Maternity Clothes Shopping at 21 weeks

I alluded to more maternity clothes shopping that was done last weekend. I am still half in/half out of maternity world. Today for instance I have on my uniqlo leggings and a brown tunic/dress thing - both pre-pregnancy outfits. Yesterday I wore a maternity shirt and a non-maternity skirt. Most of my pre-pregnancy dresses I am still able to wear and some of my skirts and shirts. Absolutely non of my pants or jeans still fit. A co-worker loaned me a pair of maternity pants, and I bought 2 pairs and 3 pairs total seems to be footing the bill. These are the non-jean pants, of course.

My "normal" jeans stopped fitting me at 18 weeks. I rocked a belly band with them for a while and then I found a pair of non-maternity Gap trouser cut jeans 2 sizes larger than my normal size at Goodwill around that time that I have been wearing for the past 3 weeks. These jeans are amazing, comfortable and able to be easily buttoned. I am going to estimate I have another few weeks in them - not bad for $3.99! I hadn't yet worn my Heidi Klum skinny maternity jeans and I also found a pair of jeans at The Gap Maternity store a while back. However, the maternity jeans sitting in their shopping bags on my bedroom floor were staring me down. I re-tried on the Heidi Klum skinny jeans. UGH. The jeans that were so comfortable when I tried them on and bought them are horrible now that I actually have a belly. Thank God I kept the receipt and didn't cut the tags off. (Reason #1 to actually wait until you have a belly for some stuff!) Those were headed back to the store.

Then I tried the Gap jeans on. I am not usually a fan of Gap jeans, speaking from a non-maternity world. My problem with them is that most styles (obviously not the trouser style) are huge in the waist and skin tight on my thighs and butt. The same thing happened with their maternity jeans. I bought these jeans because they had a "normal" top with this hidden elastic that you would pull and loop over a button - therefore the waist could grow with you. Unfortunately, to get the jeans over my thighs, I had to pull the elastic as tight as it could go and therefore it looked like my jeans had a drawstring bunching them around my waist (read: actually around the waist that is left underneath my belly). YIKES! "Sexy Boot Cut" these were not. So those were going back too. Both of these jeans that I bought were designed to fit under the belly - some people told me these were the most comfortable type of jeans. For some women, this is probably true, but I kept feeling like both of these jeans were on the verge of showing major AC (A** crack) and that they were always on the verge of falling down. Could it be?! Did I actually WANT the elastic pouch jeans?!

God love him - my husband joined me on my trip back to the mall to make the returns and try to find new jeans. I was back to square one. I found a pair at the Motherhood in Macy's that I think will work. I'm not entirely sold on them, so they are sitting in their shopping bag on my bedroom floor. I also found a pair at KOHL'S of all places. $17 for jeans (this after the sale price and one of the zillion coupons that Kohls is always mailing me). I will take them. I actually wore them already out to dinner last Saturday night. They are pretty standard, but will work well for summer. And yes - both of these new pairs of jeans have the elasto-pouch. :)

Now on to tops...
I found the BEST maternity top ever at Pea in the Pod at Macy's. It was on clearance, unfortunately, so they only had one color left. Why do I love this top? Because it is not low cut and/or V-neck. I started complaining to the sales woman that all the maternity tops are so low cut, requiring you to wear a camisole or other tank top underneath. Who wants low cut shirts when your boobs are the size of cantalopes?! Annoying. The other day when wearing a maternity dress that was V-neck, I looked down and realized that I looked like I worked in some freak pregnancy strip club rather than an office. Thank goodness I had a safety pin in my desk! Anyhoo, this shirt is full coverage, flattering and made of the softest knit ever. LOVE IT!

Favorite Stores?
I am starting to get more comfortable with the maternity offerings around my area - both with brand new clothing and used clothing at Goodwill or consignment stores. I haven't had too much luck with used clothing. Goodwill offerings are GOD AWFUL and most consignment stores have a plethora available in XL but not much on the other side of the spectrum. I haven't been to the maternity world of stores in Brookfield yet - Destination Maternity, Motherhood and A Pea in the Pod are all under one roof there. Mostly because these lines of clothes are carried at Macy's and you can return them at Macy's - you can't return them if you buy them from the stores. However, my friend HC discovered that materna-world offers free yoga classes so we might try to hit those up. I will say that Pea in the Pod clothes are actually cute. Unfortunately they are DAMN expensive, even on clearance, so I don't find myself buying those.

It is also annoying to me that so many maternity clothes are found online only. For example, Ann Taylor Loft has some nice stuff, particularly for work wear. It is a little pricey but you have to order it online to even try it on. I have found that sizing is even MORE all over the map in maternity. Depending on the store, I can be an XS, S, M or L. I'm sort of curious to see how many of the maternity shirts that I currently own will work throughout the rest of pregnancy. Some of them definitely already seem short, particularly the two I have from Gap. Thus, I haven't bought any more shirts from there.

So that's the clothes situation 21 weeks in. I sort of have a collection of my pre-pregnancy clothes and some maternity clothes worked into the rotation. I haven't felt too limited into rotating the same 5 outfits over and over yet. Depending on what I wear, I may or may not look pregnant.