Thoughts on Maternity Clothes

THIS IS A LONG POST!

I have shared my thoughts on maternity clothes with some people, but now I want to blog about it. Keep in mind, these are thoughts on maternity clothes in a first-time pregnancy. I understand that with subsequent pregnancies you show earlier, as those abdominal muscles & uterus are not as tights as they were before children ever entered your life.

No one tells you much about maternity clothes. Maybe because it seems trivial compared to caring a life inside of you or maybe they just have no clue themselves. Well, I want to talk about my experiences.

It's kinda exciting to have a reason to go out and shop for new clothes, but that excitement will wear off as you run out of money. I was lucky enough to have someone give me some of their maternity clothes, so I had a base to start out with. And a base it was because they were very plain maternity top & bottoms, but they did the job. One thing I did notice is that some of the pants fit right away at about 2 months, and others were huge on me at that time. I wasn't sure I would ever grow into to them. But grow into them I did. My belly grew into them and as the relaxin hormone does it's magic, your hips spread and well, they grew into them as well.

I think first time moms make the mistake of thinig you just need "one set" of maternity clothes (not one outfit, but one set). By one set I mean, they go out and start buying clothes when they an no longer really wear any of their bottoms anymore (this happens rather early, especally if you wear a lot of bottoms that are fitted and close by a button and zipper). But what fits you at this stage is most likely not going to fit you in 5 months.

In the beginning, a mom friend told me about the rubber band trick of looping a rubebrband (or hair tie) through the button hole on your jeans and attaching to your button so give you a little more time in your normal clothes. This can help keep you in your pre-maternity bottoms through the first trimester. You don't really need to go buy new maternity clothes at this stage, because what fits you here is most likely not going to fit very well in the 3rd trimester.

And of course, if you have pants that ride below the waist or have elastic in them, you can wear them much longer. I have "regular" athletic pants that I have been wearing the entire time, even now with my enormous belly. Keep wearing your pre-maternity tops though at this stage!

You don't really need to be buy any maternity tops until you enter the 3rd trimester. Unless you wear a lot of fitted tops that button, then you might need to go shopping for maternity tops earlier.

In the first trimester, it's easy to hide that rounding belly under your normal tops. You just need to pick tops that end below the belt line. During the second trimester you can hide it with layering, which won't be so easy during the summer. But if you have a jacket or a sweater that you can leave open, it will just hang there and disguise your belly because it will camoflage the protrusion. But by the end of the 2nd trimester, you are starting to really "show" to everyone else.

Now, what you may not realize in the beginning is that you think you are "showing" for a long time. You get to see yourself naked and you struggle with your wardrobe every morning and what might fit you today. But to the rest of the world, they just don't see it in your first pregnancy until you are 5-6 months pregnant. And even at 5-6 month they only may "kinda" see it. This was very frustrating because if you are like me -- you wanted to look pregnant, not like you were just getting fat.

Now, it's in this end of 2nd trimester that you may start to need maternity tops (depending upon how large your wore your pre-maternity tops). If you need or want to continue to diguise that you are pregnant, then you need to go shopping because your pre-maternity tops will only cling more to your belly and actually make you look pregnant. Now, I wanted people to know I was pregnant and not getting fat, so I tried to wear some of my normal tops as long as possible (what I did realize through this was that I have probably been buying tops too big for me beforehand, hmmmmm, maybe I should be on What Not To Wear.) Anyways, but what I did do was start buying a few maternity tops and sweaters for layering, but I shopped tops in the next size up and they provided ample room for my growing belly. Of if your parner is larger than you, raid their closet for tops.

And those "next size up" tops have worked nicely for making me look pregnant, but still keeping me adequately covered through most of my pregnancy. Plus, if you just go up a size in normal clothes, you have a better selection of choices (compared to maternity tops, selection can still be limiting even though it has gotten better) and you have a better chance of getting a deal (I'm always looking for the deal) in normal clothing. It really wasn't until about 35-36 weeks when baby is really increasing in size (about a half pound a week) that my abdomen started to really stick out and the length on those tops was just not enough and I needed the extra added length of maternity tops (which in the beginning if you wear them, it just looks like you are wearing a short flowy dress.)

So, in this last trimester you start to "fill out" those maternity tops, but also by this time that first set of maternity pants don't really fit anymore and you need to go buy some more. I am glad there are so many more maternity clothes options out there now. I could not imagine only having the options the previous generations had. One of the greatest options we have now is choice of waist height/style. You can buy the over the waist kind that may or may not have that built-in panel or you can buy bottoms with a thicker low waist that goes under yor belly. I like the latter. I have plenty of the over the belly kind and don't care for them. I learned I like them better if I folded the waist down to my hips, still leaving the double up panel/fabric covering my belly. But I always hated feeling any, even miniscule, type of pressure on my abdomen.

And when you go shopping -- have fun with picking out clothes. You don't need to go over-sized on maternity, because then you just look like you are wearing a circus tent. You can look cute & stylish and if you are smart you don't have to spend tons of money on new outfits, just be smart about using what you already have.

