13 weeks pregnant: Maternity shopping and pimples

I'm about to venture into maternity clothes, but I found them all to be fugly. I'm 13 weeks, and my face is a tornado. :-( I hear in Serbia, drinking in moderation is suggested while pregnant. Anyone wanna move to Serbia with me?

I bought the $200 jeans at a Pea in the Pod. With a gift certificate. They fit great (for now
) and I needed to feel like my old self for a little longer...

Here is my take on pregnancy clothes. It's reduculosly expensive and I can't justify buying it. One of my best purchases were pants, that I've bought deliberately 5 sizes bigger that I was at a time. So I ended up wearing them the whole pregnancy pretty much. The tops - the best ones are the stretchy empire waist tops. I wore them during my pregnancy and I continue wearing them now. They are stretch and they don't look like maternity. You can buy stuff like that from TJ Maxx or Marshalls for $15-$17. I am not a big fan of special maternity clothes, they have short life and then you feel guilty for spending so much money, when you could spend the money on your baby's things you definitely will need, and the list is endless. Bottom line, save the money for more important things, like you child's college fund.

I just got from ebay, these pieces of elastic with a button and holes that you can use to extend the waist line of your pants, They are great and adjustable so you can make it bigger as your bump gets bigger, then all you do is wear a belly belt over your pants to the fact that your pants are not here is the link to a Aussie site that sells them they aslo post to
US http://cgi.ebay.com.au/2-x-Maternity-Belly-Band-Ba...
I'm sure you could get them in the USas well they are just great
I tired it out for the first time today and boy what a difference it made to my comfort levels at work and only paid $20 for 2 belly belts and the the elastic thingy Im not sure what they are called

lets you get away with your normal wardrobe for a little longer

I started wearing maternity dresses to work at about 12 weeks of my pregnancy because my pre-pregnancy office clothes (skirts especially) are already bursting at the seams!

For my office wear, I only survived on 4 pregnancy dresses (modest design and brand type, not branded ones!) until the end of my pregnancy. So I think my colleagues can roughly guess what I'm going to wear next! (But I'm really not bothered with that). But I never attempted to try the maternity blouse and pants type because the price of blouse and pants add up will usually be more than the price of a maternity dress. All in all, only spent about RM100 to RM110 for office maternity dresses.

For maternity home wear, I survived on only 3 big T-shirts (the type where the T-shirt is long enough to look like a dress), each bought for only RM6.90. And those big T-shirts lasted until the end of my pregnancy. Sometimes, I also wore a loose normal T-shirt and strechable short pants (non-maternity type of shorts, spandex cloth) but I wore the waist of the shorts at the lowest comfortable height possible.

I was pregnant so long ago, and I am a nurse, so I wore maternity t-shirts with my scrub pants to work. If you work in an office it will be a bit harder to dress your bump. The other posters had some good tips. For me, I didn't have much money to buy maternity clothes, so by the end of it I was completely SICK of the few items that I did have. I'd buy a few basics and the wear loose non-maternity tops until you really need the huge ones.
As for the acne- it's a hormonal thing. I was lucky in that pregnancy hormones seemed to clear up my skin (and make my hair thick and my nails thick and strong too) but I have a friend who had terrible facial acne during all 4 of her pregnancies. All you can really do is clean your skin gently and use non-pore-clogging make up. Good news is that it will probably clear right up after the baby is born.

Helen’s last blog post..Pretty In Pink

Ok you need to get tube tops you will cover your belly and make your pants last a little longer. Target is where you need to go and depending how small you are to begin with you can get away with just buying bigger shirts. But in this day and age some women like showing off there belly. I never paid 200 bucks for pants even when I did go to motherhood.

P.S. you're lucky you've only got TWO pimples!! I've been plagued by terrible pregnancy acne. I've heard your hormones will even out soon and that's when you get the "glow" rather than the greasy acne skin. ick.

Don't forget, you'll (we'll) be huge in the heat of summer, so you'll need some light items. Don't stock up on all jeans and sweaters. My mom found several summer tops and shorts at Kohl's on dirt cheap sale. I love their maternity dept. If you swim, you might want to consider a swimsuit too. You'll be able to wear it postpartum too, for those few weeks or months that you're still taking off the baby weight. and hang onto it for future pregnancies. This is my first pregnancy too, so I'm not a lot of help, but I shopped for and bought maternity stuff a few weeks ago. Also, there's this great book out "Baby Bargains" which addresses of course strollers and other baby stuff, but there's a great chapter on maternity and nursing clothes. What to buy, what not to worry about.

I love your chronicles!!
Been preggo 8 times....so I'll add my 2 cents.
Yoga pants, Old Navy, worn under the belly are my favorite maternity item. The genius who decided maternity pants didn't have to ride all the way up to your armpits is a genius. Free your belly!! Old Navy is a treasure trove of long shirts, and maternity.
I bought a LOT of stuff on ebay, lots of designer things, cheap.
Enjoy the rest of your pregnancy

Maternity clothes: Many are really expensive, but you can build a great wardrobe without spending a ton. Unless you wear jeans constantly, I wouldn't spend much money there. You may have noticed that there are a few different styles: the half-panel and the full. For me, I used the half through my second trimester - I thought the FULL panel was horrifying and never wanted to wear it. Until my 3rd trimester when I couldn't keep my pants up anymore.

Liz Lange at Target has some really great basics, like the jeans and also plain t's and tanks. If you invest in some maternity tanks right now, you'll be able to extend some of your other, favorite shirts since you'll have that beneath for coverage.

ANYWAY since I could apparently ramble forever: here's a guide by one of my favorite bloggers. She has the basics down!
http://www.alphamom.com/smackdown/2007/10/the_ever...

OOOOOOHHHHHH Yeah. I forgot your parents loaded you up on gift cards. (One of the many perks of having VERY excited soon-to-be grandparents!)

OK, that makes me feel a heck of a lot better and I appreciate you didn't leave me hanging on this one for the sake of my stress levels. After all, I'm sure you don't want me to sprout another white hair!

So yes babe, you go spend those gift cards on anything your heart desires because I know you'll whatever you buy, you'll be looking GOOD! Whooo Hoooo! :)

So I guess I can put the bottle of vodka back on the shelf now... ;)

I really should just keep you thinking that I'm going to spend all our money on cute, designer pregnancy clothes, but I'll give you a break. I guess now would be a good time to remind you about the gift card that I got from my parents. Remember? This is how I'll be able to get designer maternity jeans and not spend one cent of our money, all while looking hot with a big bump! No need to worry husband, now take a deep breath and don't bother me with a "talk". I'm not interested. :)

OK - reading about how you want a $200 pair of jeans just increased my blood pressure by about 100 fold! Uhhh...

I think we need to have a talk Jane...

Oh boy... I need a drink.