Maternity Wear.

When I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant in August first I gaped in disbelief & then I shed a tear or two hundred.  My mom laughed & asked us if we knew how that happened...yes, yes, I get how it works thankyouverymuch.  But, details aside, this one caught us both by surprise & so I did what I do best & cried.  I wasn't crying because we didn't want to have a baby - another baby was always in the plans.  But this baby was coming sooner than I had anticipated & frankly, I was not ready emotionally to be pregnant again.  I didn't have those months of anticipation & calculating dates & overall excitement.  It just plopped right into my lap & unfortunately, it took me a bit to catch up to the excitement of it.

Baby number two was so very hard for me for a myriad of reasons.  I've heard that some women struggle with number 1, some with number 2 and others get slammed on number 3.  I think {and am hoping!} I fall into the one that struggled going from one child to two.  On top of that being a big adjustment for me, she had other health & sleep issues that impacted my life more than I would have thought.  That being said, I would do it all over again.

So back to being pregnant with number 3.  It was a rough couple of months at the start.  I was an emotional wreck & then I got sick.  Real sick.  I wasn't sick with my others & so this threw me for a loop as well & made the excitement a little harder to come by.  I have never been so attached to my bed...or toilet.  It was bad.

And then, my pants didn't fit 5 minutes into this pregnancy.  Really.  You should know I took a pregnancy test because I felt like my pants were abnormally & unusually tight.  Prior to taking it, I told Scot, "I'm either pregnant, or have got to join a gym!"  It was not normal.  And I wasn't sure if it was because I was pushing 30, or pregs.  Turns out it was the latter.

So out came the maternity clothes from 2006.  gasp!  Do you own anything that you wore in 2006?  Okay, don't answer that. I do have some nice slacks & skirts, but t-shirts?  jeans?  nope.  Nothing from 2006.  I didn't have anything 'new' from The Lady's pregnancy {we were in between houses & stuff in storage, etc etc} so I was working with 2006 & it was atrocious.  I think my sister summed it up best when she asked, "Why did you even buy that in the first place?!?"  And she was right.  All the pants were 5 inches too long, but they didn't have short sizes in maternity back then & the cut & fit?  Horrible.  The pockets on the jeans were the size of a postage stamp...stamped right onto your big, fat, pregnant butt.  Why? Why? Why?

So I was on the hunt.  And if there is anything I don't like spending money on, it is maternity clothes.  Don't like it.  I'd rather save the money to buy new skinny jeans post-pregnancy, but we were in dire straights.

And I have to say, gap.com pulled through.  I waited until they were doing one of their 30% off sales & I went to town.  I think I bought 6 or 7 pairs of pants to try on.  The pants were already on sale & then I got an additional 30% off & free shipping, so they ended up being about $20-$25 a pop...less than Target & so much cuter.  Of that lot, I kept 3.  I couldn't return the others to the store, but returning them via UPS was actually easier.  I put the pants back in the bag they came in & then printed off a new shipping tag {look on the receipt, it tells you where to find this} and then just dropped it off at my local UPS store...no charge.  Done without entering a mall with two kids & morning sickness.  Perfection.

Now, back to the pants...would you look at this?!?  They actually fit!  Even on my butt, which is always my beef with maternity pants -- they don't stay up & give you a saggy bum.  Not these.

 

{in the spirit of full disclosure...I 'liquified' my back fat out of this picture...because it is so not cute...and so depressing to see in print. haha...I love photoshop.  It lets me pretend the only weight I gain is in my stomach!}

 

In my non-pregnant life, I am 5 feet tall & fluctuate between 100-105 pounds {I'm basically trapped in a 12 year-old's body} so finding maternity clothes to fit...a challenge.  I bought my same size {they have tall & petites...finally in the maternity section!} but erred on the side of getting a bigger size if I wasn't sure & they have all fit fantastic.  And even better, they are comfortable.  For the most part, I'd rather wear my maternity jeans {I even bought some gray skinnies} than my comfy pants.  And if skinnies aren't your thing -- they have a million different styles, so get whatever cut you normally would buy.

 

And I can't believe I am showing you this - but they are mostly comfy because of this full panel.  That is not my stomach you are seeing but the nude panel of the pants.  Genius!  So now you can wear a white shirt without that big huge navy blue panel showing underneath.  It is also great when you need to layer something under your shirt -- you can pull the panel up over it, so you don't have a big line across your stomach.  And get this? It is stretchy & breathable & actually helps support the weight of that belly.  I carry straight out {no back fat here peeps! :)}, so this is quite helpful to me. 

I can't believe I even hesitated in spending the money because I actually feel a bit like myself...myself with a basketball under my shirt, but myself nonetheless...and that definitely helps with the maternity blues.  And even better...I know I will still be wearing these post baby...in that awkward, wish-you-fit-into-your-normal-pants phase.  Who said skinny jeans couldn't be maternity pants?!?

Not I.