Monday, September 21, 2009

Ahhhhhh....

Soooooo, I took your advice and decided to shopping to buy some maternity pants last Saturday.

I'm still trying to pinch pennies and thought it would be best to avoid the "real" maternity stores. I was certain they'd be pretty expensive. I opted to go to Penneys.

A couple of years ago when I was pregnant with my second pregnancy (that subsequently ended in miscarriage) I was shopping at Penneys for work clothes. One of the dressing rooms is right next to the maternity section. I remember standing in line, waiting for a dressing room, and bashfully eyeing the large letters on the wall that spelled "Maternity." I thought "It won't be too much longer and I'll be shopping in that section."

Well, it wasn't to be. And the next time I waited in line at that dressing room a few months later, I completely avoided eye contact with the large "Maternity" sign on the wall. I despised it and refused to look in its direction. It was as though the letters mocked me.

That was 2 years ago. Now here I was, on Saturday, aiming directly for that section. I was definitely excited. But my excitement turned to disappointment when I finally got there and realized the entire maternity section at Penneys consisted of approximately 4 small racks. All of their yoga pants, jeans, dress pants and capris is this tiny section. I tried on several pairs, but only ended up with one pair that worked. It was a disappointment.

I headed into the main mall and thought that there might be a maternity store in the mall. Well, I was here, I might as well go check. Besides, all stores have sales from time to time. Maybe I'd get lucky.

I found the Motherhood store. And indeed there was a sale. I also had a really nice young woman clerk help me. She pulled several pairs of pants and jeans for me to try and showed me to a dressing room. I pulled the curtain behind me, set down my purse and noticed that there were small pillows with velcro straps on either side. A pillow to strap around you to to simulate a larger pregnant belly. I picked it up, wrapped it around me, and pulled my shirt down over it.

I looked at myself in the mirror.

Yup, I lost it. Just for a minute I had to quietly cry with my face in my hands. Thank you, God, for this pregnancy. I might actually have a real tummy full of baby a few months from now. And I don't deserve it anymore than any of my blogger friends still awaiting their turn.

Well, the pants were a success! A black twill pair, a gray twill pair and nice pair of jeans. Plus a brown pair from Penneys. Ahhhhh, my little belly pooch was so happy. The twill pants were no more expensive than what they had at Penneys, and the jeans, at $40, were a little more expensive, but they're pretty nice looking jeans.

I wore the brown pair to work today. Thank you everyone who suggested I finally break down and do it. So much more comfortable!
...

14 comments:

Mad Hatter said...

Yay for shopping! Your pants and jeans sound great! And your moment in "The Motherhood Dressing Room" brought tears to my eyes. I'm so glad for you!
Love,
Maddy

Fran said...

Well done dear!! I'm sure your little belly is thanking you constantly!it won't be long until you have a very prominent bump so the image that you saw on the mirror will soon be your day to day view! Much love, Fran

Eb said...

what a freakin' cool post! i could imagine every thought and feeling you were having.
congrats on the graduation to the much admired and longed for maternity wear.
i am grinning from ear to ear!
eb

embieadoptmom said...

YAY! Glad you broke down and did it! YOU DESERVE IT! Thank God for your little bean! HUGS!

Anonymous said...

woohoo!! horray for elastic! :) i had a bit of a breakdown the first time i went into one of those motherhood stores too, they are so overwhelming.

check out old navy and target online, they have a ton of maternity stuff there that isnt available in their stores. ive found some really good deals on their websites. (and you get to avoid the whole pushy salesperson issue!)

stillhopeful said...

Elastic and stretch panels are my best friends these days!!!

Glad you took the plunge and are feeling more comfy today. The maternity clothes are fairly stylish, I think, so no need to avoid them like our parents did!

I ended up getting a lot at Motherhood. When things are on sale there, the prices are very reasonable. Once you know your size, you can shop them on the internet and get some even better deals. If you need any real nice clothes (suits for work, wedding attire, etc.), I'd recommend Pea in the Pod. Expensive, but you can definitely tell the difference in quality and fit. Also good to try them online, too, as there are some great clearance prices.

