Liz Fraser - The Yummy Mummy’s Survival Guide

Dorothy Perkins:Good for staples like vests and definitely affordable.

H&M Mama:You wouldn’t expect this range to be anything less than fashionable, beautiful and well within budget and it doesn’t disappoint at all.

Gap:No maternity range yet—watch this space!—but their generous sizing means you can get away with non-maternity stuff for a long time, and it’s all very preppy and cool.

Formes:Now here’s one of the most stylish places to buy maternity wear. A tad more expensive but gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

Good Value: Online

This is a great way to shop if you feel so queasy or fat that you can’t face trawling through the shops. Many websites are beautifully designed, so you can stock up your new wardrobe feeling confident and lovely. Just go easy on the ‘buy’ button: you’ll only need most of this stuff for a couple of months, so four pairs of maternity jeans is probably overdoing it a bit.

Blooming Marvellous:Plenty of choice and it’ll see you through the ‘big’ months looking fine.

JoJo Maman Bébé: Très chic basics and dresses.

Isabella Oliver:Beautifully designed flattering wardrobe essentials for you to look fabulous throughout.

Bumps Maternity Wear:Pretty lingerie and also baby clothes.

Maternity Exchange:For fabulous second-hand designer labels (which, don’t forget, won’t have been worn for more than a couple of months).

Homme Mummy:The Essential Maternity Wardrobe is a fabulous capsule wardrobe of stylish maternity basics—looks great, saves time!

Budget Blowers: Shops

9London:Extremely exclusive. Breaks the bank, but the Yummiest Mummies shop in there so may be worth the overdraft. And it smells lovely.

Diane Von Furstenberg Maternity:Well, the queen of the wrap has now launched an equally marvellous maternity range, so you don’t have to stretch your normal dresses and tops any more!

Bumpsville:This is really special stuff, and a couple of basics from here will be worth the minor splurge.

Blossom Mother and Child:Already visited by Kate Winslet, Thandie Newton and other A-listers, Blossom stocks regular designer labels which you’ll still fit, as well as their own gorgeous maternity one.

Budget Blowers: Online

Séraphine:Prettiest, most feminine maternity clothing I’ve ever seen. Well what did I expect? It’s French.

Arabella B:Excellent denim collection.

Push:The most un-glamorous name imaginable, but the collection is as sexy as it gets, and Push has a huge celebrity following so you’ll be logging on soon.

Serendipity:Stock super-stylish and glam stuff, from designers such as Earl Jean, Liz Lange and Urban Baby.

Gym Babies

To start with, a small disclaimer, so that you don’t try and take me to the High Court if things go wrong: what follows worked for me, through three healthy pregnancies, and I know many other women for whom it worked too. I’m not saying it’s for you, and you know what your body can take better than I do. Get the all-clear from your midwife or doctor before you start, and ask them if you are unsure about anything. Thank you.

How Much Exercise Should I Take When I’m Pregnant?

Ahhh, a subject of such debate, confusion, conflicting advice and worry. When you are pregnant you will feel quite protective over your bump, and the idea of putting your growing baby at any risk at all seems unthinkable. To counter this, you will also feel fat and large and huge and wobbly, and you will probably want to do some exercise to try and keep things in some kind of toned order, which is absolutely fine.

It all just depends on how much and what kind of exercise your body is used to, and whether it still feels OK to do it when you have a baby taking part as well. ‘ If it feels bad, don’t do it’seems like sensible advice to me. Something to bear in mind is that your body will be producing a hormone called relaxin, which is not a natural laxative as its name suggests, but just loosens all your joints in preparation for the you-know-what. This means you should be more careful about how much high-impact exercise you do, even if you are used to that sort of thing.

For me, it was running. I’ve been running competitively since I was a little girl (why? am I mad ?), and my poor body is quite used to being put through its paces, on the road, in the gym, along a beach or wherever. In fact, if I don’t go running for a few days I get as grouchy as a pre-menstrual banshee wearing newly washed, slightly-too-tight jeans. It’s just who I am and what I’m used to.

Given this starting point, I decided I would try to carry on running, lifting weights, cycling and doing everything else I usually do, until it felt wrong or I just couldn’t manage any more because my bump got in the way, and it worked very well.

NB: Doctors advise against doing any exercise lying on your back after the first trimester, because the baby puts pressure on your vena cava, (the big vein carrying blood from your legs to your heart) which reduces the blood flow to the uterus, and to your brain, both of which are bad.

Here are some types of exercise you can do when you are pregnant:

Running:The most vigorous and probably ill-advised type of exercise during pregnancy, but it worked for me. I ran until I was 20 weeks pregnant, at which point it started to ache a little, so I stopped. Also, I got funny looks from people as I jogged along with my paunch, and I felt embarrassed.

Cross-Training:A perfect way to burn unnecessary calories you felt you ought to eat at the time: it’s non-impact, aerobic, and you can read about beautiful, non-pregnant people while you’re doing it to remind yourself why you’re bothering.

Weights:Very important, because moving your heavy body around in the later months will become hard work, and there will be lots of lifting and carrying to do after your baby is born. The stronger your muscles are the easier both will be. Your legs and arms aren’t pregnant, so you can have fantastically toned limbs to make up for the fantastically un-toned tummy. Apparently doing weights is very good for reducing your risk of getting osteoporosis too, so start now and carry on forever…