Bump or frump

Last week I bought a luxe metallic grey dress and burgundy sequin camisole to wear for the upcoming work Christmas party. I always find DKNY dresses very roomy so I didn't feel the need to buy maternity. However, wearing it made my still easily-disguisable but growing bump look huge. There was no way work wouldn't guess I was pregnant. So the dress became the deciding factor in telling my colleagues that I was pregnant.

I told my immediate boss a few days ago and then a few colleagues, and slowly word trickled out. The company is 150+ though so many people still do not know. That was why I was extremely nervous about the party last night.

Some of us girls traipsed excitedly off to the Virgin Active gym across the road to get changed as there is more space there and lots of all important mirrors, hair dryers and plug sockets for straighteners. There, I pulled my dress on and immediately panicked. I've never been pregnant before and have never had a bump and here I was looking blatantly pregnant in a dress whose shiny metallic fabric glinted under lights and bounced off every curve.

The girls reassured me that I looked fabulously pregnant rather than frumpishly fat. But even looking pregnant made me anxious as it's such a dramatic change to my body and I'm simply not used to it.

I spent the first hour or so at the party feeling very conspicuous. But as the night progressed, I began to feel more and more comfortable about the bump being on show. Last night must have been a real milestone because today is a new day and I feel I can wear a tighter ti-shirt and not try and hide the bump away under layers. Hurrah!

Being publicly pregnant takes some getting used to.

16 weeks + 5 days