Adventures in Belly Rubbing and Maternity Clothes Shopping

Guess what? I'm pregnant.

You may be thinking that I have truly lost my mind. But after a few weeks of fighting/whining/flat out bitching about gaining weight, I have come to accept the belly and the fact that I'm going to get bigger before I get smaller.

I wouldn't say that I'm obviously pregnant yet, but I do have a small bump that if you know me/see me on a regular basis, you would see me and say, "She's pregnant". I think the non-husband person who is most excited to see some belly action is my father in law. We saw them for brunch when I was 11-1/2 weeks along and I saw that he was going right for the belly. I sort of out manuevered him and said in sort of a snotty tone that I did not have anything yet. This was in the middle of my crisis with gaining weight so I was not about to have anyone start asking to see my belly.

Fast forward a few weeks to 15-1/2 weeks when we again were out to dinner with my in-laws. My father in law asked how the belly was coming along and I said that usually by the end of the day with a big meal, there will be a little something. He asked if he could feel it. I was sort of shocked b/c he's not the most touchy-feely guy in the whole world. Imagine my additional shock when my mother-in-law sort of yelled at him and said, "Some people don't like when people touch their stomachs!" But I think I was kind of excited to have people feel it. So the in-laws, the aunt & uncle in law all felt the belly. The excitement was kind of catching. After dinner, when I really did have some protrusion, i even lifted up my shirt (once we were back at our house) to show them. There was some squealing. I brought everyone back down to earth by saying that the belly would likely be smaller in the morning and it probably is a result of food/bloating.

Well imagine my surprise when I woke up and it was still there. I think the belly might be here to stay.

I was feeling so good about the belly that I thought I might be able to handle some maternity clothes shopping. I did not anticipate that my husband would want to do this with me, but after church yesterday he suggested we hit up the mall. We went to the BS mall, which was right by church. Well, there are no maternity sections at the BS mall - they maternity sections of dept stores are only at the M mall which is by our house. I tried just putting on larger sizes than what I usually am, but taht did not work for me for shirts and dresses, etc. They just looked like ill-fitting clothes. (I do have to say that I have 2 pairs of pants that are a size larger than I usually am and those have fit pretty well. One pair I bought at the Banana Republic Outlet last summer anticipating I could maybe wear them while pregnant...and they were $13 for fully lined dress pants! The other pair I bought this fall at Goodwill for a few dollars with the same thought. I admit that this could be risky but it worked for me). After feeling totally gross trying on lots of clothes, I figured my husband would be ready to go home. I think he sensed that I was a little down and he suggested heading to the M mall.

First we went to Boston Store. The maternity section consisted of 3 racks. I am not kidding you. Two were 85% off clearance racks. The clothes were pretty bad and I started noticing a trend: All maternity shirts (or 9 out of 10 maternity shirts) are those V-neck shirts where one piece of fabric goes over one boob and the other piece goes over the other. The type of shirts that Stacy and Clinton are ALWAYS telling people to wear. I hate these shirts. I did not like them pre-pregnancy and was dismayed to find that these are popping up all over the maternity section. I did find kind of this cool (for a maternity shirt) bohemian print tunic type thing in that section for $4.17. SUH-WEET! The checkout lady was like, "Ooh I would wear this even if I wasn't expecting". Uh, ok sister (checking out her outfit). Yes you probably would. (bitchy, i know)

Next we headed to Gap. The selection at Gap was also slim - it seems that Gap online offers way more of a selection than the store in terms of maternity. However, I did find a cute navy plain 3/4 sleeve knit wrapdress that I actually really do love. This was on sale too - score! The hubs was surprised as well - "Wow, I actually really do like that". Clearly, Our expectations were set pretty low by Boston Store.

Next we headed to Macy's. This is where a several people told me to go as they have the Motherhood line and the Pea in the Pod line there and you can return them. (Apparently these maternity stores have a no returns policy). It was like the maternity jackpot - lots of racks of clothes. The maternity section was in the basement level all scrunched together in between luggage and children's. I commented that pregnant women already feel disgusting enough - couldn't they put SOME effort into the presentation of the maternity section?!?!?

The woman working this section was so extremely helpful. She works for the Motherhood store, has had 2 children, and clearly knew the ins and outs of maternity clothes. I wanted to hug her. I think my husband did to b/c prior to visiting this section he actually offered to buy me a pair of shoes to lift my spirits! (For those of you that know my husband, you will know how big of a deal this is!) She said she really liked the Heidi Klum leggings and jeans so I took those in the room with me. I guess by this comment I assumed she was pregnant but my husband, chatty Kathy that he is, found out that she is not pregnant - she just sometimes wears maternity clothes because she likes the fit. Ok - I'm glad I found this out after we left because it took me a while to stop laughing. Anyhoo, she examined everything I tried on and helped me see how the clothes modify themselves as you get bigger. She put a few of those fake bellies in the dressing room for me to try on but I couldn't do it. They looked too weird to me. I kind of felt like I was on What Not to Wear: Maternity Edition. She also gave us some tips for other stores in the area to visit.

I ended up leaving with the Heidi Klum skinny jeans, a short sleeve knit dress and a denim top. I might be taking the top back but she was so complimentary of it that I felt like I had to buy it.

And today, I am wearing the belly band for the first time since I only have my one pair of dress pants that still fit. It isn't as bad as I thought it would be and actually is pretty comfy. It does get awkward when you have to go to the bathroom though!! Lots of rearranging! I gave a demonstration of the belly band to my in-laws and aunt&uncle-in-law after the belly show. They were cracking up but admitted that it was a pretty good invention.