Breaking Up With My Maternity Jeans...

HI. My name is Kristy and I’m a recovering maternity jeans addict. I still have days where I struggle to remain strong and JUST SAY NO to my beloved, perfectly worn, outrageously comfortable, belly paneled jeans. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that the whole wide world can’t wear maternity pants forever and ever. I mean, even my husband wants in on the maternity jeans phenomenon- he won’t admit it, but I know it’s true.

Let’s back track. I found out I was pregnant at six weeks, four days. By approximately eight weeks, I was “totally showing” (all a newly pregnant girl wants to hear is that she actually looks pregnant and not just bloated). Looking back, I can mock myself thinking I was showing; if I only knew that 9 months from then I would be so big that I’d willing lie and say I was expecting twins.

8 Weeks. "Totally Showing". Obviously.

Like 100 weeks. "Not that big, right?"

So, by 8 weeks, it was time to go buy my first pair of maternity jeans to make room for my chocolate sprinkle sized baby and loads of gas. I was eager, to say the least. My new jeans and I were a match made in heaven. There was so much stretch in the material that I could practically jazzercise in them. Don’t even get me started on the beauty of the lack of zippers and buttons- what more could a constantly peeing pregnant mother-to-be ask for? I distinctly remember telling my husband that I would be wearing these jeans for all of eternity, whether I was pregnant or not.

Here I am, 9 months after birthing that sweet creature, having stayed loyal to wearing my maternity pants. My wee baby has been out in this world ALMOST as long as he was growing in my uterus garden (If only I had the pleasure of saying he lived rent free in there for 9 months…he was more of a 42 week stay tenant) and the time has come. The time has come for me to break up with my life changing maternity jeans.

Don’t get me wrong. I have tried to squeeze back in to my pre-pregnancy pants. I suppose I should have known that my hips.would.grow.so.wide.and.will.never.return.oh.my.gosh.it’s.so.sad.they.are.so.wide.

Plus, I’ll be the first to admit that breastfeeding hasn’t really come through on the promise of making me super model skinny like I was counting on. Losing that last 10.8 pounds hasn’t been as easy as I planned. But, even those last little pounds can’t hold up my favorite maternity jeans anymore. I’m too young for droopy drawers and I’m pretty sure the baby is getting embarrassed with the little dance I have to do to yank my belly panel up to my boobies to get the darn pants to stay up.

After coming to terms with the sad fact that the eternal love affair I held with my maternity jeans was about to register irreconcilable differences, the search was on to find something to cover my arse that was actually considered appropriate for public wear. Meaning, I think people are on to my trick of slapping on my running shoes while wearing black yoga pants and a loose fitting t-shirt as to pretend I was sweating my life away at the gym, instead of just breaking a sweat trying to put a diaper on the baby.

I won’t lie to you. Shopping for real people pants was not fun and I consumed more Skinny Girl Margaritas than most do at 10am, but I pushed forward. After a month of searching, I finally found a pair that met the challenge. They work with my new mom hips and cover my post baby belly pooch. I confess that I cut the size tag out right away….before I even got to the cash register, really; because, let’s be real-zippers and buttons to deal with was going to be stressful enough without having to think about the double digit size being all up in my business too.

Day one of wearing my new jeans was epic. I came down the stairs like a teenage girl showing off her prom dress, there was a definite spring in my step. My husband couldn’t take his eyes off my derrière, and I walked around like Kristin Stewart didn’t have a thing on me (Robert Pattinson, here I come).

Recovery is all about honesty, so I’ll confess just a few more things. I peed on myself just a little when I rushed to the bathroom and forgot how to get out of the pants that I was trapped in- pulling an elastic panel up and down was SO much easier. Lastly, these words did come out of my mouth: “My peekacho feels confined. It’s like she’s suffocated in these pants”, to which my husband reminded me that that is exactly how it is supposed to feel when you wear pants that actually fit.

All in all, my heart is still a little torn over the break up with my maternity jeans. I keep them nicely folded and ready in my closet in case we decide to reunite. Actually, I won’t deceive you, if you see me in the next month or so, there is a 50% chance I will still be wearing an elastic waistband pant hiding under my shirt, because, breaking up is hard to do. However, I am dedicated to making my new fancy pants work. Although I’m scared to fully commit to a new relationship with pants that button, time will let our love blossom, and I know I can live happily ever after in them….but, I look forward to being pregnant again so I can divulge in yet another love affair with maternity jeans.

Stretchy Pants Forever,
Kristy

Review from I Heart Fresno Blog!

