The Swimsuit Marathon

You finished a marathon and you believe, 'If I can do this, I can do anything.'

Grete Waitz and Gloria Averbuch, Run Your First Marathon

I subscribe to the Runner's World Quote of the Day (Appropriately named 101 Kicks in the Butt). This was one of the quotes this week.

I have finished five marathons and must confess that I have had the above thought. But now i wonder if "anything" includes childbirth. Perhaps this will be my labor mantra. :) I can see this quote changing to "You gave birth to a child and you believe, 'If I can do this, I can do anything'."

So what's new in preggo land? My bellybutton is starting to look really strange. Even my husband noticed it. WEIRD.

I also may have found a swim suit. As I mentioned before, I had the silly notion that I could continue wearing some of my regular bikinis while pregnant. This was spurred on when A cup of Jo posted pics of Anna rocking the string bikini with baby bump a while ago. I never really had issues with swim suits. J.Crew suits were always a standby for me and I loved finding a $2 bikini top on clearance at Target to mix things up. Well Summer 2010 will not be the Summer of the String Bikini. Thus, I ordered different combinations of sizes of this suit from Land's End, found for me by my awesome sister.

Note: I ordered the bottoms shown and the bikini bottoms and actually chose to go with the above bottoms. Due to my longer torso, I don't think they look as high/mom-ish on me though. The bikini style ones were just on the verge of showing major AC (A** Crack).

I first tried Target, which was recommended to me after a status whine/update on Facebook. These suits were not cute and were more the tankini/side ruched classic maternity suit. I tried on XL size regular suits and maybe I could have sewn two of them together for the top but I don't think so. The maternity suits were all cutting off circulation in my chest and big enough to house 8 babies in the stomach. Amy & Nate Plus 8 this is not.

I also went to the Lands End Inlet store by my house to see if I could avoid ordering online. They did not have much in the way of supportive bikinis but they did have a few non-maternity tankinis. Now, my husband in general has been very supportive. But when I came out of the dressing room with that tankini, the look on his face said it all. I turned back into the dressing room to get the suit off. In order for the tankini type suits to fit my chest area, they are ENORMOUS in the stomach area. I realize I have to leave room to grow, but NOT THAT much! While many women try to hide the bump or wear baggier clothes, I never was a fan of the baggy clothes look, even pre-pregnancy. My favorite outfits so far are more clingy and show off the bump. I felt like the tankini didn't make me look pregnant - it made me look plain ol' fat.

So I ordered the bikini. It works, it's comfortable, but it's a far cry from what I'm used to seeing myself look like in a bikini. My husband seems to be genunine when he says he likes it but maybe he was too scarred by the tankini to be honest. I may have to get a female opinion on this one.

Any other people who were pregnant during the summer? What did you do for a swimsuit? 6 weeks and 5 days until vacation!!