Maternity clothes!!

[Rocklover]

I am sooooo pissed off today, I have discovered that no shops in my part of the country sell maternity clothes except within cities. I don't want to order online because I am not sure of my size.

I have just got back from yet another fruitless shopping trip in another town and I am fed up with it all. I have NO trousers that fit me (either too big or too tight), arghhhh.

And to top it off, I just looked in the mirror and I look like a HIPPO. I made the mistake of looking on Google at pics of other women at 25 weeks and most of them look smaller than me. I have no scales, so no idea how much I weigh, I'm terrified of what I have done to my body with my rubbish diet and no exercise.

I am having a meltdown. :(

Just wanted to send you a non mn hug.

Hope you get something sorted soon!

So do I, think it may have to be the online route. I am also going to have to modify my diet because I eat crap when I'm feeling sick and I was already overweight when I got pregnant. So scared of what I weigh right now.

Dp says I look great, I think he is being nice or is insane.

Maternity clothes are an arse to find. Since having DD 3.5 years ago all our shops have stopped selling and even in the bigger cities of Newcastle and Sunderland many of the bigger shops have moved their maternity stuff to the big out of town metro centre, where I can't be arsed to go.

H&M seem to be quite good at keeping a range in all their shops. Go online, maternity clothes ar stretchy anyway so just go for your normal size but in maternity and it should be fine. Many places have free returns if they don't fit.

By the way I'm 25 weeks and look massive. I have a midwife appointment today and I'm sure she's going to say I'm putting on too much weight which is shit as I have a really restricted gestational diabetes diet.

If it helps I found New Look to be fairly true to size (except for jeans, but I have a fat arse). You can also order online but return in any of their stores, which I found useful.

H&M sizes come up small,but the stuff is nice. Topshop instore only had teeny sizes 8,10 etc so I didn't try and red herring (Debenhams) is generously sized.

I am due in a couple of weeks and measuring huge but still fitting into everything comfortably at the moment (touch wood!) except a pair of Mothercare jeans which were a bit on the tight side at 20 weeks, I am still wearing them but its a struggle by the end of the day!

New look was all I found locally. Bought a lot from eBay in the end but I was awkward for sizes too.

Fortunately most of our partners actually love us exactly how we are. My OH also finds the fact that I'm carrying his child extremely attractive and now thinks the weight around my stomach is perfectly beautiful. I however know a lot of that weight is just that.. weight not baby! (I'm only 17 weeks) But that is why we need them during pregnancy, to cheer us up.

I think I'm starting to understand how you're feeling since I now need to purchase a new bra since the one I have is too tight and hurting me. I know though pre-pregnancy how difficult it was to get a decent bra fitting after last time spending over 1 hour in the same shop looking for a bra that would fit comfortably. This I find extremely irritating because I am not disproportionately big to the rest of the population but bra shopping makes me feel like I am. I have to go out at weekend and buy a new bra and some maternity trousers (in a long which is always a fun shopping trip without the maternity aspect). Right now I know my local town of Guildford is rubbish for these things so I'm considering whether to go to Basingstoke (nearly an hour away) or Portsmouth (also an hour away). Failing that I'll have to brave London (an hour by train) which I hate.

As far as your diet is concerned I'm sure it isn't as bad as you think it is. We all have moments where we eat loads of crap we shouldn't, I've already had 2 chocolate bars this morning because my MS resurfaced and I was feeling crappy. I hope you feel better soon Rocklover.

I'm about the same stage as you, and overweight too (but if I recall from past posts, I'm much bigger than you, so don't feel too bad!)
I ordered some trousers online from mothercare, and they're really comfy. Could you guesstimate your size and go from there and send any too small/toobig back?

Thanks all. Yes I'm thinking of ordering some jeans and tops from New Look online (the actual store nearest to me doesn't stock maternity clothes). I am not sure whether I am a 14 or 16, I was either depending on where I shopped before becoming pg.

I may just order both sizes and send back whatever doesn't fit, that's the best I can do. The thought of going into a city to shop at the moment fills me with dread, I am just too knackered and nauseous most of the time.

hey rocklover - have you got a next near you? Can't remember if I said this to you but if you set up an account with them you can have clothes delivered to your local store. I did this yesterday - I ordered 2 mat coats and 2 mat dresses (same coat/dress just different sizes as I don't know what size I am anymore!). Picked them up in store, went straight to changing room to try them on, returned dresses and one coat to the store there and then and kept one coat. It's a faffy way of doing it but you are guarenteed what you want in your size in the store and there's no bother of waiting in for a delivery/posting back returns. I did feel incredibly miserable though as I've got a coat in a size 20 maternity (I'm usually a size 16 pre preg) but it does look ridiculoulsy big on me - I thought it best to get one I can fit a toasty warm jumper under if it gets really cold and also allow lots of room for potential further growth.

Oh, and if you're going along the route of online, look up jojo mama bebe - they have nice maternity stuff and I think free delivery.

Good luck. xx

For work I have just bought some normal range primark dresses (at £9 each it doesn't matter if they get stretched) which I can wear with tights or leggings - I have found it much more comfy than trousers. I feel your pain though - the first time I ventured to the shops to look for maternity clothes I almost cried.