An awesome mommy-to-be blogger wrote a fabulous review of Birth Day Suit Maternity! For all of our local fans, make sure to check out the oh so cool blog: I Heart Fresno! It has everything you need to know about anything Fresno!


"As I get closer and closer to my due date… I’m a little freaked out. I can’t lie about that. This is my first baby and it’s been a very interesting experience being big and pregnant. You go through a lot of emotions and ups and downs… a lot of “Ew I feel so ugly” and “Oh my gosh what is happening to my body?!” Yea… stuff like that. And that’s why I’m ALWAYS pleased when I see something that helps pregnant women out– like Birth Day Suit Maternity. I love it when pregnant women don’t have to feel like they need to look frumpy all the time, even if it’s during labor!!!
Birth Day Suit Maternity believes that just because you’re going to the hospital, doesn’t mean you have to look or feel bad. Birth is not a sickness, and therefore, it would be nice to NOT be treated like a sick patient, but rather a woman who is about to experience one of the most crazy, amazing things in life. BIRTH! I know many of you are moms out there so you know what the hospital gives you when you go into labor. That’s right… they hand you that disgusting, used, XXXXL, paper thin hospital gown. So gross.

Are any of you pregnant right now? I recommend checking out Birth Day Suit Maternity’s website. They have adorable maternity gowns all handmade by two of our very own Fresnans. I can’t stress how important it is to support local business and handmade goods. Make sure you check out the gallery on their website for a view of all their designs and prints.

Oh! And don’t forget to “like” Birth Day Suit Maternity on FB!

- Dominique"

Thanks for the great review, Dominique!

The Winner of our Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who participated in our giveaway! Keep your eyes peeled because we intend to do lots of giveaways in the future!

Our winner of the Birth Day Suit Maternity Hospital Gown is:
Denise Bitar
at
Daisy Wheel Love Blog.
Denise- please contact us as soon as possible so we can send you your fabulous Birth Day Suit Maternity Hospital Gown. Message: Kristy@birthdaysuitmaternity.com

Let's Talk Expectations:

"Mommy Kristy Says:" is a new category in the Birth Day Suit Maternity Blog. Co-owner, Kristy, is a new mom of an 8 month old. In this section, Kristy will speak candidly and, often comically, about a variety of things from a first time mother's perspective. She will address pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, product reviews, and what life is like with a new baby!

Keep your eyes peeled for an additional category called: "Doula Kathryn Says:"- where the other half of Birth Day Suit Maternity (Kathryn) weighs in on similar topics, but from a totally different point of view! These topics of discussion will be much less formal than other areas of the blog, giving you the chance to get to know the fabulous gals of Birth Day Suit Maternity and help you relate on a more personal level.

As suggested by the amazing force behind our Birth Day Suit Maternity professional photographs, let's chat about EXPECTATIONS. In life, we are faced with expectations for any scenario we are about to encounter. With something as unique as pregnancy and all involved thereafter, you are bound to have some expectations. I know that I had TONS of preconceived ideas about how my pregnancy would be, what would happen during labor, what I swore WOULD NOT happen during labor (Hint: Starts with a P, ends with a P and has a couple O's in the middle), how breastfeeding would be, and what my life would be like as a mom.

I can tell you that most of how I thought things would play out....were wrong. So, is it better to go in to such a delicate situation with no expectations to alleviate the risk of disappointment? Or is it OK to have day dreams of how you think your birth, for example, will be.

I want to hear from you! If you are pregnant, what do you expect your birth to be like?- other than looking super stylish in your Birth Day Suit Maternity hospital gown, hehe. If you have recently had a baby, how has your new role as a mother been different than what you expected. These topics are so great to think about because it can 1) Help other moms relate that they are not alone if they feel let down by their expectations, and 2) Aid in your own journey of motherhood by realizing that sometimes what we think should happen won't go as planned but life will still go on.

I will elaborate on such topics in further posts, but as a brief beginning, here are some things that I had expectations of:

1. Getting Pregnant- I expected it to be easy. It wasn't.
2. Going in to labor- I expected to "just know" when I was actually in labor. I did not expect to wonder if this was it so many times!
3. Breastfeeding- I didn't have tons of expectations going in, except that I was convinced I wasn't going to like it, but I was going to do it anyway. Who knew I would fall in love with it so much, despite it being the second most difficult thing I've ever done in my life thus far (Number 1 being actually pushing that baby out!)

OK- Your turn! Tell us some things that you currently have expectations about or did you have expectations regarding mom things that turned out to be right or wrong?

-Kristy