A rant on maternity winter jackets

In 5 days I am completing 4 months of pregnancy, just in time for Christmas and winter.

I never thought it would be such a challenge to find jackets suitable for two situations together: pregnancy and winter. My pre-requisites are not that weird:

• Warm enough for around freezing temperatures.
• Light -- I am used to down jackets for Mountain Hardwear, Patagonia, Marmot, etc.
• Cover my ass. Because women's ass have a lot more fat and get very cold -- mine does anyway.
• Water resistant -- I don't want to be soaked if its snowing or raining outside.
• Something nice I would wear after pregnancy.

None of the jackets I have tried so far pass the first item on the list. Besides that, most brands that sell pregnancy clothing do not have those in store, so you need to order online, which means you don't have a chance to try the coats (or any clothes for what matter) before you purchase them.

My favorite picture on the subject (source).

Challenge number one: the website descriptions for pregnancy jackets are not very focused on functional information such as: temperature you can wear the coat on, whether the material is water resistant, or windproof, or waterproof. So I took a leap of faith.

First I ordered a jacket from Seraphine (220CHF). It looks great in the pictures, but the material is kinda hard, and it doesn't feel warm. The pregnancy feature is a zipper on each side, which made me feel like Sponge Bob wearing it. And I would definitely not wear is after pregnancy, which is a waste.

After that I went to a shop for a brand called Jojo Maman Bebe and they had TWO jackets in the shop, and they were very thin, and made of fabric. Not suitable for any weather use. That was in the UK so it might be related to the fact that it NEVER rains in the UK? Probably.

Then I went to the Internet to research with the question "how do women who like outdoors survive winter pregnancy?". Well, it seems they do so by complaining on the internet. If you want to be entertained you can read one of those posts: 

• We Desperately Need Maternity Outerwear for Winter
• Bump on the Trail: An Outdoor Maternity Wear Guide (she doesn't seem to live in a very cold place)
• Winter pregnancy fashion: what to wear over your bump (sugesting you use a open jacket with a scarf)
• Generic horrific looking extensions, which are never as long as your jacket, and definitely won't make your neck any warm. If you dig into the reviews about those extensions, they are basically handcraft projects that will take work to fit in your jacket. In addition, they also give no indication of how warm those extensions are themselves, so good luck with that: Make my Belly Fit, Zip Us In.

I found a brand that made my heart warm: Modern Eternity. They are a Canadian brand, and their website actually gives an idea of warmth of the jackets. I was so happy and the commercial about the Canadian team for winter Olympic games a few years back kept playing in my head: WE ARE WINTER. Canada has serious winters, so they surely got this pregnancy clothing question resolved. I ordered their down jacket (185CHF) which allegedly is warm up to (or down to) -15C and water resistant. I tried outside for a little at 5C in a windy London evening to learn that I would freeze to death at -15C wearing it. Returning it. 

So I went again to the Internet, this time prepared to use all the languages I don't speak to find a solution. I found a few brands, the most promising being Mamalila and Viva La Mama. They are both from Germany. Their prices are spicy, think something in the range of 170 to 350 EUR. Most of them have a damn zipper in the back so you can hold your baby and take them for a hike in winter, making the jacket awkward to wear later on. 

The Mamalila ones in particular did not cover the ass. Maybe it did but why would they bother listing the dimensions of the jacket in their website? None of their descriptions actually talk about temperature, some of them talk about being water repellent and being "all seasons" or "for cold weather". That's about it. 

Living in Switzerland those two German brands have other disadvantages. I have to pay VAT to import them, and if I return it, I am pretty sure I won't get any of this money back, so it turns into an expensive game to play very fast.

Currently I ordered another jacket from Modern Eternity and one from Esprit through Zalando, and am waiting for their delivery to try them on, and then return hopefully one of them.

I will post reviews once I have tried them on and maybe I will start making winter outdoor jackets for pregnant women, because come on people... being pregnant cannot be considered a summer-only activity.