Maternity Clothes, Shoes, Bras Ect...

You will totally know when you need new clothes, and bras. Go to maternity stores such as Motherhood. They have adorable clothes, bras, underwear, and other things you may find you want like morning sickness lollipops, lotion for stretchmarks if you get them, books on pregnancy and parenting. Shoes, I would wait until your feet do start to swell, then go to walmart and get a cheap pair of comfortable flats or sandles, if the weather is warm. I was pregnant all summer and could not wear anything but flip flops. my feet were so swollen, but it doesnt happen to everyone.

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Congrats on your pregnancy!!! You've gotten some good advice on where to buy maternity clothes when you decide you want/need them. I think when that is all depends on how your current clothes are styled. If you wear tighter, form-fitting clothes, then you will need to buy bigger stuff earlier. I found it very comfortable and useful to buy nice looking elastic waisted pants and some longer shirts for the first few months and also handy for the first few months post-partum. The newer styles of maternity pants are below the belly, which I have found much more comfortable and easier to wear throughout the pregnancy. You want to avoid tight waists that constrict your belly growth. It will make you feel sick.

As for shoes, comfort, comfort, comfort. Avoid heels and pointy toe type shoes as much as possible. Your feet are more likely to swell if restricted. There are some great flats or mules on the market these days. Try www.zappos.com for literally thousands of styles. Also, nutrition is important to prevent swelling. Make sure you are eating lots of protein, drinking lots of water, avoiding sugar and soda, and salt your food to taste. I followed these principles taught in my Bradley childbirth class and my feet didn't swell at all. My son was even two weeks late. Good luck with the next 8 months and beyond:-)

J.

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you will definately know when you need to start buying clothes.. because you will feel like you have nothing to wear because nothing fits you right... your feet dont always swell. it depends on the person. Mine swelled for one day and that was it. so I wouldnt go out and buy new shoes unless you dont have any comfortable flats.

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You want to be as comfortable as possible during this wonderful time. So if things are getting tight around the edges, go shopping while you can still walk around the mall and take your time doing so. Comfort plays a key roll in pregnacy. You don't want to feel frumpy wearing your husbands clothes. You deserve to look as beautiful as you are, so go ahead and go out to Motherhood, even the regular department stores are caring maternity clothing now. But I think you would get more helpful info if you went to a specialty store first. Like Motherhood. Plus they have LOTS of good deals too. Don't be afraid of the clothes not fitting later in pregnacy. My only problem with the clothing that I bought was the jeans. They weren't comfortable after a few months. But the yoga pants were sooooo cozy. And they have nice ballerina flats to wear that are nice and sheek for the casual and dressy occasions. Congrats to you and your new coming family! Enjoy this time. Treasure every moment!
D. Heath

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I just had a baby in December. I bought maternity clothes throughout my pregnancy from beginning to end. I just wanted to be comfortable...and still feel cute. Early in my pregnancy I bought clothes, especially tops, that were not maternity, but were a style that would accomodate my growing belly. That way I could still wear them after the baby arrived.

If you are waiting to buy maternity clothes because of financial reasons, I suggest checking out E-bay and or a local consignment shop. I bought from those as well as Motherhood, MimiMaternity, JCPenney, the Gap, Kmart, and Fashion Bug. I only bought E-bay/consignment clothes that were new with tags. You'll be surprised when you see how many people have clothes to get rid of that they never got to wear (it happened to me :)...and they sell them for a only fraction of the original cost. I also borrowed clothes from a friend.

Also, check for sales (the Gap always has a great clearance rack) and even coupons in all those magazines that you get at your doctor's office.

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D.,
First off Congrads! WOW is your life going to change drastically and there is nothing that anyone can say to prepare you for your change and your little bundle of joy!
Maternity clothes:
For my first born, I never really had to purchase clothes. I did not really show until I was 8 months pregnant. By then I just purchased a few things from the local maternity store. Shoes, I wore whatever felt best. My feet would swell so bad when I would get home from work, that most of the time I just took my slippers to work with me and a comfy pair of slip on hoes for getting in and out of the car. Bras... WOW! I went through a ton of them cuz my breast went from a size 34C to a 38DD, so I had a continually compensate for that.

For my second child, I began showing before I even knew I was pregnant. I would be flat as a rail in the morning and then at night I would be all bloated up. I needed to begin wearing maternity clothes when I was 4 months pregnant with him. I used some of the clothes I purchased with my first.... but I also purchased "lots" of clothes off EBay. I found that I needed a size medium with him where with my first I was in a small and Xsmall.

