Maternity Clothes Issues

So I've had two shopping sessions at Motherhood Maternity. The first was this time, and the second was this time.

In the first session, I bought two pairs of shorts--one size small and one size medium, a size small pair of jeans, and a variety of summery tops.

In the second session, I bought a pair of medium cords, a long-sleeved shirt, some soft stretchy white shorts and a few other cute tops.

Well, I'm realizing now what I suspected during our second trip--I'm just totally done with the small size pants. I wore the small jeans yesterday (and I had a relatively busy day--I volunteered at the coop, got my back adjusted, and went to our third Bradley class), and I was SO uncomfortable. I got home, whipped those pants off and immediately felt better.

There is definitely an additional shirt issue. I had been wearing a lot of my bigger and stretchier non-maternity T-shirts and tops, but now many of them are way too tight, or I am worried that I am stretching them out permanently, or they fit okay but are WAY too short to cover the stretchy maternity pants belly-panel, which means I need to wear a long tank top under them anyway.

So the final verdict here is that I think I might need to go shopping for maternity clothes yet again. I guess I want a medium pair of jeans, another pair of stretchy PJ pants, and a few more long-sleeved shirts . . . otherwise it will be a long two months here at the end trying to stuff myself into my current wardrobe.

At least the next time I am pregnant, I will have a nice stockpile in summer and winter styles. :-/

Maternity Underwear and Spider Veins

So my sisters were here for a week--we did a cleanse: no meat, dairy, gluten, sugar, alcohol, caffeine for a week. For me, all I had to give up was sugar and caffeine, but for them the diet change was more significant. I think it went well, though!

Anyway, last night we went shopping for maternity clothes. I have now outgrown almost all of my regular shirts, so I wanted to get a few new shirts--especially some that I could wear into the fall. So we got quite a few things, but the most exciting among them was maternity underwear.

OMG I AM IN HEAVEN!! They honestly don't look that different than my regular underwear, but they sure feel different! I think they are cut lower in the front, and the waistband is extra stretchy--so what had been PRESSING against my abdomen is now gone and it feels amazing! I also got these little white shorts that I love--also cut really low in the front. They, too, are super comfy.

And today I noticed, for the first time, that I have spider veins on the side of my leg just below the knee. :-/ I don't really know much about these--I hope they will go away on their own, though. Anyway, it is very minor, I doubt anyone else would notice it unless I pointed it out, but still a little bit annoying. . .

I guess I hoped I would be able to sail through this pregnancy with minimal lasting side effects on my body, but the fact of the matter is, pregnancy does change you and your body forever. You have a baby at the end of it, and it makes it all worth it, but I will never again look in the mirror and see what I saw before, and the sooner I accept that, the better off I will probably be.

Productivity

So over the weekend, and since Kate has been here, I've been trying to stay productive and work on (really) cleaning the house.

So we've cleaned the kitchen (a couple times), but we also planted the garden on Saturday, and James and I SERIOUSLY cleaned our room on Sunday. This included moving EVERYTHING out of it, and changing the bed to a different spot--getting rid of one dresser so we can fit the new dresser for the baby in our room, etc. Part of this was also picking up and sorting ALL the laundry (basically in the whole house) and getting a good start on washing some of it.

Today, I continued the cleaning by going through all the clothes in our room and sorting into: Winter stuff (and stuff that is too small for me) in storage, and stuff that fits is in season on the shelf--I took out a few things for Salvation Army/Fabric Pile.

And THEN I took out all the baby's stuff (I have been hoarding little items for years) and put it in the dresser. Now that I have it all in there, I realize I hadn't gotten as many things as I thought, LOL! which is good because I know a lot of people will get presents for it in terms of clothes.

One thing I still do want to get is a nice supply of newborn T-shirts and receiving blankets--I figure that will be the main clothing stuff we need for the first month or two (along with cloth diapers).

I also discovered a hoarde of "maternity" clothes I had been setting aside for a couple years--things that were too big for me, either that were my own old things or things other family had given me. So now I have plenty of pants and shirts (At least for another month or so)--a couple of skirts, some dresses--I'm going to try to get by without buying anything else but in the fall I might need to get some "real" maternity pants/skirts for when my belly is really big.

Anyway, now all there is left to do on the clothes is pull out the box of summer stuff, go through it in the same way, sorting things that fit and are in season from things that don't or are wintery--then I can put ALL the winter/ too small stuff away and be done.

Our room isn't completely arranged still--we have to rehang all our art and bring all our little things back into the room, but it is getting there, and it was nice to start completely fresh, and start setting things up for the baby. :-)

Goals for the next couple days:

-Finish stuff above
-Wash more laundry and also go through it
-Start arranging library/guest room (sort books)

Maternity Clothes!

So I was visiting my sister and then parents over the last few days, and while I was staying with Lauren in the city, we walked to lunch somewhere and passed Motherhood Maternity, and I said:

"Ooo, wanna stop there on our way back?"

And she said:

"Oh yeah, my bitch! That would be so fun!!"

So we did. And I got a bunch of stuff. Maybe you are thinking it is too early for Maternity clothes, but I am 15 1/2 weeks. I was a size 6 before getting pregnant, and I have been wearing size 8's and 10's for weeks now, but partially unbuttoned and/or falling down and it has just been awkward.

Like the 8's or 10's would fit if I was standing up, but if I was sitting, I would have to unbutton them (and lately, unzip them). Picture me: Getting out of the car, getting up at the movies to go pee, getting up at a restaurant to go pee, etc, etc--each time trying to sneakily button and zip my pants--and you can see how awkward I have been for weeks now.

Furthermore, I already have an abnormally long waist, so it is hard for me to find shirts that are long enough. Add in some extra boob and belly, and my belly was showing in most shirts (and if you recall that my pants are totally awkward as well, picture how ridiculous I look.)

So we had fun at Motherhood Maternity, trying on stuff with the fake belly--Hahahahaha. But mostly I was like: Wow, a world has been opened to me.

I got two jean shorts, a pair of jean pants, a pair of yoga pants, two ribbed tanks, and two nicer shirts. Total cost: $200. Honestly, I think pretty much each item was priced as it would be in a non-maternity store of comparable quality, and I haven't bought myself new clothes in like a year, so I didn't give myself a hard time about it.

The verdict is that I LOVE LOVE LOVE my maternity clothes. I haven't been more comfortable in jeans probably ever in my life. As someone that hates pants pressing into my belly in general, I feel as if I have discovered an amazing palace of comfortable clothes.

The shirts actually come down over my long waist and fit normally--the pants hug my thighs and butt but have plenty of room for the belly--with the pants and shorts especially I feel like I am wearing something that fits for the first time in at least a month and I am in HEAVEN!!!!

I am going to add pictures to this later. :-)