LIFE AFTER THREE TRIMESTERS

When I started my pregnancy I thought about doing three preggo recaps – one of each trimester – but as usually we make plans, then life happens. Those past months have been a mix of blurry images, intense feelings, paper work and a lot, a lot of questionings. While my Instagram presence has increased while I was pregnant, it is true that I haven’t been blogging much since October. I can blame hormones because of course it is so convenient but the real thing is that I couldn’t write, or at least couldn’t fix my thoughts and feelings on paper during all three trimesters. I started numerous articles, these will forever remain drafts and I ask you to forgive me for that silence. Right now we’re at 38 weeks, basically counting days before the due date, and I feel like there won’t be a better moment for this pregnancy blogpost, an article that I decided to divide in five categories, mainly based on questions I received and keep receiving on social medias.

Weight and body changes

Throughout those past months I had no particular food craving or major changes in my dietary habits, I cannot say that I’ve been eating more neither (well since I never really denied myself any guilty pleasure in the past I will just say that I kept my routine). Yet while my bump really started « showing » only by the end of my second trimester, I had a really good and steady weight gain – 15kg in nine months. Knowing that the babe now weights 3,5kg (4kg if we count the placenta and other stuff) I consider myself in a healthy pregnancy state 😉 I think that at some point, when you’re carrying life you’re like someone else’s spaceship and that someone else’s needs come first. That’s as simple as that.

Of course I gained mass, I can see and feel that my arms and legs have got considerably bigger , my face being probably the first part of my body by which you can tell that I’m pregnant and I don’t even want to think of what my belly will look like after the delivery. But somehow I’m feeling totally at ease with myself – I know that squats sessions & co will be mandatory in a couple of weeks and that I will have to learn living with this new body of mine; accepting the stretch marks and the fact that I will never be the same Elvira again, yet it is part of the game you know? As a mother you can spend the rest of your life complaining about not being able to get back your old body, throwing bitter comments when seeing pictures of models in magazines and placing yourself on a pedestal for the only reason that you gave birth. Or you can turn it all into a motivation in order to become someone else, someone that embraces its flaws and shines through a new light. Hashtag goals.

Style

First it was my jeans, crop tops and anything that marked the waist, then I noticed with dismay that even the dresses I considered to be oversize were becoming too tight. My wardrobe, that I will shamelessly define as pretty big, was reducing every week until I found myself with just a couple of outfits I could still fit in. Yet do you remember how I announced that I would never wear maternity items? Well believe it or not even when I was really desperate (and those occasions were numerous) I never in all nine months purchased in that m-section (will be forever proud of that, please have it written on my gravestone). As I love saying, I’m pregnant – not blind, and I’m sorry but those clothes for expecting moms are just too ugly to be even considered for daily use. I know how posh it sounds and I have no problem with that, because I could never have felt comfortable in a loose cupcake-style outfit, with those ribbons that mark the bump. And can we talk about those pants with huge elastic panel stretches? Those were a straight no-no.

I survived through those past months by shopping items from the regular collections, always keeping in mind my constantly growing belly and the fact that I will need to adapt those clothes to my post-partum wardrobe too – I would have hated wasting my money on things I wouldn’t have been able to wear after the pregnancy! Here are some of my most successful purchases:

Classy pants with a sporty twist : oh my gosh I will never bless enough that particular pants model. Very chic cut with an elasticated, jogging-style waistband? Yes please! By my second trimester I was quite desperate as the weather was terrible, it was still too cold and humid to wear dresses and I couldn’t fit in my jeans anymore, finding cool pants that I felt comfortable and stylish in was a real relief (I found mine on Zalando – the brand is Filipa K but there are plenty other cool brands you can check that have a similar cut). Useless to say that I was so excited that I bought them in three different shades (black, gray and white) – no regret as I bought them in my regular size, so I know that I’ll still be wearing them after the pregnancy (thanks to the jogging drawstring fastening). Those were my go-to pants and at some point this winter i’ve been wearing them everyday. Examples HERE and HERE