For my last, I began showing immediately. But.... I only pulled out a few of the maternity clothes (I am now trying to sell them on EBay!) One thing that I found with her is that I needed a size large. With her I broke out in a horrible rash on my belly so the normal maternity clothes really bothered it as they cover the belly. I also found the belly cover in pants and shorts to be very uncomfortable for you unless your belly is really sticking out there. So, I just went to Kohl's and bought a ton of XLarge sweatpants. They have some that with the right top could be considered nice work clothes! That was much more comfortable for me and I still wear them to this day. I just roll them a bit. Bras.... I decided to get sports bra's with her. They were much more comfortable than Bra's and I did not have to worry about the sizes and getting news ones. Plus I felt supported better. Shoes.... I was actually just barefoot with her and then a nice pair of slippers and slip on shoes.

Good Luck! and again..... congrads!

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JcPenneys has a nice maternity section. I also bought alot of my clothes from the Motherhood store. They have jeans there that can be worn during different stages of your pregnancy. They have one style that can take you from 0-9 months. They were so comfortable and worked great for those first few weeks postpartum also. As for shoes, I love the slip on mule style. Sketchers makes a tennis shoe mule that goes with everything casual. It is a blessing when you are 9 months pregnant and you do not have to bend over to tie your shoes. The also stretched while my feet grew and my feet swelled badly in the last few weeks I was pregnant. Hope this helps and good luck with everything. It will be an amazing ride.

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don't go over board on buying panel pants. I hate those stupid things. Uusally the best way to go is elastic waistband pant. Wal-mart usually has a decent selection. I also saw pants at motherhood.com (I think) that were like the kids pants that have the buttons on the waist so that you buy them a little bigger and then adjust the buttons for your waist. Pretty nifty and def more stylish than panel pants. Shoe wise get ready to add a 1/2 to another whole shoe size by the time your done. I have 2 kids and went from and 8 1/2 -9 to a 9 - 9 1/2. the ones that slip on are great for at home but because you are going to get ungainly (although no more than necessary hopefully) you need to buy a pair of shoes that are still going to support your legs and ankles. Congrats and good luck!!

It's really a person thing. It varies from pregnancy to pregnancy and person to person. I think by 3 months I was starting to wear some maternity clothes. I am pregnant with my third now and started pulling out some maternity items by about 6 weeks. I didn't gain too much with either of my first 2 - 28 and 23 total, but my belly always popped out early and I couldn't get away with regular clothes really. I think people suspected twins with all 3. My feet never really swelled and never changed sizes. I wore tennis shoes much of the time. Of course I only worked while pregnant with my first and I was a kindergarten teacher so tennis shoes were fine. After that I've been home so no one cares whether I wear shoes at all - and I never do in the house. Slip ons are nice near the end just because it gets hard to reach your feet. Someone else mentioned bras. Definitely focus on getting new ones as you outgrow them and find ones that are comfortable. That would change for me - different styles being comfortable. It impacts my mood and general comfort though so it's important to find the right size/style. You can increase and decrease in size by a lot over the course of the pregnancy and post - nursing or not.

You just need to decide when you feel like your clothes are too uncomfortable and then it's time to start trying out some maternity items - either items you can use to extend the use of reg clothes or regular maternity clothes. It's appropriate to start wearing them when you need them.

I am 27 weeks but as for the rest of my body I can still fit in my jeans I just cant button them. If you go to motherhood maternity in the mall, they have a "belly band" and it is a big spandex band that you can put over the top of your pants and it keeps them up and together, Its cool cause it will convert any pants into maternity

I bought only a few pieces to last me until I started to show. Shoes, well, I held off on those until I went up half a size. Some things you can buy will last you the entire pregnancy. My husband bought me a beautiful throw-over sweater. if you go to a maternity store, they have these pillows that you strap onto your mid section to see if the piece will still fit when yuo get big. i used to shpt at motherhood maternity and Kmart. When you shop at motherhood, they give you gift packs that have lots of coupons and free samples of all kinds of neat things. I'd just buy a few things at a time. I also soon learned that those pants with the big ugly band on them were to become my best friend.
Good luck!

I'm 19 weeks pregnant and have just started to wear maternity clothes. I highly recommend ebay. In fact, there is this awesome store on ebay called Mystic clothing, that sells nice shirts (brand new) relatively cheap. I bought 7 shirts and 2 pairs of pants for $100. Some of the shirts are kind of general, like long sleeved t-shirts, but they are super comfortable!

Good luck!