Awkward Maternity Stages

For twenty-nine years of my life I dreamed of someday being pregnant and having a baby.  Okay, maybe not for those first few years, ages one, two, and three... but certainly for twenty-five years of my life.

Not only did I imagine how amazing it would feel to feel a tiny baby wiggling inside my belly, but I pictured how incredibly cute and beautiful I would look in maternity clothes with a progressively growing baby bump.  I was going to be an absolutely adorable pregnant mother-to-be... followed very quickly thereafter as being the thinnest mom anyone had ever seen.  "You just had a baby?!?!" other mothers would say to me in disbelief.  "You look amazing."

Yes, I had it all perfectly planned -- and I would have an adorable maternity wardrobe.

But when I imagined my future maternity wardrobe, I had no idea there are many awkward maternity stages when I would look anything but adorable...

 

With Tracey Ann, I didn't really not really look pregnant until I was six or so months along... but I did look as though my clothes just didn't fit well for the entire second trimester.  Since it was my first, it took time for my belly to pop out... but for months before then, I definitely was growing, but I certainly didn't look adorably pregnant, the way I anticipated.  My regular clothes did not fit, and maternity clothes did not fit the way they were supposed to -- with a cute baby bump.  It was an awkward maternity stage.

 

Then, once Tracey was born, not only did not I immediately shrink back to my pre-pregnancy size, but I suddenly had to dress for nursing.  Here I had just purchased a new wardrobe consisting of maternity clothes, and now I have to buy more clothes to fit me post-pregnancy AND allow for easy nursing.  Now, I did not buy "nursing apperal" that they sell with straps and clips built in for nursing... but I learned very quickly that my pre-pregnancy tops did not fit and were not very conducive to nursing needs.  It was another awkward post-maternity stage.

 

I nursed Tracey until I was pregnant again -- so I never really got back to wearing pre-pregnancy tops because the nursing needs were never finished.

 

Then, with the second pregnancy, I already had a maternity wardrobe, right?  Well, supposedly -- except, the second pregnancy was with TWINS!  So, while my belly didn't pop until around six months with Tracey... my belly practically popped at two months with our twins.  All of a sudden, I needed some summer maternity clothes because I needed clothes that allowed for a growing belly immediately.  Yet another awkward maternity stage.

 

That is, until I outgrew the maternity clothes.  With twins, by about seven months most of my maternity clothes did not fit, and I certainly did not want to buy even larger maternity clothes to accommodate my last few months of twin pregnancy, when, chances are, I will never need clothes that big again.  This was the most awkward maternity stage yet hoping that now one would notice my bare mid-drift.

 

Then, after having twins, I just get to fall back into those nursing clothes I wore with Tracey Ann.  Well, one certainly would think so, but no...

 

Following my pregnancy with twins, my stomach is not recovering the same way from this second pregnancy as it did from my first.  I recently learned that my abdominal muscles actually split during the course of the twin pregnancy leaving me with an abdomen that looks about five months pregnant... So, I'm getting even more use out of those maternity clothes, but maternity clothes don't always mean they're easy in which to nurse... because most women who are pregnant and wearing maternity clothes are not nursing.  I think this is the most awkward maternity stage yet...

Oh, how little I knew all those years ago when I imagined myself looking so adorable during and after pregnancy.