The Mouseling is due at the end of September. My body is expanding like the British Empire (I can only hope that I contract as much) and my feet are sore and puffy.
Yesterday, I was in the elevator with the Spineless Bastard. This is the guy who has been trying to drive the department I work for out of business – not my favorite person. After I press the button for the lab’s floor, the Bastard said to me, “You look like taking the stairs would be a better idea.”
“I’m pregnant and my feet hurt.” I responded. So, you’re an ass no matter what the situation.
I’m tried of being gravid. Also, I’m quite sure that the U.S.’s prudish attitude about sex is being expressed through maternity clothes. Who the hell decided that horizontal stripes were a good idea? The longitudinal lines only amplify the bloated, unwieldy feeling. Much to my horror, there was a blouse with a paisley pattern on it! A designer somewhere thought that **stylize sperm ** would look good? :eek:
A woman is going around with physical proof of coitus, so she must wear ugly clothing? Forget this, I’m going to start wearing Mouse_Spouse’s shirts. His Styx t-shirts looks better than some of these tops.
Every time I see some woman with a top that used to be snug and has become a sort of sleeved bra, her belly all out there and jeans slung under it (what I call the “pregnant trucker” look, and of course I use the male word for trucker)… I then look at the windows in 90% of “maternity stores” and understand it.
I wonder, would this be a good excuse to buy some of those shirts with dragons and stuff that guys apparently are allowed but which are never made in girly sizes?
I was so glad I didn’t have to stock up, except not to wear fitted clothing. I think the only maternity thing I got was the bra, and I bought a few big shirts. Maybe go to the plus size section? Pick up a few bigger shirts there. Personally I’d rather chance looking frumpy than wear some of the stuff they have for maternity wear.
As long as your comfortable and reasonably dressed, I don’t really think it matters.
Can we say, grounds for a sexual harassment suit? Or at least, grounds to scare him into understanding that that’s grounds for a sexual harassment suit?
For maternity clothes, you should try Mimi Maternity (for really nice clothes like for work or a night out) or Old Navy (online). I found some really cute shirts at Old Navy as well as a great maternity swimsuit. Gap also sells maternity clothes online. (They don’t want pregnant women actually shopping at the store! And trying on clothes in the fitting room . . . never!)
Oh, my goodness. Y’all have no IDEA how cute maternity clothes are now. I mean, compared to 15 years ago. Back then it was ALL pastels or white with pastel prints 1/3" high repeating all over of weird cutesy shit like umbrellas and ducks. Occasionally ducks carrying umbrellas. I have no idea what the thinking was.
I don’t think this qualifies as sexual harassment. He’s an asshole, yes, but surely this isn’t worthy of a lawsuit??? Would you explain your reasoning?
Mouse_Maven, congratulations and hang in there! Oh, and smack that guy next time you see him.
My reasoning is that my major professor was the subject of sexual harassment complaint-and-discipline for asking a female professor if she was pregnant, after she passed out in the elevator.
She was. It didn’t matter. Apparently just alluding to the fact that a person has a reproductive system is “sexual harassment.”
If slimy skank is making fun of you for being six months pregnant, the bastard is obviously not aware of just how crazy and strict the system can be.
When I was pregnant with whiterabbit, maternity clothes were the height of hideous – huge sacks covered with ruffles and frills. I found some inoffensive fabric and made my own sacks.
As a result, eight years later when I was pregnant with Young Tiger, I was thrilled to discover some basic maternity tees – extra-long, comfy knit fabric, solid colors. Trust me, the hideousness of maternity clothing 30 years ago has to be seen to be believed. Be very, very grateful that you weren’t pregnant then.
And I’m not sure if what Spineless Bastard said is grounds for a sexual harassment suit, but it’s certainly grounds for a good ass-kicking.
Does it have stripes or ducks carrying umbrellas? If not, it may have to be donated to Mouse_Maven is all I’m sayin’…
(Our collection process can be quite vigorous, though.)
Too bad you’re not in the first trimester anymore – you could have just thrown up on him.
I’m hitting the swollen feet part, too, and oh, the heartburn! The worst part is that chocolate is a heartburn trigger for me – isn’t that sad?
So far, I’m relatively pleased with the maternity clothes I’ve found – almost all of my wardrobe is from Old Navy (however - being a big girl to begin with, I’ve avoided stripes). But I wasn’t a fashionista before getting knocked up, so jeans/khakis/slacks with solid color t-shirts are right up my alley.
Mouse_Maven, do you know if you’re having a boy mouseling or a girl mouseling? And if so, are you sharing that information? Have you started registering yet?
Oh man. “Maternity clothes”. Went through three pregnancies during the late 80s, right on the cusp of fashion change. When I was there, it was all still holdovers from the Fifties, pastel prints with ducks and umbrellas, like Whynot says. And it was tents, ya know? Concealing. Billows of fabric, with a baby under there somewhere.
Then in the early 90s, as the Boomer demographic wave continued passing through the Pregnancy life stage, and word started to filter down to the clothing designers that women were feeling that “I refuse to be ashamed of my hugely preg body and cover it up with a Dick Van Dyke Show tent”, we started seeing the hugely preg body not covered up by billows of fabric.
The first garments that I recall seeing expressing this were those stretch t-shirts saying “BABY” with an arrow pointing down.
And now of course we have pregnant wimmin with crop-top t-shirts and hiphuggers, with the baby hanging out in front of God and everybody. Which kind of leaves me, the admitted Old Fogey, with mixed feelings: I’m glad they’re not being forced to be ashamed of their big bellies, a la Mary Tyler Moore, but I always thought a little graceful tact went a long way in public. Not everybody wants to be confronted with an enormously preg naked belly while picking up lettuce at Kroger.
Anyway, MM, hang in there. It does get better: eventually you get a Mouseling out of it, and you can unload your maternity clothes on the Salvation Army. But the scars will remain with you–I still have the memory of a pair of brown polyester maternity pants that sometimes wakes me up in the middle of the night…
Pepper Mill’s extremities swelled unbelievably during her pregnancy. She said she had “Fred Flintstone Feet”. At the very end, things were distended almost to the point of dislocation (no joke, unfortunately). Pepper was ecstatuc when her OB-GYN said he’d be inducing labor.
Hope your situation works out more comfortably.
Actually, this guy has a couple of sexual harassment complaints filed against him. If it wasn’t for the fact that I work for the department he has been openly antagonizing, I would submit an offical grievance. He’s just a rat-bastard lacking basic social skills. At least I got laid, you asshole!
Yep, I’ve discovered Old Navy’s clothes and they are very nice. BabyGap near my house does have a tiny maternity section way, way in the back. Its like they’re saying “Babies are soooo cute. Being pregnant is icky, go hide in the back room.” :rolleyes: WhyNot mentioned Target, the selection in stores around here is lousy. (Maybe they’re another member of the “Pregnancy is icky” school of marketing.) I’m going to look at the on-line shopping link she provided - it looks promising.
Most of the ugly maternity clothes I’ve seen were in thrift shops and garage sales. Maybe mothers hold onto, and wear out, the nice items. I would.
Right now, nothing fits comfortably. The Incredible Expanding Abdomen makes wearing my bigger jeans to tight. The waist line of a pair of ultra-low cut pants I bought goes under the construction zone, but doesn’t cover my butt enough. Right now, I’m wearing maternity jeans with a belly band. They’re nice and loose, but I have to pull them up occasionally. Pregnancy Crack - has anyone ever experienced this?
Have you started registering yet?
Right now, I’m wearing maternity jeans with a belly band. They’re nice and loose, but I have to pull them up occasionally. Pregnancy Crack - has anyone ever experienced this?