Maternity clothes

In the last week or so, I've started having trouble fitting into my normal clothes. So I've had to start shopping around for maternity clothes. It seems early to me (10 weeks today) but it's already necessary.

So I stopped by Motherhood Maternity while I was at the mall one day. I'd been referred there for this thing called a belly belt which is actually pretty cool. If you've ever seen the 'expand a collar' thingy they make for men's dress shirts, it's a similar concept for womens pants. It has two belt pieces (2 sizes). The small one is used by itself and has a button on one side & a button hole on the other. The 'belt' itself is elastic. So you button it into your pants and it expands them a little (you just zip them up as far as you can). It's not super cute, so it's worn with a longer shirt to hide it. The larger one is the same, but includes a fabric sleeve you slide over the belt & then tuck in your pants (because you'll have your pants unzipped all the way & we don't want our undies showing). It's really very useful for this in-between time! I've used it in my jeans already. The buttons are already coming loose, but that's easy enough to fix.

While I was there picking up the belly belt, I thought I'd try on some clothes since they were having a clearance sale. The sales lady suggested since I am still early in my pregnancy, that I use their pillow to see how the clothes would fit later on. Supposedly this pillow, that you strap around your waist, adds three months to your belly. I tried it, but couldn't take it seriously. I looked ridiculous (it really didn't sit right.. there's no way I'll be shaped like that. I might as well have stuffed my own pillow under my clothes). Add in the fact that even their smallest clothes were huge on me & I looked like a kid playing dress up. I tried several different options, but everything was too big. The sales lady had told me that I'd use my pre-pregnancy size, but that just was not true at that store.

I did end up picking up a couple of items at Target. They had smaller sizes (though still made for Amazon women, I'll have to have it all hemmed up shorter). I got a pair of jeans that have a semi-normal waistband with just a little elastic on the sides. I can't quite wear the actual maternity waisted items yet. Plus I chose a few cotton tees that I can wear now. I know one thing - finding maternity clothes that fit me is not going to be easy!