Style is about mixing and matching compelling accent pieces, not piling on expensive brand names. The book revolves around a three point checklist system-THE UNIFORM, ADD ONS and WOW FACTOR- which fine tunes the editorial concept (I am a longtime editor and tv gal) of garment rotation for pregnancy. Armed with the basics and a flair for the dramatic, pregnant women can create maximum style with a minimum investment in maternity specific clothing.

 

This weeks style tip:

 

BLING IT ON –  Baubles are the easiest way to make a basic outfit pop. Eclectic accents-think a bunch of Indian bangles, a chain belt, cool Tibetan pendants, adds a provocative element to your look. A vintage magnifying glass dangling from a belly button length gold chain electrify that simple black dress and cardigan A chocolate brown wrap dress becomes an IT GIRL ensemble with onyx beads, a knuckle duster of a cocktail ring, fish nets over opaque tights and black boots. Black and white M&M shaped beads and a fringed lime green shawl give the black sweater and pencil runway appeal. Go 70s with The 70s with va va voom chain belts, and drippy gold earrings. Forget dainty pendants and prissy stud earrings. Jewelry should mirror the bravado of your bump. Bold baubles—cuff bracelets, gold chains, chandelier earrings-amplify your style quotient.

My little man arrived 2 weeks and 2 days early and  I have been in a bit of a daze  ever since!  Just after I posted my last blog, I was told my tummy was a touch on the small side and they were concerned my placenta wasn’t working properly.  After a number of tests and many hours spent at the brilliant Queen Charlotte’s hospital,  it was finally decided that I should be induced .. and to my delight my little boy was born on the 2nd of June.

 

It has been a blurry few weeks, Fergus is now 8 weeks old and life juggling two is busy, this is the first time I have got to my computer properly since he was born and only because I have someone here to help!  However, this does feel like a real family and although it’s exhausting it is a lot of fun.

 

Since, time is no longer on my side, I will be brief in writing what little delights have made the last 8 weeks even better.

 

The first one was of course the post!  Every morning for a while a bundle of cards and presents fell through my letter box which apart from providing much amusement to my toddler; who spent hours ripping open the paper was also great fun for me.   I have been living in a world of pink, (thanks to my 2 year old girl), and I was suddenly introduced to refreshing blue with gorgeous little blue  cardigans -Bora’s cashmere is to die for, as are there little baby  hats with cosy ear flaps that will keep out the winter cold.  However, my most covereted present so far is the Marie Chantal Angel baby grow; It just makes every one laugh and I can’t help it, but he looks utterly angelic  in it.. Even if  he is not!

 

As for shopping, which is now a complete nightmare unless I can steal a few hours on my own.  I have discovered online is the way forward.  So when faced with a much-loved goddaughter’s christening, I went straight to Astley Clarke.com to solve my problems. Their brilliant personal shoppers sorted me out in jiffy, and a gorgeous Monica Vinader bracelet was delivered speedily to my door within hours. It’s a truly brilliant service and made what could have been a nightmare an easy present.

 

Other than that it’s been pretty much bottles, nappies, cuddles, cooo’s and baggy eye syndrome. However, I feel like I am finally coming up for air and it’s back to reality. So, I am suddenly booking hair cuts, pedicures (thanks to the cowshed in nottinghill! )so that I can get back on track with a blast!   My next mission will be a miracle pair of jeans to hide that post baby tum… Watch this space.

Our best selling straight leg and skinny jeans by J-Brand are back in

stock. Worn by the likes of Halle Berry and Naomi Watts during their pregnancies J-Brand’s patented elasticated panel design means they are virtually indistinguishable from non maternity jeans. Don’t delay! Buy yours today!

So much for saying I was ready – I knew it was tempting fate!

 

First, I had to go back to the office this week, to find a new maternity cover. I went straight in after my 38 week check-up, at which I discovered that the baby is now ‘engaged’; the bump has quite literally dropped, making walking anywhere significantly trickier. Numerous potential fashionistas have been interviewed by a giant waddling mama, occasionally clutching at her extended belly (Braxton Hicks contractions!) asking desperately, “How soon can you start work?”

 

By yesterday, I was quite tired, even though I wasn’t doing full days. I had a dizzy spell in the morning, and came home. I still managed to faint yesterday late afternoon, and fell quite heavily (I’m not sure how I’d fall ‘lightly’ at my current weight) and started having much more painful contractions. My husband was at work, I was alone, and I panicked, and rang my mother, begging for reassurance. My mother, ever pragmatic when it comes to medical emergencies, replied “Darling, I’m in Yorkshire, I really think you should ring the hospital if you’re worried as there’s very little I can do from here.” The hospital suggested that I should come in.

