Stretchy Pants are Awesome: A Review of My Maternity Pants
One of the oddest benefits of being pregnant has been that I really enjoy wearing stretchy pants. At first I was incredibly hesitant to wear maternity pants, like there was some strange stigma attached to them that I just couldn’t get past. Plus, (I guess since this is my first pregnancy) it took a really long time for the belly to show. Even when I first started wearing maternity pants in public, when I was at 18 weeks, I was still amazing small compared to how I am now – at 31 weeks. Of course, the reason I started wearing the maternity clothing was because my non-maternity pants were uncomfortably tight, so whether the belly was obvious or not, if was definitely there.
I found the rubber-band-around-the-button method of extending the wear of my regular pants to be annoying, even though it did extend the life of my regular wardrobe a little. But since I was planning on having at least two kids, I figured investing in a few pairs of wearable pants would be a good idea. Of course, I’m nothing if not frugal, so I did check out local thrift stores first. That was a complete dead end. The maternity pants I found were all very, very used. The elastic was overstretched and twisted, the fabric panels were faded and pilling, and the styles appeared to be as old as me. I barely wanted to touch them, let alone purchase and wear them.
In the end I wound up purchasing five pairs of maternity pants from four different stores. First I went to a Motherhood Maternity store and bought a pair of Secret Fit Belly Boot Cut Jeans that were regularly $25 but on sale for $22. I also got a similar pair of Crop Jeans (capris) that were, I think, the same price. I bought a size small for the regular jeans and medium for the crops, but for some reason the latter always fit better and the former were a little loose for many weeks. I find the adjustable belly panel to be frustrating. When it’s pulled all the way up, I tend to get warm, or itchy, and after a few washes the fabric of my shirts was getting stuck on the full panel. Plus it’s a dark color and visible though many shirts. I prefer to wear the pants with the panel folded over, but I find myself often pulling up the pants every time I stand up from a sitting position and constantly adjusting the folded-over panel. Overall, they’re both comfortable, but I don’t wear them unless my favorite jeans are dirty. Oh, and because it’s winter, otherwise I’d wear the crop jeans more often – even with adjusting the band, they’re still comfy.
I also purchased a pair of khaki pants, probably boot cut, with an under-the-belly elastic band that are Motherhood Maternity brand retailing for $30, but I got them at Burlington Coat Factory for $12.99. I’m short and they’re a little long, so when I started wearing them I folded up the bottom cuff, but as my belly’s grown, I can just barely get by without folding them up. They’re comfortable, but the elastic band usually twists a little when I sit, and so I adjust them every time I stand. It’s an easy adjustment, though, easier than the aforementioned jeans, and quick. And they look very nice. I’ve worn them for just about every formal occasion lately, from Christmas dinner to church services, but they’re still casual and comfortable enough for everyday use or office attire.
I bought a pair of black slacks with under-belly elastic and a matching shirt from the New Recruit brand, which is sold at the Army and Air Force Exchange. It cost $30 for both, but I haven’t worn the shirt yet as it’s polyester and a little warm. The pants, though, I’ve been wearing. I haven’t been wearing them in public much, even though I bought them to have something dressy, but they’re so incredibly comfortable that I often wear them around the house. They’re mostly polyester with just a touch of spandex and they’re loose and flowing and light and I almost never have to adjust them. And they look much nicer than sweatpants, so I don’t feel like a bum even if I’m just hanging around the house in them. I really like wearing them.
Surprisingly, my favorite maternity jeans are the Old Navy Low-Rise Boot-Cut Jeans that cost $36.50 but that I bought for sale on their website for $25. Actually, I was pretty mad at Old Navy because I had to order these pants online instead of buying them in the store. I know that Old Navy used to have maternity clothes in their stores, but once I got pregnant, I could no longer find a store that still had a maternity section. I hate buying normal clothes online since they often don’t fit as well as I’d hoped, and so I was extra wary about ordering pregnancy pants. I measured myself twice and checked it against the online size chart three times and read all the reviews before placing the order. When the pants arrived I was happy with how they looked, except that they sent me the wrong size. I ordered the size I wanted, but they sent the wrong one. This was days before we moved and now I had to go out of my way to FedEx the pants back to them after hours of struggling with the utterly uncooperative return label I had to print off the internet, which only successfully happened after some inventive finagling – and then they shipped the new pants to the wrong address! I was in hysterical tears twice (Thank you, pregnancy hormones) before the whole mess was worked out.
So, many weeks after ordering them, I finally had the correct pants and was able to start wearing them. Because they’re low-rise, they have an under-belly elastic band sown into the jeans instead of a full belly panel and this had made them much more comfortable then the first pairs of jeans I had purchased. I wear these Old Navy jeans all the time. They’re a little tight just after they’re washed, but they’re still as comfortable at 31 weeks as they were at 25 weeks. I do have to pull them up sometimes when I stand, but that’s about all the adjusting required. So even though I swore up and down that I wouldn’t order clothes again from Old Navy after all the frustration they caused me, and because I’m still upset that I can’t buy maternity clothes in their stores, I know it’s not true. I have some shirts from them, too, and their maternity line is comfortable and more than stylish enough for a jeans-and-t-shirt kind of gal like me. I’m a casual person; their clothes are casual. We work well together, whether I like it or not.
Incidentally, I would also like to mention that for around-the-house attire, I really, really like wearing Target pajama pants. In a size larger than I would normally wear, there’s more than enough stretch to the elastic to fit comfortably, and they’re lighter than sweatpants, which is good for Florida weather. I wouldn’t wear them out in public (I’m not that casual) but I love wearing them all day.
I’m not sure how I’m going to feel about going back to regular pants. I’ve gotten incredibly accustomed to wearing sweatpants-like attire and I’m not sure I’m going to like going back to normal jeans and pants and letting go of all my stretchy, elastic bands. I know I’ll need the maternity pants for a little while after the baby arrives (during the infamous “fourth trimester”) and I’m certainly looking forward to losing the baby weight and getting back into my old wardrobe, but – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – I think I’m going to actually miss the maternity pants. Well, maybe that’s not true, but I’m certainly going to miss having an excuse to walk around in pajama pants all day and jeans that expand with me.
Tags: best maternity jeans, maternity, maternity clothing, maternity pants, Mommy Blogs, pants, pregnancy
January 13th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
I loved maternity pants while I was pregnant! After a couple months of the hair-tie-through-the-loop trick it was a huge relief to slip on a pair of maternity jeans, but it was really annoying that even the size s would get baggy after a few hours and I would spend the rest of the day pulling up my pants because they were literally falling off my butt. After having the baby I hated the pants because I felt like I’d never get out of them.