It's Not That I HATE Prego Pants But...

Before I was pregnant I secretly envied women in their cute maternity pants. Sure, I thought they were extremely weird looking with the huge stretchy blue band that eats up their belly, but I kept hearing about how comfortable they were. Plus, how cool are pants that are especially made for your state of being?

That theory has changed since I myself have become pregnant. At the beginning of my pregnancy, when my belly was still unnoticeable, I looked forward to the day that I wouldn't feel embarrassed shopping in a maternity store. But I hadn't started showing, until about 22 weeks or so. Obviously then I'm already more than half way through my pregnancy. I don't have a personal vendetta against maternity pants or anything, but since I hadn't bought then then I started challenging myself to see how long I can go without buying maternity pants. I'm about two-thirds of the way there now, and now I'm sorta I'm determined to make it through without getting a pair.

Call it a sick bet with myself. I'm not sure what it is. Part of me thinks it's my ultra-bargain-shopping self who doesn't want to spend money on clothes I'll only wear a few months. I mean honestly... I still have skirts from middle school. And shopping for Ladybug is much more exciting than shopping for myself.

I wear a size 4-long jeans (I'm about 5' 11"). I've always had a somewhat slim figure and my tummy seems to be one of the only parts of my body that's swelling up so far. Oh yea, and my feet. Since most of my jeans and pants are fairly low rise and my Ladybug seems to be sitting high, there's no problem squeezing them on.

I do have a secret weapon that helps... I have a few BellaBands that I wear over my pre-pregnancy jeans and pants. I started wearing them around 10 weeks or so when I was ultra-bloated and my bloat was low and squishing my gut. I would just unzip my pants, and slip it on. That's been a lifesaver when it comes to sticking to my "no maternity pants" plan. I also have several skirts with elastic waists that I wear a lot. There have been a couple of times where I've grabbed a random skirt or pair of pants that's not low rise and I'll tell you what... Those don't fit!

Sometimes I'm tempted to give in and join the scrunchy pants club, but other times I can see myself in the home stretch. Every pair of pants I save on is like another little outfit for my little girl. That's one way to think of it.

I hear their comfortable and great, and that I wouldn't regret getting them. Part of me thinks if I'm going to get some I might as well now because if I need them when I'm even bigger later that'll be even less time to wear them. Hmmm, perhaps I'll give in and try them out. But then again maybe I should have done that MONTHS ago. What do you think?

Where's the best place to shop for them?

For the record... I know there's more important things in life than maternity pants. This is a version of a story I originally wrote for my Project Pregnancy blog for Parenting.com, and one of the (anonymous) commenter's made it sound like I don't care about my baby cause I'm writing about maternity pants *sigh*... Idiots. You can read my "Avoiding Maternity Pants" post here.

Also, I got a bunch of cute things in a Pregnancy Essentials kit courtesy of BellaBand. An everyday cami I literally wear almost every day, rushed tank, belly leggings, and an organic black BellaBand and a white BellaBand which I LOVE. There's a ton of online retailers that sell them here.