Week 20, halfway there now and my non-maternity clothes are not really fitting that well anymore--the pants and pencil skirts are too tight to zip up and the tops, even if they are stretchy enough to fit are getting too short to cover the whole belly. So I thought it's probably time to start pulling out the old maternity wear. Well, there is less of it than I thought--basically one shopping bag full and most of it is loungewear T shirts and nursing pajamas. Here is the best of what I have--mostly all from Japanese Weekend, mostly printed empire waist tops with hidden holes for nursing access and some stretchy wide leg jersey pants. I do have a few more pieces than these, but not a whole lot, maybe about another week's worth. And my sister and sister in law lent me a few pieces, but not anything that is dressy enough for work and mostly not my style either. Most of my maternity wear is from six years ago.

So, let me know your honest opinion of these outfits--are they dated? I have a really bad eye for what is dated and I'm not sure if my maternity wardrobe is up to YLF standards. I felt OK in these, but definitely not as super fab as in my post-YLF wardrobe. I think #4 and #9 were probably the closest to my current style. The main "compliments" I got this week were along the lines of, "Wow, your belly really popped!"

If you don't think these look good, I may have some shopping to do. I was hoping to get away with not buying any more maternity since this is my last baby and only have 4.5 months left, but I may have to break down and buy a limited amount of maternity wear, because my capsule is a lot thinner than I thought. I don't really even feel like shopping nowadays but I may have to. And I'm also dreading going through my closet and having to try everything on and put away everything that doesn't fit anymore, but I think it needs to be done. The racks are going to be half empty (or more) after that!

1-2. Japanese Weekend black nursing top and blue and white printed maternity skirt (still had the blue toenails from the wedding). Circa 2007.
3. JW magenta top with white faux collar/sleeves. Old Navy maternity trousers.
4-5. JW black and white maternity top and black skirt.
6. Maternity top from 2010 (gift from my mom). JW jersey pants.
7-8. JW brown and white nursing top. Sadly these white Gap maternity jeans which I just bought a couple months ago don't fit at all and are unwearable! I tried them on and they are too tight in the legs and won't stay up so the crotch is like 2 inches below where it needs to be. Too late to return them though! Big mistake. So I had to change into #9 instead.
9. Japanese Weekend striped top (new this pregnancy) and old JW jeans (too short for the sandals I wore them with--I think these are really for flats only, but I don't have any other maternity jeans to wear with heels).

And on a really sad note, two weeks ago I found out that my friend (who has a daughter in K with mine, and twins the same age as my DS, and was expecting a boy just like me) had a stillbirth at 35 weeks. We just met this family through DD's school this year, but have grown close over the last couple months since our families and kids' ages are so similar. They were devastated and I was in shock when I heard. They called me from the hospital and I was busy helping them out, visiting them, bringing them food etc. They asked me to let all the other K parents in our school know and I wrote an email to everyone. That was really hard and emotional, I would cry every time I read the email I sent (because people would respond asking what they could do and my email was attached to their reply). I set up an online meal sign up and the school parents were great, we got six weeks' worth of meals set up for them. I was feeling emotionally drained because it made me so sad for them and kept wondering how I could ever deal with it if something like that happened to me, and worried that being around me would always remind her of her lost baby and that it would always be a source of pain for her, and physically exhausted as well, because I was getting over a cold and had post-URI asthma and couldn't breathe, and coughing a lot and was getting winded just going up stairs (I ended up on albuterol inhaler for a few days).

That's why I didn't post any WIW's during that time--I was basically in loungewear most of that week because I didn't feel like dressing up. Then we had the big Sedona trip for my sister's wedding and that was a lot of work and since we were at altitude I still was having a little trouble breathing. Now I'm finally feeling better physically, but still very sad for my friend. I've visited her several times and she is out of the hospital now and doing better, but still very sad. Her original due date is coming up soon and I am going to give her an Etsy necklace that I had made with her children's names and an angel wing with her baby's name. I'm still tearing up a lot when I think of how sad I am for her.

So big picture, my silly maternity clothes worries are nothing compared to the awful things that can happen in this world. The one good thing is that I had my 19 week ultrasound and everything looks normal and my baby looks healthy so far. That I am very thankful for.

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