 

Of course, when I wrote last week that I was ready, what I really meant was that I’d done everything but pack my hospital bag. I’d have plenty of time in the early stages of labour, I reasoned. Well, for all those who think that they can leave it until then, I suggest you reconsider: being in pain, confused and crying is not an ideal set of conditions for making rational choices. I packed nothing but Rabbit, the toy I have had since birth (and incidentally have no intention of sharing with or giving to the baby), The Forsyte Saga (which I’m 20 pages away from finishing so it wouldn’t really keep me entertained for long), the entire top of my dressing table, and finally a clean pair of knickers (silk, Myla, with frills – hardly the sensible disposable ones that we’re recommended to wear immediately post-birth.)

 

Fortunately, around two o’clock in the morning, after a variety of tests for both me and the baby, my husband and I were told that the whole thing was a false alarm, that I was not hours away from giving birth, and that we could go home again – oh, and that I am to rest, properly.
Which I will do, just as soon as I have actually packed the hospital bag!

It’s no secret that pregnancy doth not bring out one’s inner glamour girl. Hormones flow, stomach protrude, and once-clear complexions zig-zag with non specific dermatitis.

 

I spotlight how to eradicate the telltale signs of pregnancy and achieve insta-luminescence on the skincare and cosmetic front in BUMP IT UP.  Based on a

formulaic approach to fashion. By rotating a uniform of five  maternity must haves—leggings, a long black layered tank, a maternity pencil skirt, maternity jeans or trousers and a multi-tasking black empire waist dress-the pregnantista can transform a handful of basics

into dozens of looks. My secret is to invest in fade into the woodwork but flattering basics that can be groovified with layering pieces and accessories. The trick? Determine your shape..play up your assets and camouflage the parts you are not so in love with.

 

This week’s tip to achieve create maximum style with a minimum investment in maternity specific clothing -

 

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK! Start your love affair with the empire waist. This genius silhouette gathers under the breast and falls loosely to the hip, knee or floor covering bulging bellies and butts with cascading fabric. The empire waist also put the focus on the arms and shoulders, places where pregnancy weight does not manifest itself.

This is tempting fate, but I’m going to say it anyway: I think I’ve got everything. I have literally been running around London like someone possessed, but now everything is bought, assembled, ready and waiting.  The nursery is finished –  bookshelves are up,  pictures hung, cot made up, and, thanks to my Grandfather, we have even got an air-conditioning unit in there.   And my underwear drawer is host to nursing bras, matching knickers, and, most excitingly, post-pregnancy Spanx, waiting for the moment I can squeeze them on and start on the return journey to being a size ten.

 

I’ve also booked all my ‘final’ beauty appointments – I want to look as pretty as possible in the endless photographs which will doubtlessly be taken in the aftermath.  I’ve put on about two and a half stone in total, which I think is at the higher end of recommended weight gain, but not a disaster.  I am desperate to lose it though – as I’m sure most mothers are – but when I asked the midwife at my antenatal class when I could start exercising again , i.e. at what point it is safe (I’m envisaging jogging down the canal between breast feeds) she looked at me like I was slightly insane and just said “Trust me, you won’t want to.”  Well, I don’t believe that:  my friend Jo, who had her baby two months ago, says that she feels ready to go back to the gym, which gives me great hope.  Obviously I’m not suggesting that I want to run the marathon anytime soon – or indeed ever, actually – and nor am I going to starve myself in anyway which would affect my milk supply – I just want my clothes to fit again.  On the plus side, though, regarding toll on my body, I don’t seem to have acquired a single stretch mark – which I feel I owe entirely to Basq Belly Oil. I’ve just ordered more as it’s important to carry on nourishing ones skin even after the birth – it smells heavenly, too.

 

And so, at 38 weeks, I’ve realised that it’s finally time to stop shopping (as I mentioned, I have everything, anyway) and working.  As for that last, I have, in any case, suddenly become very stupid – things like completely forgetting to pick my car up from the garage after it had been MOTd, even though I had set out especially on that errand; telling my husband that we had no hot water and that the boiler must be broken when, in fact, I’d turned our mixer tap the wrong way.

 

No, my aim for the next however long is very simple:  finish reading the Forsyte saga while lying on the sofa, go swimming every day to make sure that I sleep as well as possible, and then, Operation Bring On Baby:  fresh pineapple, curry and raspberry tea; lots of going up stairs (that will be quite easy for me – we live on the 5th floor and our lift is broken); finally, lots of xxx with my husband . . .

FYI our hugely popular v-bump leggings are now back in stock ! Super soft, and loved by all including the fashion Editor of The Times; with an elasticated V-bump band and lower elasticated back support these are a must -have

 

We have also added a few fantastic maternity staples to our own label

 

http://www.mama-la-mode.com/shop/designers/mama_la_mode

range;

 

The soft jersey Bump Band in black and white, to cleverly layer underneath yourexisting wardrobe.

And our sleeveless white sexy twist knot top is an essential long bodied top that will prove a wardrobe essential for maternity & beyond !

