Long live maternity pants!

The beginning of the soldes in Paris coincided with the beginning of the fifth month of my pregnancy, and I finally mustered enough courage to go shopping for maternity clothes.

As I got out of my pants (yes the pre-pregnancy ones that I wear unzipped, with a rubber band through the button hole, and a BellaBand to cover it all) and tried on some materinity pants, my first impression was: why on earth didn't I try these super-comfy things before???

There is indeed a reason why these things are made--for pregnant women whose belly is expanding. No matter how big or small the expanding belly is. Since I have sworn to buy only the minimum amount of maternity clothes, I decided to wait until it was absolutely necessary to buy them. But my conclusion now is: comfort should be a priority! So my recommendation is this: anyone hesitating to buy maternity clothes until pre-pregnancy clothes get so uncomfortable that your tummy starts to hurt when sitting down, should reconsider IMMEDIATELY. Get these super comfy clothes (well, at least pants, anyway) ASAP! Some brands claim that their maternity clothes are for pregnant pregnant from month 1 to 9, so it's never too early, I reckon.

For conventional maternity clothes, I liked, and bought clothes from, the following French brands:

- 1 et 1 font 3
- Formes
- Serafine

In terms of the shopping experience, I must say I found the sales people at Formes and Galeries Lafayette's maternity section the most helpful and kind. At Formes, the sales assistants were wearing these maternity clothes, even though their tummies were as flat as a cutting board!

For organic cotton maternity clothes (and oh they are difficult to find!) I have bought:

- Lili l'a fait
- Cherry on the cake


I have checked out the following organic cotton maternity clothes brands but have not bought anything from them:

- lunaBulle
- schone maternity

Happy shopping!