Have you ever rented maternity workwear? Have you ever wanted to? If you’re a mom-to-be who doesn’t really want to buy a lot of clothing for your pregnancy — especially if you’re planning to only have one kid, or you haven’t decided how many kids you’ll have — many companies now give the option to rent maternity workwear. Of course, we’ve talked a lot about maternity clothing for work, including the best maternity dresses for work, budgeting for your maternity wardrobe, general advice for maternity shopping for work, the best maternity suits for professional women, and plus-size maternity clothes for work. We’ve never discussed renting maternity workwear, however, so today we’re rounding up several companies that provide the service.
I would have loved a service like this, because the majority of my maternity wardrobe was not-exactly-stylish, not-exactly-high-quality clothing from Motherhood Maternity and a kids’/maternity thrift shop — but I knew that would be my only pregnancy. (Fortunately, I was working at a business-casual office when I was pregnant.) I probably would have chosen fewer but better-quality pieces for my maternity wardrobe if I had known about this option. (I’m not sure if companies like this existed in 2010, actually!) Especially when you’re not lucky enough to be one of those “glowing” pregnant women you hear about (which I was not — with hormonal acne, swollen ankles, and so on), it’s nice to have something that makes you feel good when you wear it.
Here are four companies that rent maternity workwear:
Have you found maternity suits to be essential at your office, conservative or otherwise? Not really necessary, no matter what your company’s dress code? Hard to find, either way — and when you do, not exactly … stylish? Did you wear maternity suits, or did you avoid them entirely by layering a blazer over a maternity dress (or otherwise wearing separates), or getting a regular-sized suit that was too large and then having it tailored? Unfortunately, when we’ve previously talked about 
If you’re far enough along in your pregnancy that you’ve outgrown your regular-sized, old-standby work dresses and have realized you need to expand your maternity work wardrobe to actual maternity wear, fear not — today we’re rounding up the best maternity sheath dresses for work, many of which we’ve included over the years in our regular 
Here’s a fun question for you guys: what would you tell new moms NOT to buy? What did you buy that was a waste of money or a mistake for your family? For me, the big answer to this question is a fancy diaper bag — I now advise all of my friends to NOT buy a fancy diaper bag when they find out they’re pregnant.
Behold: a 
It’s been two and a half years since I wrote my little ebook on Dressing Professionally for Your Pregnancy, so I’m in the midst of revamping it. Here’s an update on my general advice for maternity shopping for work. (