1st Trimester:
Tops - Keep wearing your pre-pregnancy tops. Maternity tops will just look silly at this point.
Bottoms - Wear your button pants as long as you can, then use a rubberband to extend the waistline for a little while longer. Either use or invest in some elastic waist pants that ride on the hips (these could carry you through the entire pregnancy & beyond).

2nd Trimester:
Tops - Keep wearing your pre-pregnancy tops as long as you can. If you need to, but a sizer larger in normal clothes. Start layering with a loose fitting jacket or sweater that you leave open over your top, this will camoflage yor stomach. Or raid a larger partner's closet.
Bottoms - You will now need to go buy some bottoms, unless you are sticking with elastic waist at the hips pants. Don't go hog wild on how much you spend and how many you buy, because in a couple of months you will be buying a new size.

3rd Trimester:
Tops - You will now need to purchase some maternity tops to fit over belly. You will need the length of maternity tops. Unless your parter is much larger than you and their tops are really long - I could do that with daddys clothes if I wanted.
Bottoms - You will need to go shopping again, as your belly has expanded as well as your hips and many of the bottoms that fit you last trimester won't fit so well anymore.

Now, don't worry that you spent all this money buying some new clothes and only wore them for a few months, because from what I understand, you will continue to wear your maternity clothes (especially the bottoms) for several months after the birth as you will still look 5-6 months pregnant right away and it takes time to get any sort of figure back.

Thoughts on other maternity accessories:

Maternity underwear - a must from the 2nd trimester because your hip joints are relaxing and your normal underwear will start to leave creases on your skin. Plus, then after the birth when you are bleeding, you can continue to wear them and ruin them rather than you nice ones (& then throw them away when you are all finished). I did have a few regular pair that I have been able to wear throughout, but normally people don't have loose underwear. And if they do, they are wearing them wrong in the first place. Buying these are well worth the money and you can get a 3-pack for about $10 @ Motherhood Maternity.

Maternity Tights/Nylons - If you wear a lot of skirts & dresses - then sure, why not. I bought some tights and wore a few times in the winter with my dresses. But like I said, I didn't like things that went over my belly and made me feel any small amount of pressure. Now that it's warmer, I go with bare legs (but then I have to find a way to bend & shave.)

Maternity Bras - Your bra size will increase. For some it will increase several times. But don't waste your money on maternity bras. Just buy a regular bra in your new size. You will find better deals and cuter styles this way. Save shopping the maternity stores for bras when you are nursing and need to buy nursing bras.

Sleepwear - Hmmmm....this is a tricky one, as in the beginning things I already owned fit for a long time. Then winter set in and I wasn't going to be wearing satin & lace, so I bought a couple of new pairs of pj's that were a size larger and covered more of my body. Now that I am at week 40, I still have stuff that fits (from the larger size purchase), but my large belly is pushing it too it's limits. If this kid doesn't come soon, I may have to just start sleeping in the nude because I will not go buy more sleep wear (well, not until I want to go buy something cute & sexy later on.)

Shoes - No, they don't make maternity shoes. But just as your hip joints & pelvis are spreading, so are other joints in your body. And do you realize how many joints there are in your feet? A lot. Many women will experience that their shoes (at a minimum) get tight in the width, some women will experience it in length (or both). I was lucky and only experienced it in the width at the ball of my foot, but I have had talked to people whose shoe size incread up to 2 sizes in pregnancy. Glad that didn't happen to me, as my feet are big enough already. By the 2nd trimester, most dressy shoes my not feel very comfortable (especially if they have a heel, which may be difficult to maneuver, as your center of balance will have changed because of the growing child inside of you.) Either get used to wearing athletic shoes (although, by the end tying your shoes becomes pretty difficult) or go buy a new pair of shoes that slip-on (you will thank yourself for that later) and are roomy. And if you are lucky, you will be able to wear sandals at the end of your pregnancy when you may be retaining water. I am very happy for this, but I do need to get those tennies on when I go for a walk and tying is just not something you take for granted anymore.

Jackets/Outerwear - I bought a lightweight maternity jacket (in the fall before I needed it, on sale of course) and I am so glad I did. Otherwise this spring I would have been chilly. There is not way I could close my normal jackets once I hit the 3rd trimester. I am glad I planned ahead and bought a jacket that would fit durnig this time. If you don't plan ahead, you may spend more money or go cold.

Swimwear - So, you only need this if you think you may go swimming while you are pregnant. I bought a couple of maternity swimsuits at the end of summer before I was pregnant for a very low clearance price. I got them for a steal at about $3 a piece (I bought a M & a L, as I didn't know what size I would need), rather than have to pay $30 later on when I needed it. The M fit me perfectly in the 2nd trimester, but I think the L would fit me much better now. I used them both on our trip to FL earlier this year. But I knew I would want to swim on a trip during my pregnancy, so I new spending those few dollars would be well worth it.

So, now I have a pretty big collection of maternity clothes, which I hope to lend to someone (maybe Carrie someday) later on, until we decide to have another child (if this one ever comes out that is.) I am glad that I did get that starting base of clothes, it helped to give me a few more options as I mixed & matched things from her & things I purchased.

I know this was a long post. But I like clothes and I think they are important enough to have this long of a post. Besides, nothing new has happened and I needed something to blog about.