Second Trimester

Maternity Clothes Shopping

I approached my first maternity clothes shopping expedition with excitement and trepidation. I was 4 months pregnant and in that incredibly difficult in-between stage where you don’t look pregnant, but your regular pants are being held together by a rubber band. I was visiting my mother who was very excited about the upcoming arrival of her first “grandy,” and she insisted on taking me to a maternity store to shower me with a new wardrobe. What woman could say no to that?

Initially, I was impressed with selection of stylish outfits; however, my mother gravitated to all the maternity clothes of her generation--the ones with pastel prints and eyelet embellishments, fashions more appropriate for the baby I was carrying than for her daughter. After compromising on a few outfits, I went back to the dressing room (a must when shopping for maternity clothes), and began trying on outfit after outfit. Everything seemed to hang off of me, but my mother and the sales lady kept promising me that I would soon begin to fill the expanse of space in the garments. That’s when the imitation pregnant bellies came out available in 6 months (the size of a soccer ball) and 9 months (the size of a beach ball). “Surely there’s no way I’ll be that big, right?” I asked. “Yes, you will” they’d nod and smile. So back I went to try on the clothes with the imitation bellies, a humbling and somewhat liberating experience.

It was only a few weeks later that I began donning the purchases from that shopping trip, and what a relief it was to finally wear maternity clothes. Not only could I could breathe easier and not worry about a rubber band breaking and my pants falling off, but I finally looked pregnant. This is when I started loving my new pregnant look. Not only did I feel pregnant, but at last, I looked it, and I began to glow.

—Kim, Central Kentucky, mother of three