Battle of the (Baby) Bulge

After years of trying to stay a certain weight and continue to fit into a particular size of clothes, it's an interesting twist to be OK with weighing more than I've ever weighed and not be able to even zip up most of my pants, let alone button them.

I had been able to wear my "normal" pants (with a few of them phased out) up until week 15. Then most pants started getting a little too tight and I used a ponytail holder to keep the button part together. But it was only a few days until I realized that strategy wasn't going to last and I had to move on to the Belly Band. A big thanks to my sister-in-law who gave me hers to use (along with a ton of other maternity clothes). The band is a stretchy fabric circle that goes over your normal pants and holds them in place, so you don't have to button them.

As we hit week 17, I started to think that the band wasn't going to last much longer either as zippers started to not go up very well. This kid REALLY hit a growth spurt!! Thankfully, leggings are back in style and I've been able to wear those kind of stretchy pants without fail, but yesterday I gave actual maternity pants a try.

Without further ado, I present the Baby Steinhoff-bump at 17 weeks:

It's hard to tell in this picture, but I find it hilarious that my rib cage is the same size, but then there's just this incline as you look down my torso :)