 

Click here to view the complete mama-la-mode essentials range

I’ve started dreaming about going into labour. Several scenarios have played out in my subconscious, from my husband just not being there, through being in the wrong country and not able to communicate with the German-speaking nurses (one of my friends tried to convince me that attending his wedding in Munich a week before my due date ought to be feasible), to not having packed my hospital bag and neither I nor the baby having anything to wear. I had similar dreams before my wedding – I woke my husband up one night in order to share my vision of having had to get married in wellington boots. I fixed the wedding nightmare by spending a serious amount of money at Christian Louboutin. And now, to the despair of my husband, I’m responding in almost exactly the same way. I’ve started shopping compulsively, just not for shoes.

 

It started innocently enough: I discovered that my friend Jo’s baby, Ludo, grew out of his Moses basket within two weeks. I realised that I had to stop hoping that a cot would ‘just turn up’, and hot-footed it into town, paying trips to Mamas and Papas, John Lewis and Mothercare. I fainted in that last, and had to retreat. But I’ve learnt my lesson (do the research on the internet first) and I’ve been back. The cot arrives on Thursday. The next thing, obviously, is sheets (there’s a sale on at the Monogrammed Linen Shop on Walton Street) a cot-bumper (I found one in the prettiest Liberty print), a mobile to go above the cot . . . Oh, and then there’s a baby gym mat, a play pen, things to wash the baby with (Burt’s Baby Bee just smells amazing) . . . Of course I still need nursing bras, too, but I’ve been told not to do that just yet, and I’ve also realised that I need a pretty bikini top to wear in the birthing pool – I can’t, of course, wear one of the ones I already own, as there isn’t even a remote chance of any of them fitting. And all this is before I mention that I’ve equally become bizarrely obsessed with things like draw liners, throws, and cushions (Chelsea Textiles really do make some of the most beautiful things.) In the case of the cushions, I am, it would seem, quite literally attempting to feather my nest.

 

Talking of nesting, I still haven’t felt the need to clean anything. Although I did, to my husband’s exasperation, suggest getting a cleaner – “Please darling,” he begged. ” Try to stop thinking of ways of spending more money!”
So, in an attempt to justify my spending, I’ve been doing some freelance writing, which has also had the benefit of keeping my mind off just how hot and uncomfortable I am. My amazingly genius broken husband has, however, just managed to get the blinds up in the sitting room, which I hope is going to keep our flat a little cooler.

 

Who knows, I might even sleep better, and stop having anxiety dreams which necessitate significant financial outpour . . . .

Here at mama-la-mode we try to make dressing your bump simple and pain free. Yes we know giving up our favourite Manolo’s in favour or swollen feet friendly ballet pumps for a few months is an insurmountable sacrifice for some (or a secret pleasure for others) but we know the pregnancy doesn’t mean giving up your style. Which is why we love stylist Amy Tara Koch’s new book Bump It Up – Transform Your Pregnancy Into The Ultimate Style Statement .

Filled with tips and tricks from the likes of Kate Spade & Diane Von Furstenberg, this book is the stylish girls guide to maternity dressing trimester by trimester.

 

With chapters cheekily named “Bloated On The Bias” and “Channel Your Inner Fashion Editor” you’ll find trick of the trade from top designers to fashion editors about how to make you maternity wardobe work during and after pregnancy, a philosophy were quite fond of here at MLM.

 

Join us in the following weeks as Bump It Up’s author Amy Tara Koch shares her expert tips to frump free maternity style…

This week, progress has definitely been made, insofar as I have begun to enjoy maternity leave. This is in no small part due to having started reading the Forsyte Saga, and my discovery that the Odeon cinema in Whiteleys has both very efficient air conditioning and an amazing ice-cream selection. I have also, finally, finished the blinds! (Not that my still-broken husband can put them up . . .)

 

So now, with four weeks to go, I am trying to ensure that I’ve got everything that I’m going to need (although, as the mid-wife at my antenatal class pointed out, the shops don’t shut the minute one has a baby.) My baby shower was wonderful – not only was it a great joy to see lots of my friends, but, thanks to the generosity of those friends, I feel significantly more prepared. My husband has pointed out that our unborn child has more clothes than he does – and he’s right. But we were also given some really useful things, like a baby monitor and a bath thermometer and lots of muslin squares and one of those vibrating chairs that was so effective for Miranda’s son in Sex and the City. Oh – and there’s something else I now own, thanks to the office: a Bill Amberg sheepskin papoose! You can only imagine my surprise and delight when I opened it – certainly I’ve been talking about it for long enough!

 

So now all we need is the baby itself. Mightily uncomfortable as he is becoming (he feels too big to still be inside me – bits of him are always poking out) I’d like him to stay where he is for one more week please, and if possible make his appearance at 37 weeks. For at that point he would no longer be considered premature, and I can attempt what I am hoping for, which is a natural birth in the birth centre at St. Mary’s. Both my friends who have had babies recently have done so with nothing more than gas and air – setting the bar high – and I’ve watched plenty of sheep do it – and indeed acted as midwife to many – and so reckon that I can too . . . .

 

However, first babies are apparently always late, so I don’t hold out much hope. On the plus side, it gives me longer to internet shop for those last few essentials, and to figure out my absolute favourite flavour of Ben & Jerry’s.