Are certain times of the year better than others for having a baby? What about the best time of year to be pregnant? Having now been pregnant at two opposite times of the year, I’ve noticed some definite pros and cons to both.

After having Nolan in late April, I declared that I wanted my next baby to be born in November. Little did I know that three and a half years later, that’s exactly what would be happening. Having a spring baby last time meant I wasn’t pregnant for the hot summer (yay!), but I was losing my pregnancy weight and feeling lumpy and squishy during the summer months. Sheer, clingy tee shirts and jersey dresses were not kind to me when I was dealing with a post-pregnancy pooch. Also, who knew that you can’t use sunscreen on newborns and young infants?? With Nolan being only 2-4 months old during that first summer, we were limited with where we could go and what we could do. Sweltering hot cars weren’t a breeze to deal with either, but on the flip side, it was nice not having to worry about toting my newborn around in the snow and ice.

Being pregnant in the winter was good for cuddling up at home in comfy sweats, but winter maternity clothes aren’t very cute. All in all, I give spring a thumbs down for having a baby.

This time around, my awkward bloated first trimester was late winter/early spring so it wasn’t terrible hiding that. On second thought, all my students figured out I was pregnant weeks before I told them, so maybe I wasn’t hiding it so well…

Summer maternity clothes are much more flattering. Skirts and dresses are comfortable and help keep you cool. With the exception of a good pair of maternity jeans and black pants, I’ve stuck to buying regular bottoms with elastic waistbands.

I’ve been living in these comfy Nike shorts in a few colors. You might be surprised to know that I’m the model in that picture. No, really… [Edit: my mom thought I was serious about this picture being me. She even asked Matt if he took it. So just to be totally clear. That’s not me.]

I bought a bunch of maternity tops and dresses from Old Navy, as well as a few pull-on skirts from the regular women’s department like this one. I was pleasantly surprised by the very cute maternity dresses!

On the other hand, there are bathing suits. Because bathing suit shopping isn’t hard enough, a summer pregnancy means you struggle through that with a giant belly. My only advice there is get two-piece suits. Wrestling a one-piece bathing suit on and off every hour when you have to pee would be torture.

Weather, maternity clothing, post-pregnancy clothing, holidays … what else contributed to your liking or disliking the season you had a baby in?