I plan to re-wear one of the dresses I bought for my bridal shower).

A draping maxi dresses like this one flatters all kinds of body shapes, because the draping masks a lot. And if you want to balance out fuller hips and disguise the tops of your arms, pair it with a structured and hip grazing jacket.

I also really loved pairing it with a gold chain right at the neckline to give the top of the dress some interest.