Monday, November 22, 2010

For the Love of Elastic Waist Bands

I recently decided to transition back into my maternity clothes. Not all of them yet, but definitely the pants. I probably needed to a week or two ago, but went the loose and comfy sweatpants route instead. My belly is only slightly bloated at this point, but what's forcing me to the prego-pants tipping point is all the bruises! See, as soon as I found out I was prgeo (litterally at 4 weeks on the dot), I had to go back on the oh-so-fun twice a day Heparin injections. Heparin is the blood thinner I was on after the mini-stroke/TIA at 30 weeks during my last pregnancy (here's a link to that lovely post in case you forgot). They say that the blood-related conditions I have (Protein S Deficiency and Factor V) cause my blood to clot very easily, especially during pregnancy. So far so good - except that my belly looks like it has been in a brawl with a UFC fighter. It's basically one giant bruise. Not so pretty. And it's painful! Hence the desparate need for loose fitting prego-wear.

But I ran into a slight problem when I went to put back on my prego skinny jeans - they were too big! No, not because I've had some sort of dramatic weight loss (unfortunately). But becasue they got SOO stretched out at the end of my last pregnancy that the elastic waistband is about 4 sizes too big! I know they will fit again eventually when my belly gets to be the size of a watermelon or beach ball, but for now I went and picked up 2 new pairs at Old Navy. They are pretty great, I must say. Here is a link to the ones I got in case you are looking for some nice but inexpensive maternity jeans. They were on sale for about $25 each when I got them - definitely wait until another sale!

http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=5854&vid=1&pid=675514

















http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=5854&vid=1&pid=775651

3 comments:

  1. Hello! My name is Chelsey, I've been reading you since I found your pregnancy journal on thebump.com! I had a blood clot from my birth control last year that traveled to my lung, and now that I'm pregnant (with my first), I, too, have to take blood thinning injections. I'm on 60mg of lovanox once daily (the emotional wear of taking 40mg twice daily was too much, I talked to my doctor about switching me), but will be put on heparin twice a day when I reach 36 weeks. Maybe you could ask your doctor about doing once a day injections? Also, I wanted to suggest getting the shots in your hip/butt/thigh area. I switched to maternity jeans at 7 weeks because of the pain from my waistband hitting the bruises and from being so swollen, but finally switched to getting them in my hips. It burns a little more sometimes, but overall it hurts less, totally worth it!

    Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful pregnancy, and hope that maybe I was able to help ease some of your pain! Good luck!

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  2. Thank you so much for your advice, Chelsey! I'm definitely going to ask about switching to Lovenox. And good idea about switching the injection site to a different area - it just hurts so much on the belly! Thanks again!!

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  3. No problem, glad I could help! I just know how much I hated taking the shot twice a day, and I was sick of my belly being so sore and swollen (and I swear every counter and shelf adjusted its height to hit me RIGHT where I was bruised, OUCH!). Good luck!

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