The Return of the Tummy

With my first pregnancy, I was so excited about my new baby bump that even the awkward bloating stage was exciting for me. I am super lucky (not) and get very bloated the second I become pregnant. It makes me look way farther along than I truly am. The first pregnancy, I thought it was sort of cool. It was evidence that I was actually pregnant! This time, it's not so nice. 

We had a bit of a rocky start with this pregnancy, and so I wanted to make sure everything was ok before we told everyone our awesome news. This meant I was trying to disguise my belly. It is impossible. 

The one awesome crappy thing about this second pregnancy is that I still have that spare baggage from Peanut's trip to get here. I gained a whopping 60 pounds with him. Ugggghhhh. And I sure as heck wasn't back to my trim and slim pre-baby body (at least I feel like I was trim and slim in my memories pre-baby. Much trimmer and slimmer than post-baby, anyway). I have this nice little inner-tube of the dreaded "mom pooch". It's a lovely little companion that just won't go away. I lost a lot of the baby weight, but not from there. So I have a little saggy pooch-ness that just hangs awkwardly over waistbands of pants. It's very attractive, let me tell you. This was a challenge before we became pregnant. Now? It's the bane of my existence. 

As my tiny little uterus is growing, it pushes all that loveliness up into the mom pooch area. Which makes me look HUGE. Which meant that trying to disguise this new development entailed wearing muu-muu-like dresses and tent-like shirts. These are NOT flattering silhouettes, contrary to what you might think. 

The first time around when I started to show it was cute! I had this little baby bump that looked awesome in tight shirts, and I was super proud of it. This time, the bump is not as adorable. It's a little bumpy and misshapen from the stretch marks and stretched-out skin (isn't this the most attractive sentence ever?! You must be so happy you are reading this...). Plus, I figured that the emerging bump would replace the mom pooch and smooth out into a cute bump. Makes sense, right? Instead, it has just exaggerated the mom pooch even more. It looks ridiculous wearing pants. The only saving grace is the new pairs of maternity pants I have purchased from H&M. They have this very low band that allows the top of my belly free reign while making the transition a little more even to my (quickly disappearing) waistline. It sort of smooths out the poochiness and makes it less noticeable. Thank goodness. The problem is, I only have 2 pairs of these pants (one in black and one in mint!). Which means I wear them every.single.day. They will probably disintegrate next week from the amount of wash and wear they are getting. It's a little bit depressing, actually. 

See? While being able to still squeeze into my regular jeans seems like a good thing, it actually creates this gross bunchy tummy silhouette (I honestly can't believe I am posting these photos...sigh. Especially since the "After" one is totally out of focus. JUDGE NOT!).
BUT, the mat pants help smooth that out. So, I have fully embraced the mat pants. They really are more comfy as well, which is always a bonus in pregnancy.

I am interested to see where this situation goes in the near future. My belly is only going to get bigger (much, much bigger if my pregnancy with Peanut is any sign of things to come). Will the mom pooch continue to be a stubborn free-loader, riding it out to the bitter end? Will I end up with a 2-part bump (shudder)?? My only hope is that this will not be the case. And I don't even want to think about how much stronger the mom pooch is growing day by day. I am sure when this pregnancy is done, it will be revealed in it's full glory of nastiness. Gee, I can't wait.

Oh, and here is a full view of the mint skinnies...sorta in love. Pretty cool for maternity pants, no? I usually wear them with my black ballet flats, but apparently I am in full-on housewife mode here...barefoot and pregnant. Yikes!