Luckily, 20+ weeks into my pregnancy, I haven’t had to worry about maternity clothes very much. Most of my summer skirts and dresses still fit fine and I hadn’t gotten around to donating that pile of “fat” clothes in my basement, so I’ve had plenty of things to wear. Just the other day, though, I started cleaning summer clothes out of my dresser that I know I already can’t fit in. I’m hoping that I can get by with what I’ve got for now until the temperatures start changing, so anything I buy can get me through fall and winter and I won’t have summer clothes that are useless in a month or two.
That said, I have a feeling that months and months of frustration are in my future. I’ve already found that it’s nearly impossible to find maternity clothes for working out. Bottoms probably won’t be much of an issue because I can just go up in size, but tops are a nightmare. Again, if I hadn’t started out wearing size extra-small or small, I could probably just go up a few sizes and get away with it. But since I have a petite frame, that’s not going to work so well (picture shoulder seams down to my elbows). As of a few months ago, I didn’t really understand how maternity clothes were designed (why would I have?) But I’m learning that I should be able to buy my regular size in maternity clothes, and the difference will be in the length and maybe the amount of fabric around the middle, but the shoulders and arms should still fit. Pants are another story altogether (and I see a whole post about them in my future). I haven’t had to wear any maternity pants yet, but I have tried on a bunch that were “donated” to me by friends and family. All I have to say right now is—who designed these things? I get the panels that come up over the belly. But why—if they fit in every other sense—do the crotches of some of these pants come down to my knees? What is going to happen to my body to fill in all of that space? And what’s with pants with no pockets in the back? Once they hike the waistline up to your armpits to cover the extra distance in the front, you need something to break up the space back there!
Oh – and here’s tangent number 2. I typically get 2 or 3 emails every day from some of my favorite stores that alert me to the “great” deals and sales that they have going on. Some of those stores don’t carry maternity clothes anyhow, so I just ignore them. What annoys me is getting emails from the stores that do carry maternity clothes that tell me “all jeans on sale” or “everything 30% off for one day only” and finding out that those sales don’t actually apply to the maternity clothes. Can someone explain that? What makes maternity clothes special? Isn’t the fact that women only need these clothes for a short time a good reason to put them on sale? If I could get a bunch of shirts at one time at a good price, I’d snatch them up! Instead, I’m reading bulletin board posts on the baby sites about women who have wardrobes consisting of 4 shirts and 2 pairs of pants that they hope will get them through the next 4 months because they don’t want to spend a bunch of money. I know my wardrobe should be at the bottom of my list of priorities right now, but I’m already so self conscious about how I look that if I’m wearing the same shirt day after day I’m going to crawl under my desk and hide. Sigh.
Anyhow, back to my rant about workout clothes. I’ve signed up for a few weekly or daily emails about pregnancy related topics, and they’re constantly reminding me that exercise is good for me and that I need to keep moving. However, digging a little deeper into the related websites reveals that their idea of the perfect workout attire is loose, breathable fabrics…especially cotton. Um, I’m sorry, but when did we go back in time to 1986? I haven’t been on the workout scene for that long, but ever since we joined a gym 5 years ago or so it’s been all tech fabrics all the time. These days if you participate in a race or a charity event and the free t-shirt isn’t made from “technical” fabric it seems almost useless. Who wants to work up a sweat only to end up with their clothes a heavy, wet mess? Not me, that’s who. Isn’t my body going through enough already without having to resort to cotton workout clothes? Apparently not. Because unless I want to pay $50 for a single shirt made from tech fabrics (and that’s not exaggeration), I’m pretty much screwed. This is the point at which I should be thinking “hey, I found a problem that needs a solution…maybe I can make some money off of this,” but instead I’m contemplating never going to the gym again. Good job, world.
