Helen Skelton is a TV presenter, best known for her work on Country File, Holiday Hit Squad, and for her stint as a Blue Peter presenter. She lives in Cheshire with her rugby player husband Richie Myler & their dog Barney (also a former Blue Peter star), and the couple are expecting their first baby in June. Helen shares how discovering Seraphine drastically altered her ideas on maternity clothes.
I swore off maternity wear until I found Seraphine. “Beautiful” and “Natural” pregnancy may well be, but sexy it is not. When I found out I was pregnant, with my hips, boobs and bump expanding by the day and constantly needing a wee I told my husband I would NOT be wearing any maternity gear! “Why?” I asked him “would I want to wear granny bras and huge rib tickling trousers when I feel this unattractive already! That’s only going to make me feel worse!?”
Then I caught sight of myself in a shop mirror, my baby bump spilling over the top of my unfastened jeans, my boobs bursting out of my ill fitting bra and my blouse straining over my bust. Not only does this look awful, I felt awful. I spend hours in a car or on a train most days and when you constantly need a wee, tight fitting waistbands aren’t the best.
I buckled. I gave into my husband’s nagging and my mum’s “I know best” tone and ordered one pair of Seraphine “over the bump light wash skinny maternity jeans.” I can honestly say it’s a whole new world! They are comfy, they look like normal jeans, I can show off my bump by pairing them with a tight stretchy tee shirt without feeling disproportionately huge. Since then I’ve bought three more pairs in different colours and fabrics. I’ve gone for over the bump each time.
Admittedly tops and jumpers are still a bit trial and error, I like things that are fitted enough to show my bump but not too tight to look spray on. My favourite Seraphine jumper is the oatmeal woven back nursing jumper. My friends literally gawped when I said that was a “nursing” jumper. They expected me to say it was from “Sandro” or some other designer store. I joked for about twenty minutes that it came with a breast pump. (It doesn’t).
Of course I was convinced at first I could pour my curves into stretchy evening gowns for do’s and weddings! However I spent an entire evening recently re adjusting my bra to keep my chest in check. There just simply isn’t enough material in a normal evening gown to cover my “double ee” chest at the minute. So I tried on Seraphine’s “lace detail wrap maternity gown” for an awards do recently and I honestly felt amazing. Proud of my bump, confident I wasn’t going to burst out of it and glam.
As I have told my husband so many times, for me, clothes aren’t about looking good to other people, they’re about feeling good. Now I have abandoned my prejudice against maternity clothes I am actually comfortable and therefore confident. Priceless when you’re pregnant.
Helen
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