10 weeks and sad because all my clothes are too tight already

[rosemarycait96]

Bit of a sad rant, sorry!

So I'm 10w6d with my first pregnancy (ish, haven't been dated/scanned yet so could be off) and I swear, I've absolutely ballooned in size. I like having what I call my 'starter bump', ie mostly bloat but I do think cute now that it's rounding out a bit already. But I've gone up at least one or two dress sizes already and my boobs are exploding out of my bras.

Bit of backstory- a few years ago I was overweight (BMI 30) and put in a huge amount of effort to lose 3 stone. I got to BMI 21, and my weight evened out nicely - I was a healthy size 8 until I conceived. I have controlled my weight quite religiously because of the fear of being overweight again.

Fast-forward to now. Morning sickness begged to be fed, constantly. If I wasn't eating every hour, I'd be wanting to throw up. I'm still having 3 meals plus at least 3 snacks a day and am always hungry. I did what I had to do to combat the nausea, but I'm not surprised I packed it on!

Basically I just went through my wardrobe today and tried all my clothes on to see what I could wear to see me through the rest of the 1st trimester, and I literally had to put 3/4 of my entire wardrobe into storage because it wouldn't go on me! So I did the obvious thing and cried naked on the bed while my husband patted my back and told me I was beautiful. 😂

I suppose I'm just looking for comfort/hand holding really. I love being pregnant for the most part and obviously I'm super excited, but my body image is in the toilet right now and I'm unsure on whether to start with the maternity stuff soon if I'm so limited in what I can wear already!

I'm 10w3d currently and am the same. With my first I gained no weight and had no bump until maybe 18 weeks or so.

This time round, like you have had ti feed nausea every hour and only with carbs. I've gained a lot of weight and already been wearing some maternity bits. My boobs are huge and uncomfortable, my stomach tender unless I'm wearing dresses or leggings.

I hope as the nausea settles I can eat a bit better and it will balance out.

It's a tough time to tackle body image when you know you're pregnant. Try to be kind to yourself. My midwife just said the first trimester is survival and I think she's right!

I am 39 weeks pregnant. I still remember feeling so frustrated the day I went through my wardrobe, tried on everything, and retired the majority of the clothes to a "hopefully you'll fit one day again" pile! Especially when I didn't feel bigger at all, and had little - no bump!

I bought a few dresses in the next size up that I knew would expand well (nothing with lines across the middle because that won't sit on the bump well, no wrap style for the boobs) and I also bought decent bras and I've been wearing them ever since! I opted for dresses because they were comfier, and I knew I was heading for summer, so maybe a few decent maternity jeans and t shirts would work well for u?

Honestly it made such a different to my mood and esteem. I felt great once I knew the clothes would fit and there was no "ah that should fit, oh balls it doesn't".

@Confusion101 thank you :) Yes, I stormed ebay this afternoon and bought some maternity bottoms for when I need them, and a couple of comfy looking dresses. I stopped being able to wear my jeans around week 8. The kicker for me was last week when we went on holiday and I couldn't wear half of what I packed, even though it fit me 2 weeks ago! Lots of clothes now consigned to the 'one day I'll fit into you again' pile, but hopefully with some new bits I'll feel less chubby and more pregnant.

@BeeYellowMumma All my sympathy for you, it's frustrating isn't it! Currently living in jogging shorts and baggy t shirts. I've seen ladies not needing maternity clothes until 20 weeks and then people who dive into them in the first trimester - there's such a difference in how our bodies change from person to person. Makes me feel a little better. Hope your nausea goes soon - mine has mostly subsided with the help of prochlorperazine and constant eating, lol.

@rosemarycait96 I feel your pain. I also started growing out of my clothes relatively early on (I'm currently 17w+4). Ok, yes, I even went up a size during ivf. It has taken me some time to come around to the idea that I'm allowed to be getting bigger. Getting clothes that fit and have room for a growing bump have made me feel better about it all.