Jumpsuits : or as I call them – pregnant women’s best friends. These are comfortable to wear, easy to style and mark the bump in a very flattering way ++ after you give birth you can still pair them with a belt to have the waistline marked. But beware of choosing jumpsuits that are either elastic and figure-hugging, or loose at the waistline, otherwise there are chances these won’t last more than a couple of weeks – depending on how fast your bump grows of course. Examples HERE and HERE

Basic and stretchy dresses : I was not really into bodycon dresses before getting pregnant, but I still owned a couple of them – those old-but-gold dresses helped me upgrading my fashion game when no other item could. Because a stretchy dress is so basic, it can be worn over and over again, whether layered under a coat or a cozy knit sweater, or paired with some chic accessories for a date night. Example HERE

Oversize sweaters : my love for them dates back to my childhood, but I discovered their real potential only when I started gaining pregnancy weight. Over the past months I’ve been wearing my sweaters as dresses for an effortless style, over my dresses too (especially when I couldn’t find an appropriate bottom to wear, lol), paired with skirts for the ultimate fashionable style and more simply – with jeans (when I could still wear those) and jogging-style pants. I would say that the cool thing with sweaters is that you can have them in one or two sizes bigger than your usual size and still manage them to look freaking cool – that much for the post-partum advantages. Examples HERE, HERE and HERE

Very large jeans : I will always remember the day when I was almost crying in a boutique fitting room because my large body couldn’t fit into a size L dress and that Charles arrived with that pair of high-waisted jeans. After almost insulting him because how could he hurt my feelings like that by bringing me high-waisted stuff when I had no waist anymore, I decided to try them on. Size 29 when my regular size is 24, ok. What on earth would I do with these after I gave birth? Much to my delight the fit was perfect for my at-that-time 31 weeks bump (it still is by the way, at 38 weeks). After talking to my auntie, that is seamstress, we figured out that we could turn them into cool baggy pants in the future, so that it wont be a waste of money. Those jeans were real life saviors, not only for my wardrobe situation (oh I missed high-waisted stuff so much) but also for my moral as the third trimester can be really tough and it’s pretty hard to feel nice and cute when you’re huge. Example HERE

Actually the only new purchases I will not be able to reuse are the bras I had to buy when pregnancy hormones started hitting, fortunately I didn’t go to Agent Provocateur for those.

Couple

Hummm where to start? Oh yes, Charles and I got married 🙂 It came as a surprise to most of our followers, friends and even family, but in truth it was our desire to keep it as secret and private as possible – we even considered doing it in a Vegas style, just popping in at the town hall in our most casual outfits to sign the official papers, but apparently in Switzerland there must be some kind of ceremony even if you want to keep it cool. So basically, and because we have decided to organise it all at the very last moment (I booked my hairdresser the evening before the ceremony, just sayin’) we gathered our parents and some siblings to witness our vows before heading to La Reserve (aka one my favorite hotels in Geneva) for a lunch. That evening I opened my Instagram to discover the biggest amount of messages I ever received, most were congratulations and cute compliments on my dress (also found last moment on Zalando, God bless that online shop #notsponsored) but there were also a lot of questions, questions going from why did you decide to marry in sneakers to why was I not invited. Well I’ll begin by saying that neither Charles nor I have ever been into big marriages, of course I wanted to get married but the only prospect of having to organize an event, a proper adult event, was given me eczema. I have a huge respect for people that can manage such organisations – yet keeping everyone happy while it is supposed to be your big day does not hit my priorities. Having something intimate was thus perfect, and the fact that I was almost nine months pregnant at that moment only increased our desire of simplicity (please note that the sneakers were not a rebellious fashion move, my swollen little feet just couldn’t fit into my perfect white Louboutins). As for the guest list, oh my gosh I will forever be amazed by the drama some people are capable of raising out of nowhere – I guess intimate does not have the same meaning for everyone. What I find crazy is that I would never have dared asking for such a thing, because come on, you don’t know about the circumstances, you cannot guess what budget restrictions there were or what the newlyweds were thinking of when planning their big day, but you can definitely say that a marriage with ten people is a private little ceremony, not Prince Harry’s wedding, so please keep your claims to yourself 😉

