I was on the way to meet a friend for maternity shopping & coffee this afternoon when she texted me that she had just spent near to $200 on a maternity skirt & dress and the sheer disbelief that the ‘premium’ that she paid for was actually for the silly elastic band to accommodate the belly instead of a zip; and not some designer label. Oh! the laments of preggy women!

We started our afternoon with some milkshake (friend was absolutely craving for OUAM due to my previous post :p) before we started our maternity shopping at Marina Square.

yummy milkshakes for a quick perk-me-up! 

Now I stupidly wore a pair of skinny jeans, elastic waist no less which I had purchased at $29 from Uniqlo previously during my 6-7 week of pregnancy; which lasted me nicely till about some 3-4 weeks ago (because it got lost in the laundry for a while). And while rushing to get out of the house to meet friend on time today, I simply slipped it on standing up even if it felt a little snug (assuming that it would expand a little later on in the day as with all my other denims).

It was only till I sat down during my journey that I realized how the band was folding into my belly and baby chungkin was fidgeting around a lot! I was soon in discomfort and I could only imagine baby was probably feeling the same with all the crazy squirming. Ah, crap! Bad choice of clothes. Intuitively, I discreetly placed a finger beneath my top, between the elastic band and my belly just to create some room in between. My day hadn’t even started and here I was, all desperate to change into a more comfortable pair of bottoms.

“I need new pants, now!”, I yelped to my friend upon meeting her.

So when friend brought me to our first maternity store for the arvo, I frantically zoomed in on all the bottoms that were on display trying to find ANY pair of jeans/capri/berms. I did try on a pair of maternity jeans amidst all the other clothes which enthusiastic saleslady handed to me, except that it looked really funny with excess denim sticking out at the bottom and at the hips - yes I am that fussy even in desperate times.

I did end up purchasing 3 items – none of which were bottoms but very lovely looking tops and dresses – in the end for $235 (oh golly, that was practically my shopping budget!). And as I felt baby doing another flurry of kicks in the belly as we left the store, I knew that I really needed to get new pants pronto! The little one was definitely not liking being squashed.

2 shops later and at our last stop, I finally found some maternity jeans (skinny cut no less, hee hee) which caught my fancy. I tried it on, it fit like a glove, came in a nice shade of blue and needed zero alterations on the length (which meant that I could wear it immediately) – I was sold. And as I changed into my new pair of jeans, I could feel baby kicking less and well, probably settling back into his comfy position.

Total maternity shopping damage: $434 for 4 items for cheery tops & dresses and a pair of very comfy jeans.

That said, no regrets on the purchases since they weren’t in any particular prints or trends and can last me post-delivery, plus they double up as nursing wear as well.

And I’m so going to keep them aside for when baby chungkin #2 is in the oven (fingers crossed).