Clothing

So I'm in the 2nd trimester (yay) officially and everything. 14 weeks preggo today. I was able to run faster and further today so you know that things are getting better (even if it was just a 13:30 pace).

I've read a bunch about how in your first pregnancy you don't really start to show until 20+ weeks, yet your regular clothes stop fitting by week 12 (on average because no two pregnancy are the same, blah, blah, blah).

My body is not liking regular clothes nor is it really liking maternity pants. The tops rock and I'm loving them (except the ones with all the ties on it...more on that to come). The bottoms are too big but I had to wear them today because none of my other pants fit right. So I'm already at elastic pant land. I'm ok with this because it means my baby is growing, but I am not a fan of so many books/websites/communities/blogs saying I'm not really showing it's bloat or something else. No, I'm showing. Except when I took a comparison picture from when we first found out at 4 weeks to now, it really doesn't look like I'm showing in the picture, but I feel like I'm showing and I feel like I look preggo. Maybe it is a state of mind sometimes.

Now as for the shirts and some of the dresses, they are made to show off your belly. Now yes, I am happy to be pregnant and excited to show off the belly when there really is something to show off. Right now, in this in between mode though, it's difficult...I just feel like I'm showing off fat not baby. As someone who has struggled with her weight my entire life, it's difficult to think that I'm going to show off a belly. I need to learn to take pride in this, and I'm thinking in a few more weeks I will because it will be more obvious that I'm pregnant. For now though, it's just odd. So the dresses are stretchy but tight, it's weird. And the shirts, they have these ties on them so that you can make it more fitted to show off the belly (and huge boobs). So today I turned the ties around to tie in the back but I have huge boobs. One of my new bras is already too small (I started off a 36C, my 38D is too small, luckily I have on 38D that's more like a 38DD) Oh and speaking of bras, ladies who normally have 38DD+ I'm so sorry that bra shopping sucks so badly! I wanted one without underwire and I couldn't find any! That's why I got the 38D that felt like a DD (translation for men, big boobies and bigger boobies). I suppose I can go online to buy a new bra there.

Last rant about maternity clothes, jeans. I tried on 6 different pairs of jeans on Saturday and NONE of them fit. Way too tight on my thighs, and this was at a company I normally buy my jeans at. I was so sad and even told my husband that it didn't look like I'd be getting any maternity jeans, he reminded me I went to one store. Still super sad :(

Oh and bathing suits...I'm debating about getting one. I kind of need one for the end of this month (I'll be 17 weeks when I need one) and potentially might go to the beach this summer, but I didn't last summer. I'd like to go swimming when the pool at work opens too, but who knows when that will happen. What do you think? Get a maternity bathing suit of just wear old clothes for kayaking and canoeing this summer?