Aside from the fact that we are now husband and wife (this still sounds crazy and I can’t get enough of the delicious sound of it), I can definitely say that nine months of pregnancy have put Charles and I on a new relationship level. From first trimester’s sickness to those days when I felt too weak to rise from my bed, without forgetting all my hormonal mood swings, new body proportions and the insecurities that came with these, I came to rely on him more than ever before. Believe me, for a control freak like me delegating responsibilities is no easy thing, yet I’ve been forced to as my body reached some limits and I had to focus on the pregnancy. Looking back at the way we were only a year ago, I feel blessed beyond words by the course of events and our evolution as a couple. You know they say men really become fathers only when they hold their baby in their arms for the first time – I don’t think this is true. In the past months I’ve seen my man changing, from the moment he felt the baby kicking in my womb he somehow became more determinate, more hard-working and I would even say more mature. Right now he’s taking so much upon himself, getting ready for this new stage of our lives and still finding time for romantic attentions – I can only thank my lucky star.

Baby’s name

Some would say that naming their child is the most complicated decision they had to take, but in our case the perfect name came as an evidence, the difficulty came later when we started facing unwanted opinions.

When Charles and I discovered that we were expecting a baby, we found both names (we didn’t know the sex at the time) almost immediately and after learning that it would be a boy we revealed the name : Seven. Seven stands for many things;

it is my lucky number
Charles and I have been together for 7 years when he proposed me and when we learned for the baby
I am born of the 7/09, my mother and grand-father on 7/04, both my sisters on 7/12 and Charles on 27/04
Whenever we are travelling, we are surrounded by this number – plane seats, train platforms, room numbers etc. It ended up becoming a little private joke between us.

Moreover we wanted to avoid classical names as our surname (Legrand) was already pretty classic itself, and Seven, with its english origins, was a name that sounded like the perfect choice. Why not choosing a Russian name you might ask – simply because there were none we truly liked 🙂 As soon as we started using this name in our conversations about the baby or even when talking to the bump (yes we do that) we knew that it was his name, the right name, do you know what I mean?

Some people from our circle raised concerns regarding the originality of the name, after all wouldn’t it be easier for the child to be named John or Alexandre? Especially at school where kids are so mean? We have been laughing out loud at those comments because it is fun to observe how older people tend to forget the school reality; hey if it’s not the name it will be something else. Good lord children will always be mean at school. I have a rather nice name and yet I’ve been nagged for my accent, big teeth, weird clothes and the list is still long. Show me a person that has never been laughed at at school and I might change my theory, but I’m sure you’ll find none because that’s the way of school, you have to pass by those petty ordeals in order to grow stronger.

Then, of course Seven it is an original name and most people are afraid of originality – probably that one of the reasons we like it so much is because we know no-one named like this. But always remember that minds are like doors, they are useful only when they can be opened.

Future plans

Currently my plans consist of drinking herbal infusions that promise a smooth delivery and getting enthusiastic about tiny clothes, but I guess that’s not what you want to know at this point.

On a professional side Charles and I have never really ceased working, keeping projects coming until the very end of my pregnancy, and we intend to keep rollin’ that way after I give birth. My parents have moved to Geneva to help us with the baby and we have been lucky to find a great Russian speaking nanny with very flexible working hours. For the moment it is hard to tell what rhythm we will adopt as new parents, and how hard it will be to attend events and travel in the upcoming months, but what is sure is that we’ll do our best to stay active – especially as we already have plenty of cool projects planned.

As some of you might have spotted on Instagram, we created an account for baby Seven (@SevenLegrand), the main reason to that was the numerous requests we received from our community regarding baby-related topics. So this account will be dedicated to baby outfits, furniture, products and just simple baby shots we will want to publish + this is where I will share advices I might get as a new mum.