BLANQI BABY
This summer has been a busy one for BLANQI and my family. From buying a house and moving on the hottest day of the year, to navigating four kid's summer activities, to our highly anticipated launch of new nursing category of supportwear, having a baby was not on the to-do list. However, as life has it, sometimes the most unexpected- and seemingly inconvenient- become the best surprises. The exhaustion was the first indicator. With the blurrr of moving 4 kids into a new house with my hubby out of town, I blamed being so tired on all that craziness. That also distracted me from tracking my cycle on my app (I seriously have an app for everything, lol) so I didn't notice being late at first. A couple tests later, some tears of fear and happiness, I accepted that this is for real and braced myself for the morning sickness to hit. So far, not terrible but not great either. I'm good in the morning, which is a blessing since I'm a morning person by genetics and motherhood, but by the time 4pm roles around, I am officially dry heaving in the kitchen sink. By 7pm I'm throwing up, but then it eases off just enough so I can get some sleep. I'm officially 11 weeks with a March 3 due date, so according to BabyCenter, this should be getting better sometime soon. But, from experience, I have a couple more weeks of looking like I started happy hour too soon.
BLANQI BABY BUMP
I've officially popped and my jeans a bit too snug, so I've moved into my support bellyband and tanktops. I'm in the nothing feels comfortable-bloated belly-looks like I'm binging on donuts and pizza- stage of the first trimester. I'm definitely not saying I'm fat, but I already 'feel' huge, which is hilarious I know since I have 7 months and 30lbs to go. The truth is for me, when my clothes stop fitting, but I don't look pregnant yet, it's my least favorite time to try to get dressed in the morning. I technically don't 'need' the lift and support built into our support tanks, but I can appreciate the way they make me look and feel more 'pregnant' than pudgy. I get it, not everyone feels this way, but it's very real to me and part of why I love wearing BLANQI.
BEHIND THE SCENES
I work with Sabina everyday, typically remotely as we run different teams in different locations, but because of our close working relationship, we pretty much know what is going on in each other's personal lives at any given time. Sabina is not a huge fan of being in front of the camera, preferring to art direct our BLANQI campaigns, but being that this is a new BLANQI BABY, I HAD to get her surprise on camera. I reached out to our team photographer Brit, and brought her into the loop on my pregnancy- then told her my idea to con Sabina into doing a photoshoot under the disguise of taking photos of us both in the new Nursing tanktops as part of our launch campaign for the blog. She totally got it- and as you see in the photos- nailed it! Sabina, always willing to take one for the team, went along with the photoshoot. I know she probably thought I was acting like a complete weirdo, since I'm not the best at keeping secrets, but somehow we pulled it off! This is an exciting time for us, especially as co-founders of BLANQI, that one of us is pregnant and one is postpartum. Being a designer, there is nothing better than being able to wear your own designs- so the thought of wearing our maternity support styles still gets me excited every time- and really the only reason that I enjoy being pregnant. I know if I had to do it without a BLANQI it would be much more of a struggle. Our postpartum + nursing support tanks have been something we have wanted to add for long time, but wanted to be sure that when we launched them they were as life-changing as we needed them to be. So, for Sabina, who is still 'postpartum' even with a 9 and 11 year old, really shows off the intention we had behind these styles. "Designed for bodies motherhood made" means you need them just as much 10 years+ postpartum, then at 1 month postpartum! The life-long marathon of motherhood is never ending, so we are humbled to be here designing
BLANQI co-founders
Valerie + Sabina
I hope that over the next few months you are able to get to know Sabina and I a bit more here. Follow along as we share the beginnings of BLANQI, the details of our designs, and how creating this maternity support category was driven from our own wants and needs, so we can improve our lives and yours! Be sure to follow us on social media as I document my 5th pregnancy using hashtag #BLANQIbabybump; we have so much in store and can't wait to share!
In the photos I'm wearing our Maternity Belly Support Tanktop in White and Sabina is wearing the Pull-Down Postpartum + Nursing Support Tank in white and black
1 comment
Lindsay
This is amazing!! Let me know if you want to try out the One Strong Mama program, paired with your product could be a real dynamic duo of awesomeness for your pregnancy! Owned by two moms as well.
This is amazing!! Let me know if you want to try out the One Strong Mama program, paired with your product could be a real dynamic duo of awesomeness for your pregnancy! Owned by two moms as well.