Postpartum Style: Grace


I'm really excited to have Grace of Camp Patton for our next postpartum style post.
Grace is wife to Simon - an OB-GYN resident by day and night. She stays at home with Julia, Sebastian, and Theodore (her three kids under three) and is always on the hunt for some quiet, sanity, and a Top 40 hit to bump on the family friendly vehicle's radio.


I've only had to deal with draping the postpartum bod in the colder months so I apologize if this is irrelevant to you and yours as I imagine it just might be considering that it is JUNE.

I thought the reason I'd have a tough time fitting into pre-pregnancy jeans during the postpartum season of fun would be the tuft of leftover stomach swell but I was sorely and sadly mistaken. Don't get me wrong - the stomach swell was there and was happy to be hugged by maternity panels for several weeks post-delivery. However, I was NOT prepared for my hips to stay in the birthing position of WIDE for um ever post-baby. I've had two babies since then and I think my hips are probably not going back to pre-baby position which is totally fine and why God created denim with a touch spandex.


six weeks postpartum, unbuttoned jeans hidden by nursing tank, t-shirt, cardigan, life jacket, and seasonal gourd

I'll never ever forget waiting two "whole" postpartum weeks before trying on a pair of jeans and wilting into a puddle of depression when they barely made it past my knees. Rookie mistake that I'll never make again unless we're talking jeggings or jeans that I haven't washed and dried back into original intended size in months. I know a lot of people can get away with never wearing any maternity clothes but I am not one of them and I love maternity pants and while I'm happy when I don't have to wear them anymore I don't mind wearing the right pair for as long as I need postpartum.

I was looking for my cardigan to go on a walk with the kids the other day when my two-year-old told me to "just wear your best!" because I am a bit of a vest addict.


someone order this girl some Variety (size Venti), please. 

Vests are my favorite along with dark stretchy pants (leggings, jeggings, yoga, maternity or not), and long shirts and sweaters. Pregnant and freshly not pregnant.

Here are my staples ...


(I'll pretend like putting that collage together didn't take me three hours ... you ladies that do these on the regular are insane. And talented. Aaaaand I just realized I didn't number them but I don't have three more hours to curse through. I'm sorry!)

1. Black Pants: (worn here) these are lightweight enough to wear in the spring and fall (probably not the summer unless you reside/work somewhere that is liberal with the a/c) and are flattering and tight enough that you don't feel weird wearing them weeks after you've had a baby. I promise. 

2. Cardigan: I can't find any online but Old Navy always has great options in the fall. Something that ties is especially awesome to wear over a nursing tank around the house or to the store etc. 

3. Puffer Vest: I have great luck on eBay. You will too. 

4. Scarf: I'm a serial scarfer.

5. Chambray Tunic: this one is from J.Crew Factory but I found a great one at Forever XXI and I bet it's the kind of thing that will swing back around in the fall. 

6. Boots: You don't need Frye boots but Kimmie wrote an awesome post on how to find them on the cheap. I found some on eBay under her tutiliege. 

7. Slippers: Sometimes you need to embrace the frump. These moccasins look like loafers with pants and I don't know what I did without them.

I know we're supposed to love our bodies and appreciate what they've been put through and I do!! I do, especially after three pregnancies and periods-o-postpartum. But!! I'm not sure anything could've prepared me for the body staring back at me a few hours after I delivered our first baby (and why I will continue my crusade to have mirrors removed from hospital recovery rooms). Eventually everything comes back together and will probably always be a little bit softer and a littler bit different as it should be but until then don't be afraid to slip on your maternities for just as long as your exhausted new mom self needs.

A HUGE thank you to Madeline for letting me contribute! This was one of the very first blogs I ever read and if my future self had told my former self that I'd get to write a post for her one day she would've said, "shut! up!" because I used to be mature. 

8 comments:

  1. Why does no one warn you your hips will never go back? It seems relevant. I mean, the belly flab was a given, but my hips!

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  2. Love this. I, too, am a huge vest fan. They're so great for covering up the flab!

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  3. I was gifted a puffy vest by a coworker (and I think it was some fancy brand like Abercrombie and Fitch) but I never wear them, mainly because you do and they would never look that good on me. I'd be comparing all day and then my husband would say "Who is that Grace you're always whining about?" And I would say "The one with the Julia that says the funniest things." (Because he makes me tell him when you have those posts up because he loves them.) And then he would say, "Oh, yeah, you don't look as good as her...but I still think you're beautiful." At least that's how it goes in my mind.

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    1. ha. stop. stop stop. wear it loud and proud - I'm sure it looks great!!

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  4. Good post! The hips were a shocker for me, too! As above commenter says, it seems relevant, yet no one warned me either.

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  5. I do the same thing! (not the vest part because it is nine million degrees in Texas, yo) I tell my husband stories about Grace's kids all the time. I say "hey, you know Grace, the blogger with 3 kids under 3 and the husband who is a dr and Julia?" And he's like, "Julia, the one who says 'bastard' instead of 'Sebastian'?"
    PS I also distinctly remember seeing my body for the first time after having a baby. Yikes. There's really nothing that quite prepares you...

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