Maternity Monday: Pinstripe Maternity Suit
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Sales of note for 2/14/25 (Happy Valentine’s Day!):
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase — and extra 60% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + 15% off (readers love their suiting as well as their silky shirts like this one)
- Boden – 15% off new season styles
- Eloquii – 300+ styles $25 and up
- J.Crew – 40% of your purchase – prices as marked
- J.Crew Factory – 50% off entire site and storewide + extra 50% off clearance
- Rothy’s – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Flash sale ending soon – markdowns starting from $15, extra 70% off all other markdowns (final sale)
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
Any recommendations for casual maternity clothes that are cute and appropriate for a 37-year-old who already has 3 kids? I gave away all my maternity clothes a couple years ago because I was DONE … but surprise — birth control fails. Now I’m starting over and nothing anywhere looks cute. All the shorts are super short, and most everything is just ugly. Either frumpy or billowy or too low cut or made out of hideous-looking fabric. Adding to the complication is that I can’t stand the over-the-belly shorts/pants. Any tips would be so welcome!
It’s become apparent that my MIL is both class-ist and racist and apparently is losing or giving up her filter for comments, social media posts, etc. For those of you with similar relatives, how do you handle this with respect to your kids? Do you try to limit the relatives’ contact with your kids? Do you try to contextualize it? Do you try to make sure you’re around to supervise and confront, provide context, etc?
Oh, hugs, because there’s no denying this is a tough thing to work through, and the path is just being forged. For every gender non-conforming drag queen out there, there must be a thousand gender non-conforming lawyers, doctors, professors, etc. — you probably just hear less about them.
Here’s one I can’t stick on Facebook…I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that I have a non-gender conforming son. Since he’s been a young 2, at every opportunity, he has rejected what is traditionally associated with boys. Last night, I happened across a blog written by a women who has a child who is now 24, and who has written extensively about the individual’s childhood as a non-gender conforming boy. I found myself nodding along with every. single. post (questioning when he’s going to turn into a girl around 2; wanting to be a disney princess every year for Halloween; wanting every toy, clothing item, or decor to have rainbows, unicorns, the sparkles, etc.; wearing long Tshirts – only to find out he’s doing it because it feels like a skirt to him). Here’s the thing – that individual is now a drag queen performing in NYC. And if that’s what makes that person happy, good for them. But I’m realizing it’s made me so unbearably sad — I don’t want that life for my child. It doesn’t feel so different than becoming an exotic dancer, I guess.
Of course I logically understand that my child’s path will not be the same as this person’s, but I have worried a lot about what a future for my child might look like. I also understand that you can’t pick your child’s path, under any conditions, but I feel like life is especially cruel for non-gender conforming kids. I think I feel a little heartbroken because this mom was supportive and encouraging of her child’s preferences as she raised him, and I can feel myself thinking with sadness and obviously judgment “and s/he still became a drag queen!!” My husband and I have taken the approach of accepting what our son does, but taking it one step at a time. I think I’ve been hoping that love, acceptance, and support would make life easier, but I guess life as a person who doesn’t feel like they were born into the correct body is just going to be hard no matter what.
Does anyone know if a g mail account can forward emails to two separate addresses automatically? Thinking about setting up a FamilyLastName@ g mail account for school/daycare notifications. Tried of asking everyone to send messages to both parents and still getting them sent just to me.
Sort of related to the post by Anon for This… but… do any of you all of a sudden notice your parents aging? And freak out about it?
I’m in my early/mid 30s. My parents are in their early 70s. Dad is out of the picture. My mom came and visited me in February and had a bit of a health crisis. I had to go home from work and call an ambulance for her because she was so dizzy she couldn’t walk and was throwing up uncontrollably. Turns out she was having her first ever attack of vertigo. Since then she’s just seemed… older. My oldest (favorite) aunt is close to 80 and just had heart surgery and isn’t doing well. I just sort of thought I’d have longer before this all started happening. Sigh.
My read is that Becky is being Becky. I don’t blame you at all for being annoyed with her, as that’s major news to find out via the Facebooks, but it doesn’t sound at all out of character. I would drop it and carry on like nothing happened. This is your parents’ problem to deal with, not yours.
