Expect the Best

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Spin-off industries are also blossoming, such as Liza Elliott-Ramirez's Expecting Models, founded in July 2001. "When I started modeling 20 years ago, pregnancy was something you hid," she says. "But when I was pregnant [in 2000], I never worked so much." Business has quadrupled since the agency opened, and some of the 100 pregnant models on Elliott-Ramirez's books command as much as $10,000 a day. "It's a huge and booming market," she says. "There are new vendors every day, as they realize pregnant women are consumers who want to look good."

Andrea O'Reilly, president of the Association for Research on Mothering, says she's heartened that designers have finally recognized that pregnant women deserve their attention. Still, she's concerned that the emphasis on looking good could create unrealistic expectations. "It's double-edged, because it also sets standards even higher," she says. "It's hard enough being pregnant ... now you've got to look stylish?" At least today's mothers-to-be truly have that option.