Wowee...

I finally had to break down and buy some maternity clothes and I can't believe how expensive they are! I got things on sale and still forked over $25 for a pair of jeans... on sale. Hopefully these clothes will stretch with me and I won't have to buy many more.

When I was pregnant, I ended up just buying a lot of the Just My Size stuff from wal-mart because the plus size maternity was too expensive for us. ;-; And to boot, it's hard to find sometimes. On the bright side, the two pair of maternity pants I did buy, lasted me through the whole pregnancy. ^^

All the tops I've bought are actually just x-large or plus sized tops 'cause NON of the maternity tops would fit over my breasts! But I think it is cheaper this way anyway.

I'm lucky that I only need one season's worth of clothes ('cause that's essentially all there is here) so as long as they continue to fit I will be able to wear the couple things I've bought.

You could try consignment shops to find cheaper stuff.

If you have a Ross in town, they have (at least at ours) a large selection of maternity clothes. Wish I had known when I was pregnant!

Also, we have what's called a Kid to Kid. Resale shop for children's clothes and toys, but also maternity clothes.

Good luck! You're right...they're expensive!

Hmmm...have any of you tried Motherhood? (In store, or online) They have regular and plus sizes, and they have some very nice sales. They often will have in store specials, like two maternity tanks for $20 and things like that.

They also sell nursing clothes and bras.

Have you tried eBay? There are lots of women selling gently used maternity clothing-lots of nice things on there, too.

For nursing clothes, I highly recommend Motherwear. More expensive, yes, but the QUALITY is wonderful. No cheap sewing, cheap fabrics, etc. NICE stuff. Things that will last through multiple babies.

Buying regular clothes in a size or two larger NEVER worked for me. I had 9+ and 10+ pound babies, and looked like I was carrying twins. I would have had to buy regular clothes 3-4 sizes larger to fit over my huge belly, and then the shoulders/arms and other parts of the top would have been way too big. I would have looked like a big bedsheet. Maternity clothes worked much, much better.

One of my FAVORITE outfits with my youngest baby (almost 2 now) was a pair of denim overalls that I bought off of eBay, and they were a more modern DARK colored rinse, and they were CAPRI length. VERY cute!

I bought 2 t-shirts from Motherhood maternity (prob $10-$15 each) one in black, and one in chocolate brown. I wore them with the denim capri-alls, and either black, or brown flip-flops, depending on which color tee I had on. I got so many compliments on how comfortable, but stylish the outfit was.

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I didn't order off of ebay because I want to be able to return the clothes if they don't fit. I did look though and there's quite the selection there if you know they're going to fit. I ended up ordering from Motherhood and from Gap/Old Navy because I had a gift certificate to use from them.

Hehe... I did buy one pair of capris a size up a couple of weeks ago and they are ginormous on my legs and butt and barely fit around my tummy. I feel like a tent in them since they pouf out around my legs and butt so much... it makes my already ample hips seem even larger. Not a flattering look.

I found some good stuff on clearance, but just couldn't believe how expensive everything is to begin with. I bought a cute tank for $6 that was originally $20... I never spend that much money on a simple tank top. But, I guess the market is cornered. We need the clothes and don't have an option (well, nudity I suppose ) so they can charge a premium for them.

I didn't have to buy plus sized. According to the sizing charts I'm a L/XL depending on the brand and piece, so that also cut the price down some. I think it's a shame that they charge more for plus sized clothing, like bigger people don't want to dress nicely too. That's one thing I hated most about being at my heaviest is that they charged more for clothing that was poorly made and ugly.

One last thing, I just have to ask, whose brilliant idea was it to put a pregnant woman in horizontal stripes?? That seems to be the big thing this season and I think I feel wide enough without emphasizing said width. Sheesh.

Gale-

A lot of the pants are not going to fit you well right now, since you are at that stage where you are just getting out of your regular pants, and going into maternity ones. Trust me...come November, you will be thankful for the extra room.

On the plus size thing, I wanted to make a few comments. I sew, actually do professional seamstressing on the side. It actually DOES cost more to make a top or pair of pants in plus size. It even costs more to make a size L than it does a size S in the regular sizes. If you ever look on the back of a sewing pattern, you will see what I mean. It might take me 3 yards of fabric to make a dress in a size small, but it will take 3 1/4 yards to make it in a medium, and 3 1/2 yards to make it in a large, and 3 3/4 to make it a size XL. Along with the fabric costs, it takes more thread, and more of any trims/ribbon/binding/interfacing, or whatever other notions are involved in making that item.

I bought lots of stuff at Old Navy because they often had maternity things on sale. I also liked Motherhood -- I got a pair of maternity jeans there and they're super comfortable. The only problem is that it's hard to keep them up. Even now when I'm huge they still slide down because they don't have a good strong waistband because of the belly panel (which feels good on your big swollen belly, however!) I got a dress there on sale and I've used it every time I had to dress up. It was really comfortable, kind of a little wrap dress, and I got it in size Large and somehow it's managed to fit me just right the whole way.

I had thrown away a lot of my "fat clothes," but fortunately I'd kept lots of size 2x and 3x t-shirts and 2x sweatpants, which I'm basically living in now around the house.