My 42 year old older sister “Becky” didn’t bother to tell our parents that her oldest son (age 24, married) is expecting a baby. Her daughter-in-law posted a cute pregnancy announcement on Facebook, which our extended family commented on. Our mother isn’t on Facebook and often gets angry when she finds out about family news 3rd hand from a Facebook user.
After I saw the post, I called my Dad and asked if he had talked to Becky. He said, “Not recently,” so I told him to call her because she had news for them. Dad called, Becky filled him in and made up excuses about her busy life, and then Dad passed all this on to Mom pretending like Becky called him first. It’s just easier that way. No one wants to deal with Mom screaming and yelling about being the last to know.
Becky and I have zero relationship–there hasn’t been a fight, but we don’t reach out and talk to each other either. We’re complete opposites. She got married and had children at 19, I went to school and started my family later. We live far apart and I haven’t spoken to her in 4 years. She also doesn’t have the best relationship with our parents, keeping them at arms’ length until she needs something from them.
I’m annoyed Becky didn’t bother to call our parents, but on the other hand, she’s stepping into the grandparent role. Does it matter when the *great* grandparents find out? It’s not even about them anymore, is it? I’m also annoyed at my parents, because if you want to be in the loop GET ON FACEBOOK.
And I really don’t want to be a Great Aunt at 36 with two elementary aged kids. Yet again, Becky and I have nothing in common except our parents.
Advice for drying up your milk? I worked like crazy to establish a supply, then my daughter quit nursing at 3 months old when I went back to work and I went to exclusively pumping 75% of her needs. Now she’s 6 months old + 1 week old, and I’m SO OVER IT.The ped assured me that she’d gotten the benefits and that it was OK to stop.
I am down to 3 pumps per day (AM, 3-4p, before bed) and in the past few days have gotten my output down about 5 oz from the peak. But I get these giant lumps if I go too long without pumping or if I just pump for relief, which is what I’d been trying to do. Then I have to do compressions while pumping to get the lump out, which ends up stimulating more milk production.
Also, so many questions: how long did the entire process take? How long after stopping did it take you to return to your pre-preg size? And, if you were one of those ppl like me for whom b’feeding makes you hold onto the last 10 pounds instead of shedding it, how long did it take the weight to start coming off?
Thanks!
I am headed to San Antonio late this week with The Hubs and The (Almost 6 and Highly Active) Kid. We plan to spend Saturday at Six Flags (we have free passes because we have season tix to our local one), but need some half day activities for three other days.
The current list has options of:
Zoo (with discount prices from our local zoo membership)
Dooseum
Sea World (ugh, expensive, especially if we cannot stay all day, but maybe we can do this Saturday and then do a half day at Six Flags a different day)
Ride on Riverwalk boat
Hotel pool
Any other suggestions? Anything off the beaten path that we might all enjoy?
What are everyone’s favorite nursing/pumping compatible wrap dresses? My office is casual, so doesn’t need to be DVF-level quality, but nothing very revealing either.
My 2.5 year old daughter started preschool this morning (she was previously in a home daycare). We’ve been talking a lot about it for the past two weeks and reading a book about preschool every night. When we walked in, she marched right up to the first teacher she saw, introduced herself by name, and asked where her cubby was. After being shown to her cubby, she put her stuff in, cheerfully said “bye mom and dad,” and went out to the main room and started to play. Just wanted to share because I’m so happy with how well it went! (I realize a freak-out could be in our near future, once she realizes this is a permanent change, but hopefully not.) Such a great morning!
I’m also left wishing I had the confidence of my toddler…I hope she never loses it. :)
Grumble – what’s up with Lego sets only coming with male figures?!! The sets with females figures are all pink and set in bakeries. Super annoying, Lego!
This is a shot in the dark: my kids got the Magic Tracks racetrack for Christmas. The cars have broken. I want to just buy replacement cars, but it doesn’t seem like they’re available. Does anyone know if other car toys are the right size to be compatible with Magic Tracks toys? Or am I stuck buying a whole new set?
We are moving within the next month or so and I am trying to Marie Kondo my life as much as possible beforehand. I have a whole bag of bras that I haven’t worn in almost as year as I’m still nursing. My band size stayed the same but I went up two cup sizes. Do I just toss them, assuming I won’t be the same size when I’m done nursing? I have no idea what to expect.