I was prepared to not like the Bella Band. Heather had already been pregnant for 4 months when I became pregnant, and didn’t have much positive to say about it. However, I was excited about any invention that came into existence since my last pregnancy, albeit skeptical. If this is such a great thing, why didn’t we have it in 2004? It wasn’t exactly the dark ages back then.
My friend Quyen, (who gave birth this week to Baby Jack!), gave me her Bella Band and said it wasn’t useful. I put it in my top drawer, thinking I’d check it out when I started showing. Or not.
A few short weeks later, I was showing, and having lunch with Joanne, who raved on and on about her Bella Band. She has three. She wears them AND sleeps in them. Then, my cousin’s partner, Layla, a pregnant woman with a supermodel’s body, pulled hers up and revealed to me that her designer jeans were not maternity, but simply unbuttoned beneath her Bella Band. And so I was sold.
I got mine out of the drawer and slid it on over maternity jeans that are still too baggy around the hips, but that I fully expect to grow into as my ass expands over the next 5 months. Problem solved.
This thing is useful, but not perfect. You may be yanking it up every 20 minutes, but perhaps that is half as frequent as you’d be yanking on your ill-fitting clothes without it.
In summary, there are four scenarios for wearing the Bella Band:
Scenario 1- You want to wear your favorite normal jeans, but they are too tight due to the bun in your oven. Solution: Wear the jeans, but don’t button and/or zip. Wear the Bella Band over the jeans. You still have the wash, pockets and length of the jeans in which you feel the best.
Scenario 2- You are anxious to wear your maternity pants, but they are too baggy around the waist. Solution: Wear the maternity pants, but with Bella Band over them as a more snug waist panel that will keep your pants up.
Scenario 3- Your belly is so enormous that your waist is far larger than your hips, and no pants will stay up. Solution: Wear Bella Band as an extra snug layer to keep your pants from sliding down the mountain that your lower torso has become.
Scenario 4- Your belly has begun to take over your entire body and no shirt on this planet is long enough to cover the whole thing. Solution: Wear Bella Band around your waist to cover that skin that lives in no man’s land between your pants and shirt.
And finally, I can foresee a post-partum period where I wear the Bella Band for support around my newly flabby, spongy belly, especially as my maternity pants get too big. And, especially if I have a C-Section, it will be comforting to have the extra layer.
P.S. It comes in green. I like that.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Ahh my friend, I’m glad you like it so much. Only scenario #2 has worked for me. I have a pair (believe it or not) of maternity pants that are too loose and this wonder-band has kept them up.
But, sadly, my bump is soooooooooooooo low that all other uses seem hopeless. And furthermore, when I sit in a chair, it rolls up my back. What’s up with that?!
You’ll get another black one in a month or so if you want.
I too loved the Bella Band! I saw it in a magazine and purchased it when I was about 7 months along (with my now 2 year old). It allowed me to wear my regular jeans for a while - unzipped with the Bella Band holding them up. I also used it to keep up maternity pants that were a tad too big (until I grew into them). I also wore it a lot after I had the baby while adjusting back into regular cloths. I even occasionally still do wear it if I need to “smooth out” my waist line. I can’t recommend it enough!
It didn’t work for me at all. My pants still fell down, I couldn’t wear my old jeans unbuttoned. I think the sizes on their website are off though because it always felt too tight, so I probably should have gotten a medium even though they said I was a small. I’ve let a friend borrow it (along with my entire pregger wardrobe), and she’s used it her entire pregnancy. She loves it and couldn’t go without it.
I wasn’t a big fan of Bella Band because it felt too tight and always “rolled” up..but you know what I found that was much better? Maternity Suspenders! Check out Belly Ups. You can see them at this link
http://www.babyisastar.com/bu.htm
I have TWO pairs of Belly Ups and I Definitely LOVE them!
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