When I first found out I was pregnant, our budget for maternity clothes was non-existent. I wasn't too fazed, though. When my nurse practitioner told me I should only gain 15-25 lbs...and those lbs at the end of the pregnancy...I perked up even more. Yes, I thought. I can do this. I will be one of those people who doesn't even show until six months.
That actually seemed pretty feasible those first few weeks when I consisted on jello and chicken soup. However, once the miracle of Zofran entered my life...and the miracle-in-a-different-way of steroids entered...things changed drastically. Have you ever taken steroids? How about a heavy dose for nine weeks?
Yeah. I was starving. All of the time. And my face blew up. And my clothes started getting tight.
Then, I developed hypertension.
And started swelling.
Currently, my legs and feet look like I'm 36+ weeks pregnant. (Note: I'm 22 weeks.)
Anyway. I'm just about at the point where I'm in full maternity clothes. A lot of them still look silly, but my regular clothes look funky, too.
And that brings me to the point of dealing with maternity clothes on a budget. If you go shopping for them, you quickly realize that most stores don't carry them. And the ones that do are pretty expensive. To me, it's just not worth it to fork over a ton of cash for clothes you will only wear for a few months. This is what I've learned so far:
--Check out your local thrift stores. In my case, this hasn't been particularly useful, as most of the clothes are gross, and the selection is slim. However, I've had friends hit pay dirt at a few, so it doesn't hurt to check them out.
--Make your regular clothes work. Those empire waist shirts? Perfect maternity shirts. I have two non-maternity shirts that will probably work up until my ninth month because they are in the flowy, high-waist style. You can also implement some of your regular clothes with layers or by wearing things unbuttoned. I also made my own Bella Band out of the stretchy top of a sundress (cost? $2), and it's stretching out my last two non-maternity jean skirts. I should get at least another month's use out of them. :)
--Think outside the box. I have been searching in vain for a decently priced maternity jean skirt. Finally, I found a pair of maternity JEANS at a Goodwill...and then I snagged another non-maternity set on sale...and asked a friend to turn them into a skirt. I paid her for her work...and still the whole skirt only cost me about $20. :) I have also had good luck shopping in the women's section and just buying larger skirts and shirts off the clearance rack. :)
--Hand-me-downs! I didn't think I would get any of these since there aren't any women my size who have been pregnant recently, but a former grad school fellow student just gave birth, and, a few weeks ago, she gave me a HUGE bag of maternity tops. Score! Many of them were hand-me-downs to her, and I'll be passing them along as well.
--Sales, sales, sales. I hit up Kohl's the other day and picked up 7 long-sleeved, plain tops for a little over $19...with a savings of $163! They are slightly out of season, but they will do great here in a couple of months. :)
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