Saturday, November 22, 2008

Buying Maternity Clothes

This week I finally received an unemployment check. After paying bills I decided I could finally use some maternity clothes. After all, I am 7 months pregnant and my regular jeans were starting to get uncomfortable. Since my mom recently lost her job too (she worked at the same place I did) I figured it would be fun for the two of us to go shopping together.

So there we are. I'm a first time preggers and my mom hasn't been pregnant in over 30 years. We're standing in the maternity section at Kohl's. We pick out a bunch of tops, a few pairs of jeans and head to the dressing room. While trying on the clothes nothing really feels right. After a small discussion we decided to head to Motherhood Maternity. We figure there we'll be able to get help with how things should fit and what size I should wear.

When we walk into Motherhood we are promptly greeted by three very nice sales women. They ask what I'm looking for and I tell them some warm tops and jeans. The sales girl explains that the sizing goes based on your size before you were pregnant. Just get the size you were before in maternity clothes and they'll fit. Then my mom asks the question we've both been thinking "How large do your sizes go?" The answer isn't what we were looking for. They only carried up to XL which is a size 16/18 pre-pregnancy. My reaction was "Oh. I guess I won't find anything here then." The sales girl looks at me and says "what size do you think you need? What size were you before you got pregnant?" So I tell her I was a plus size. She then asks how far along I am. Once she hears I'm 7 months she says they'll have plenty there for me to wear.

So my mom, two of the sales girls and I walk around the store picking out jeans and tops for me to try on. All of them in size XL. They set me up in a dressing room and I walk in fully expecting to not be able to fit into anything that I've picked out. My heart turned heavy at that thought because I had some really, really cute items picked out. I take a deep breath and step into a pair of jeans. They fit! OMG they fit!! I quickly pull on the adorable sweater that I really want. It fits too!! Needless to say I'm beyond happy. I step out of the dressing room for a little fashion show. My mom loves the outfit as does another mom helping her daughter shop. The sales girl comes over and asks what I think. "I love it! It fits!" I say. She loves it too but she doesn't think it fits. She points out to me that the top is in fact too big!! The shoulders hang way to low on me. So she goes off and gets me a size Large.

As I'm getting ready to put on the smaller sized sweater I remind myself that if it doesn't fit the larger size does. I slip on the sweater and it fits! It looks even better on me then the larger sized one! I practically ran out of that little dressing room to show off. Everyone agrees that the sweater looks much better. Then they ask if I tried "the pillow". What pillow? Well there's a pillow in each dressing room that adds 3 to 4 months to your belly. By putting it on under the clothes you know how things will fit down the road. So I go in to put the pillow on. I about died laughing right then and there! I looked so funny! Granted the pillow puts me at over due it was so amusing to see such a big "belly" on me. The good news is the clothes still fit.

After trying on clothes for about an hour I narrowed down what I was going to buy. I decided to buy the tops in size Large and the pants in XL. I was a happy camper leaving the store. Not only were the clothes cute and comfortable but I actually looked pregnant!! When I wear my other clothes I just look fat. I was very excited to wear my new outfits and finally look pregnant.

Today I wore one of my new outfits. I started getting annoyed with my new jeans. They kept sliding down. It looked like my butt was suddenly on the back of my thighs. Since Ben and I were at the mall doing some Christmas shopping I decided to stop into Motherhood to try on a smaller size. I said to Ben before we walked in "They'll probably be too tight but I would rather find out for sure." The girl that helped me the yesterday was working. She immediately greeted me and asked if I needed help. I told her the problem I was having with the jeans. She gave me a few suggestions but I had tried them already with no luck. Into the dressing room I went with a size Large jeans. I pull them on and they fit! Holy. Cow. I go out and ask Ben if they look too tight. His answer "nope". He asks the sales girl what she thinks. "They look like they fit" she says. I think they fit pretty darn good too. So I go in to get my other jeans back on. I can hear Ben ask the sales girl "So is the large a size 14/16 pre-pregnancy?" "No" she says. "They're 12/14 pre-pregnancy." I was over the moon hearing that!

Can you believe it? In January before I got pregnant I was wearing a size 22 even some size 24. Now I'm pregnant and buying size 12/14 clothing! It just goes to prove it's NEVER too late to get healthy. Plus it's a great boost to my ego

Friday, November 14, 2008

Welcome to the Third Trimester!

Well here we are - the start of the third trimester. I'm a little freaked out! I noticed today that I have only 90 days until my due date!! Holy. Cow. In 90 days or less I'll be a mom. I don't know that the world (much less me) is ready for that. LOL!

Not much has happened this week. Brielle is as active as ever. I'm learning her waking and sleeping times. She's pretty darn predictable. I'm not sure but she may have had the hiccups the other day. It felt like a belly spasm to me. She's taken to stretching a lot lately. Some times the stretches can get pretty uncomfortable for me. I'm sure she enjoys a good stretch though.

Next week we start our birthing classes. We'll be finished with them before Christmas! We're starting to talk about our birth plan too. All of these preparations just make me think of how much we have to do but how fast time is flying.

Ben tells me that Brielle's room should be ready by the end of December. Right now it's just a matter of Ben getting over his cold (he's been sick all week) and getting our hands on some money. We had sold something that gave us plenty of money to finish the room and get our travel system but I haven't received any unemployment money in over a month. I'm fighting with them on that. All I can do is sit and wait to hear back from them right now. So needless to say things are tight and unfortunately that "extra" money is now going to go to bills. So much for that idea. We still believe that things will work out in the end.

So not much going this week just a lot of freaking out and planning. I'll let you know if anything exciting happens.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Approaching the end of the Second Trimester

Wow! It's hard to believe that I'm almost two thirds of the way through my pregnancy. I really am baffled. Where has the time gone? I feel like I just looked at that positive pregnancy test last night!

While time is flying we're doing our best to get ready for the arrival of Brielle (hehehe! I love using her name). Ben is working very hard on the room. It will be done before you know it! Last night he was on a roll and didn't want to stop. I keep reminding him he needs to take a break every now and then so he doesn't burn out. I think the excitement is keeping him going.

We've had two doctor's appointments in the last week. The first one was with our high risk doctor. We had an ultrasound and an echocardiogam to check Brielle's growth and heart. She is doing wonderfully in both areas! As of last Tuesday she weighed about 1 pound 13 ounces. They say she was a few days ahead but nothing to be worried about. Her heart is looking wonderful as well! They tell us everything is looking perfect.

The second doctor's appointment was with my OB yesterday. She is very pleased with my weight and my blood pressure. She did mention I am measuring about 2 to 3 weeks ahead. Since we know Brielle isn't overly big there's nothing to worry about. I was having an overly emotional day yesterday. Every little thing was bugging me. The problem is I'm a freak about being prepared. Unfortunately somethings don't go on my timeline and it's hard for me to handle. Since it was my first day of being in tears we chalked it up to hormones. I'm going to keep on top of it though so things don't get out of control. At my next appointment I'll receive my Rhogam shot. That's one thing I'm not looking forward to.

Today I called and signed us up for our birthing classes, a tour of the hospital and a car seat class. Talk about being slapped with reality! All of the sudden things seem really real! Wow! From here on out I have a feeling time is going to fly!!