Yesterday morning was very embarrassing. I had a hissy fit – the first one since my childhood – because my pants would not fit. Nine weeks pregnant, I didn’t think I would need new clothes so soon. Worse of all, it’s not just my belly that’s getting bigger, my butt and thighs are joining the party as well. (But not my breasts. le sigh)
Mouse_Spouse: You’re retaining water, honey. We can look into getting bigger pants.
Me: snarl! These are bigger pants, damn it! I can barely keep food down and I’m getting fat. [/pout]
There is plenty of clothing out there for the second and third trimesters, but other than wearing sweatpants, there aren’t many options for the early stages of gestation. Have any Dopers – or their SO’s – encountered this?
Yeah, I remember that stage. My solution was loose jumpers and elastic-waisted pants. You might also be able to find some acceptable overalls. I’m not sure if you could wear dresses in the lab, though. If money is an issue, I recommend Goodwill or some similar shop. That way you won’t feel guilty about getting rid of the clothes when you don’t need them anymore.
I don’t know how much help this will be, but until I broke down & started wearing maternity pants (gag), I just wore big, long sweatshirts that covered up the fact that my pants would no longer button at the top. For my favorite jeans, I rigged up this little elastic expand-o thing looped through the hole and over the button, and then zipped as far as they would go. Always with the long shirt, though.
However, once my husband figured out what was going on, he made me break down and wear the Big Pants.
Sis-in-law bought some reasonably nice slacks with pleats, and then put elastic in the waistband somehow. (I don’t sew, and it’s been a few years since she did that, so I’m not entirely clear what she did).
Heh. I did the same thing with my first pregnancy. I gloated about being five months pregnant and still able to wear my regular clothes not entirely zipped up and hidden by the long shirt until the day I ripped my skirt after bending over. :eek: At work.
Luck was on my side and my boss lent me her workout clothing so I could go home and change.
For the subsequent pregnancies, I just caved immediately out of sheer laziness and wore the Big Pants straight away.
The first time around, my sisters-in-law gave me scads of maternity clothes. By the middle of the second pregnancy, though, they were a bit worn out so I bought “new” maternity clothes at Goodwill. They were nice and inexpensive. I bought a few business maternity outfits at a nice consignment shop and I was all set.
You’re pregnant, take advantage of it. Check out craigslist or Goodwill in your area and enjoy the loosey-goosey freedom of maternity clothes.
If you go to a fabric store, you can find a waist expander button thing for jeans and slacks. It’s basically a button with an elastic loop - the button goes through your buttonhole and the loop goes over your button. This gives you an extra inch or so in your regular pants, which might get you through another couple of weeks. Picture.
Other than that, yeah, you’re pretty much looking at elastic waists, sweats, or buying a larger size now and maternity clothes later. Check out Target, though. A lot of their maternity clothes are actually cute, and I still wear some of them. They are much cheaper then the maternity stores in the mall, and the clothes are better made and more fashionable than K-mart or Wal-mart. The Liz Lange collection is big on all over stretchy stuff that grows with you, as opposed to the old fashioned panel stuff. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, be grateful. They used to put panels of mismatched stretchy or thin woven material in the belly section only - which meant that you needed new stuff about every two months, because it would be too big or too small everywhere else. Although I guess even that was better than my grandmother’s maternity slacks - which had gaping holes to poke your belly through! Target maternity wear.
The Bella Band works wonders, but to be honest I wish I had just given in and gone for the mat pants as soon as I started feeling uncomfortable. I was sure I wasn’t ready, but like you, was having hissy fits over being too fat for my fat pants, and my husband finally dragged me into a maternity store. I got what I think were called “now and after” pants, which are made to be worn during the first and early second trimesters, as well as in the weeks after the birth. They were a godsend - attractive pants that actually fit everywhere, were insanely comfortable, and were absolutely perfect after the baby was born.
Besides, why would plus size maternity clothes be the right choice for any pregnant woman? I was always around 120 lbs whenever I got pregnant, and regular maternity clothes fit me just fine. Plus size maternity clothes would have had me drowning in fabric- not a flattering look for anyone.
Uh, that ain’t water. That’s baby.
You can buy some “jeans” (stretchy denim pants) that only have the elastic in the back, so they’re not so restrictive but they give. Available at Walmart, K-Mart, places like that. Also comes in other materials. I have a couple pairs of pants made with a wide, soft band that’s stretchy. I can wear them if I’m at my “fighting weight” or plus 20-30lbs. But none of them look good with a belly-button baring top. I think you have to be wearing your husband’s unzipped jeans only coming up a hair (!) past your crotch to achieve that look.
I remember a post or two about the mouseling. I’m pretty sure it was the baby that led to her stop posting so much. Man, she’s up there with some of the board greats in my mind.
Before I read the whole OP, though, I had her briefly confused with another long-ago poster (miss mossie?), who was in the process of becoming a nun. The 9 weeks pregnant thing threw me, until me brain kicked in and I differentiated the two MM posters.
