Win a copy of “Bump it Up” – a great book for keeping your pregnancy style in check!

Hello Mom Central Baby Blog readers! I’m excited to join the team as a contributing blogger. I have been working at Mom Central for the past year as an Account Supervisor and looking forward to adding my experiences and product reviews to the Baby Blog.

A little about me…I am almost 33 weeks pregnant with my second child (due date is May 30th!). I have a 2 year old daughter who is very much looking forward to being a big sister. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true…Let’s just say she knows there’s a baby in my belly and that he/she will be joining the family soon. How she feels when the baby is here and taking away some of her attention is another story!

I’ve decided to write my first blog post about the joys of pregnancy style. I like to consider myself a somewhat stylish person. Before having my daughter I was all about keeping up with the latest fashions and trends. After she came along however, things naturally shifted as I found myself way more into shopping for little girl clothes than for myself. But fortunately I have the advantage of working at a stylish office like Mom Central (full of sassy 20-somethings!) that have forced me to stay in tune with fashion and give me a reason to get dressed up every day.

Enter pregnancy and the challenges of dressing around “the bump”…

Now that I’m in my third trimester there is no more squeezing into pre-pregnancy clothes hoping they fit or don’t look too silly. I have the fortunate good genes (thank you mom and dad!) to be 5’10” so the baby has lots of room to grow –  but I definitely still have to dress around my growing figure. My husband always gets a kick out of my daily morning question:

• Q: “Does this outfit make me look pregnant?”
• A: “Well yes – you are pregnant!” (with sarcasm of course!)

To help in my quest to stay as fashionable as possible during my pregnancy, I recently reviewed “Bump It Up”, a fantastic resource for dressing around the ups (that beautiful growing belly) and downs (weight gain, bloating and overall uncomfortableness!) of pregnancy.

The author – Amy Tara Koch – wrote the book from an editor’s point of view thanks to her work as a style columnist for The Chicago Tribune, fashion and beauty editor for iVillage and work with celebrity events and fashion marketing for such brands as Allure and Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. Amy is also the mom of two – so she is talking from experience – and you can definitely tell!

Some of my favorite features of “Bump It Up” include….

•    Separate sections for each trimester so you can learn how to hide your bump in the beginning and embrace it at the end.
•    Tips and advice from celebrity stylists and designers from when they were pregnant or dressing pregnant clients.  I love the sketches and  “do this – don’t do that” approach!
•    List of core basics to purchase (ie; super long black tank top, black leggings, dark denim jeans, empire waist dress) along with fun add-ons and accessories (unstructured knit tops, trench coats, scarves)
•    Practical advice, such as raiding your husband’s closet for button-down shirts, borrowing your grandmother’s hand-me-downs for cool vintage pieces and shopping at thrift shops for some great steals.
•    Helpful tips for what to pack for the hospital and how to dress around your new “post partum bod”.

I’ve included of photo of myself sporting a new maternity top I bought after reading “Bump It Up”.   Decided to spice up my work wardrobe with a little rhinestone action and fun accessories!

I’m excited to let you you know that one lucky Mom Central member will be randomly selected to win a copy of “Bump It Up”.  Simply leave a comment to my post before April 23rd letting me know why you’d like to win this book or, even better, share your own pregnancy wardrobe tip with me. I can use all the help I can get to get me through these next 7 weeks when I’m sure to be growing bigger by the day!

To purchase a copy of “Bump It Up” for yourself, click here.

Mom Central received a copy of “Bump It Up”  to facilitate this candid review.

Amy Turner is an Account Supervisor and Contributing Blogger for Mom Central.  She has a two year old daughter and is expecting another bundle of joy in May. 

Mom Central