At first I bought a few things the next size up, just to get me through a few days working from home and a few days a week in the office. Pretty soon after that I started looking into where to buy maternity clothes, so I could buy a few maternity things ready for when I needed them. (Currently I feel like my bump grows day by day, but that may be an exaggeration.)

Several weeks ago I ended up ordering a couple of batches of clothes from a couple of different online shops, then returning them all because they were the wrong size, then reordering the things I thought I might like in a better size. I highly recommend ordering a variety of sizes if you are ordering online for the first time!

I have found a few things more suited to my style (and current/expanding size) that I feel comfortable in, which makes me a little more comfortable with this whole getting bigger thing. What's worked for me so far include a few bits from M&S, H&M, Jojo mama bebe, and Seraphine (in their summer sale!).

It seems like everyone is different in how their bodies handle pregnancy. You don't have to follow someone else's timeline of when to get maternity clothes. I suggest you get a few clothes that will allow your bump to grow, and I hope you find some things that feel a little like you, maybe a mum-to-be version of you. 💐

Hi OP, congratulations on your pregnancy, my DS is just over 1yo now and I can tell you you’re in for a lot of dress size changes 😂

I didn’t fit in my jeans from about 8 weeks, 1 year after DS was born I fit in them again. I’ve had so many variations of my wardrobe. The maternity clothes that I bought first didn’t fit any the end of pregnancy so I needed more, then there was a time afterwards when I fit in the smaller maternity clothes again, then I wanted to stop wearing maternity things but didn’t fit in my pre baby clothes so I got a few more bits then. Also I could only wear clothes for ages that I could breastfeed in, which don’t need to be specific breastfeeding clothes but not everything let’s you get a boob out.

Whats interesting now is how much it feels like my style has changed! One of the things being I don’t want to wear shorter things anymore because I’m always running round after DS!

I've been just the same with my last two pregnancies. Currently 36 weeks and I've gained 20kg! That's over a third of my pre-pregnancy weight. Same happened with the last two, it's just what my body does. After a year of breastfeeding and running I lost it all again. So now I don't worry. Just avoid mirrors and scales, and know that you have some lovely supplies for your beautiful growing baby.

@Bluebonnet3 Thanks, very appreciated :) I caved and ordered some maternity shorts from M&S so glad to hear they're likely to be a good fit. Trying to get hold of Jojo Maman bits on Ebay has been a bit like fighting lions, but I'm sure I'll win one of them someday! My husband is constantly telling me it's okay that I'm putting on weight, that I'm supposed to etc, but it's hard fighting that instinct that it's terrible.

@PinkPlantCase thank you! I thought I was prepared for all the changes, but I wasn't prepared for the absolute speed of the 1st trimester weight gain, haha. I can't wait till the bump actually shows, at least then I'll feel it's worth it!

@Gettissuesgotissues thanks, good to know it's all normal etc. Good luck, you're so close to meeting your little one, how exciting!

I'm 7 weeks pg with #2 and can relate. I put on 3 stone with #1, but about 10lbs of that was in the 1st trimester and I felt uncomfortable.

In my first pregnancy I bought some regular and jeans a size or two up, these got me to week 20ish, with 2 of the elastically dresses getting me through the whole pregnancy. It was then really nice a few weeks PP to ditch the maternity jeans for my size-up ones as a middle ground.

I was really worried about weight gain but it came off plus a bit more, thank you breastfeeding!

@Beleagueretable good to know we all have such varying experiences and that feeling like a whale in the first trimester is totally normal! 😂 I'm planning on breastfeeding so praying that'll help it come off after baby is here.

At 10 weeks I was so horribly bloated that I thought I had a massive bump and it would continue for the whole pregnancy... it went back down in the early 2nd trimester, and then became more of a small real bump, and now i'm really bumping along in the 3rd trimester. A dress I wore to a wedding at 10 weeks is still one I could wear now, albeit a bit more snugly. The weird constipation/water retention at the 10-12 weeks stage is no fun!