The pregnancy wardrobe

The pregnancy wardrobe is my current pet peeve (though thankfully I know I will never have to deal with it ever again after this baby is born).

When I was pregnant with Cavan, I really only had to outfit myself with one season's worth of fat clothes. I got pregnant at the end of January barely gained any weight between then and April. I was able to make my regular work clothes "work" with the use of extra long tank tops or a belly-band to hide my unfastened pant's buttons. By May, it was warm, so by the time I had grown out of my regular clothes, I was able to buy a week's supply of dresses, two pairs of khaki capris, and one pair of maternity jeans, a handful of "nice" t-shirts, and I was good to go all summer. I did have to go back to work in September, but the dresses were still appropriate and still conveniently housed my ever-expanding belly. I invested in one larger pair of jeans for that last month, but other than that, felt comfortable and relatively fashionable for the entire gestation.

Enter Baby #2: I got pregnant in late October. And thanks to my previously stretched out body, started to blimp out immediately. By Christmas, I was already in my maternity jeans, but still trying to make my work pants last. In January, I bought a pair of bigger, regular pants, and alternated between these and my one pair maternity jeans every day. And I was still able to hide the beginning belly under my normal sweaters—thank goodness I tend to like my shirts long to start with. By February, I bit the bullet and bought a maternity wardrobe. Here's where it gets annoying.

Since I'm planning this to be my last baby, I did not and still do not want to invest in a new maternity ensemble. All of my previous pregnancy clothes are for summer, and while I look forward to getting more mileage out of them when it warms up, I also do not want to spend hundreds more dollars for clothing I will be wearing for a handful of months. 


I am pretty frugal to start with and purchases really have to make sense before I can justify opening my wallet. So I went to Kohls instead of Pea in the Pod. (Though PeaPod clothes are awesome and in-style, $175 for a pair of maternity jeans is just not my idea of practical.) For about $275 total I got two pairs of light weight cargo pants (one black, one khaki), a pair of black work pants, a tank top, six knit shirts of varying sleeve length, and three sweaters—all maternity sizes. Pretty good deal.


But, here's the catch. Though I have no complaints with the shirts—they look good a little big and more form fitting, the pants are driving me nuts. I bought them at nearly four months—leaving 5 months of growing to go—so I had to buy them a little big if I wanted them to last. So here I am at 24 weeks, suffering through wearing "dumpy" pants everyday because if I bought them to fit as designed, they'd only last me a month. I know in about four weeks, they'll look great (well, as good as elastic pants can possibly look on an enlarged hiney), but because I'm working on a budget, I have to actively push my vanity aside every morning as I venture in to teach 50 high school students everyday. Students whose weekly manicures probably cost more than my pants, let alone their designer attire.

However, here is my secret plan. I think I may maintain the dumpy pants look, even after bambino/a is born. (And in my soon-to-be sleep-deprived state, I actually won't care what I look like).  And then maybe someone will nominate me for What Not To Wear (this could be you!) Trust me. I'd have no problem throwing out my closet, especially after wearing the same four pants and six shirts every week for five months, but I can put on the act for the show to give Stacy and Clinton a challenge:)