I also liked Penny's, but only shopped them online where there is a lot more selection.

For casual, my favs are Target, Old Navy, Kohls (real surprised at Kohls - cute stuff). I wasn't crazy about Gap's prices, but some people love them.

I went a little overboard buying maternity clothes on ebay - I got sucked in by the "lots". Don't bother. Most is crap, or doesn't fit right, or very low quality / obscure brands. And you can't return it, usually.

The best finds I got were at a consignment shop. I found one about 20 mins away, and was able to get some good quality clothes at great prices. With the benefit of trying them on and really inspecting them.

Good luck - the shopping is so fun!!

Finn's Mom said...

Awww, I can totally imagine having the same verklempt moment in the dressing room with the belly pillows. Who knew they even had those? The mysterious world of pregnancy to us infertiles. What other wonderful secrets are hidden there -- you have to be sure to share!

I'm so happy for you that you're getting to dip your toe further and further in the deep end this time. Many P&PTs that it will be smooth sailing the entire 9 months.

And, I agree with the pp that Old Navy always seem to have great sales on maternity clothes, at least from the emails with which they torture me.

K said...

Great post...thanks for sharing. Glad you finally broke down to make yourself a little more comfortable. Love living vicariously through you.... :)

Anonymous said...

Personally, I loathe Motherhood. I find their clothes to be rather crap quality for what they charge and they are so damn pushy. And every time I go in I get some 20 year old neverbeenpregnant girl telling me what to wear and I'm like STFU YOU HAVE NO CLUE!

Am I bitter much? :P Uhm, a little.

Anyways, the real point of my post was to mention that you should check out Ross and, if you dare, WalMart. Ross in particular has a really great section of SUPER CHEAP maternity pants. Like, $8 cheap.

Your unsolicited advice for the day: Splurge on lots of maternity clothes. Your practical self right now may tell you "Oh, but you only wear them for a few months" but by month 9 you will be SO SICK of wearing the same four or five outfits. That was my one splurge in my last pregnancy....I bought new clothes every month because, damn it, if I was going to be a big huge whale, at least I was going to be cute doing it!

Anonymous said...

Yay for maternity clothes! And I feel weird saying it, but yay for crying in the dressing room...you so deserve it!

I've had some great success on Craigslist...I got 5 pairs of pants (two jeans, two cords, one pair of khakis) and 4 shirts for $20 from one woman. She actually was only going to charge me $10, but I felt super awkward taking all of her super cute clothes for only $10 so I gave her $20.

But I digress...good for you for finally pulling the trigger. I'm so happy that you are able to realize yet another small part of the larger dream.

Anonymous said...

Yay for shopping - I loved the Motherhood store (which was conveniently located for me). A bit pricey, but I loved all the clothes and they have been through 3 friends pregnancies and still look great!

After that I found the maternity section at Target and it looked like it would be great, but I haven't ever bought anything there (since we are STILL trying). And the whole consignment shop thing is great - we have several close by and while I didn't buy lots of maternity clothes, I found some great deals on fancy toys and baby gear. Many of these places take the old baby clothes and give you store credit too - win win. Good luck!

Holly said...

I got tears in my eyes and had a moment too! Thanks for bringing me back to my first time in that dressing room with my Mom trying on the little belly, hoping that would be mine very soon! What size & how tall are you? I may have some clothes I can send your way! Drop me an email!

Lorraine said...

Where would we be without elastic? I love those maternity waistbands that are like tights sewn onto the top of pants.

You'll be so much more comfy now!

Alex P said...

My sis in law took me shopping when she was preggers, just for "real" feedback. Canada has different options, although we do have many of the same stores.. Motherhood is one of the more price reasonable stores we found too, but we found we had to look more there, whereas lots of mat stores everything seemed nice... motherhood has a tonne of stuff, so some just wasnt a great plan. One of the cutest places and cheap was H&M, which with your little frame would be adorable, Youre totally diggin this pregnancy, so why not prepare to show your soon to come cute lil basketball belly? the tshirts are long but fitted so you'll be super adorable!

SO happy you got some pants which make you smile!