Maternity Swimwear

Currently Craving: Peaches and Plums (loving the summer fruit these days)

For the past week i've been at the beach chilling with my family. this is the annual beach trip that we go on with my mom's side where we pretty much are just bums on the beach in North Carolina for the week. we eat as much as we want and swim in the ocean and at the pool and try to avoid sunburn. this is the first year in recorded history of the trip that anyone was stung by a jellyfish. arg! i'm just glad it wasn't me.

knowing i'd have a beach and some pool time during my pregnancy i planned ahead when i was in my maternity wardrobe buying frenzy. when you're pregnant and you plan to swim you have three options: 1. maternity one piece 2. maternity tankini and 3. maternity or non-maternity bikini

1. maternity one-piece have you ever been pregnant? or have you ever worn a one-piece bathing suit? to me these two things do NOT go together. first, when you're pregnant you tend to spend a lot more time making runs to the little girls' room and second, taking off and putting back on a wet one-piece bathing suit is NEVER fun. so that option was OUT for me

2. Maternity Tankini: this option makes a lot more sense in my mind. first, it's two pieces so the bathroom problem is all but solved. at the same time it provides belly coverage. belly coverage is handy if you're around people who aren't as into pregnant women flaunting they're goddess goodness and showing the belly everywhere. (i know, hard to believe, but there are those people out there). my main concern with wanting belly coverage is sunburn. i just can't imagine having this huge belly hanging out there and having it get sunburned. OUCH! plus they say that babies in bellies can and do respond to bright lights.... what if the sun hurt her eyes, or she got sunburned herself???
so, with those thoughts in mind i opted for one maternity bottom and two maternity tankini tops. see one pictured below: this picture is a little funky because i cut my dad out of it because we were comparing bellies. he beat me but i figured he didn't want that on the blog

anyway. tankini was a great idea until i wore it actually in the ocean or pool. my belly just wasn't quite big enough at this point to hold the skirt part of the suit in place so i felt like i was totally swimming in a dress. arg!

enter option 3: Maternity or non-maternity bikini: personally, i am not a person who thinks a woman should hide away her baby belly. i think pregnant bellies are quite beautiful and cute, even if it is strange to get used to actually having one on MY body personally. so this week at the beach i decided to risk it with a bikini i bought last summer. lucky for me, last summer the top was a little too big, not so this summer. and again lucky for me, my bum hasn't expanded so so much that the bottoms didn't fit. hooray! so i braved exposing the belly to the sun and just lathered on lots of sunscreen. and i've ended up with a slightly brown belly and no burns to speak of. also, no photos taken.

So my vote on maternity swimwear: go in for tankini or bikini depending on your belly exposure comfort level and from there make sure it fits and have fun!

all in all the trip itself was a lot of fun and very relaxing. i'm ready to go back already. i posted more pics on our Photos Blog check those out if you'd like