Maternity clothes and internships

Perhaps you thought I forgot you! I have not, but since my schedule is a lot different than most law school students, I haven't had to deal with being in classes while pregnant in a while. However, I have had to deal with what to wear while on an internship.

Most cheap maternity clothes are made for comfort, not a law firm. Old Navy has virtually nothing to wear beyond sweaters and a couple of pairs of nice pants. Target's maternity section is tiny. Motherhood has some suit separates, but not many and they are more expensive than I'd like. So when I was faced with buying a maternity suit for my internship, I felt like my only option was to buy an expensive suit from A Pea In The Pod.

And so, here are my recommendations for filling your maternity wardrobe with work-appropriate stuff:

- Raid your current closet. Cardigans and suit jackets should still work, even though you cannot button them. Nice scarves will still work, too.

- eBay is your friend. I bought my maternity suit for $30 with shipping, which is less than I have ever paid for a non-maternity suit. The brand is Mimi Maternity, which was unfortunately bought out by A Pea In The Pod. My favorite maternity gear, most of which I have been given by other people, is from Mimi Maternity.

- Forget button-down shirts. They just don't work when you are pregnant. Stick to wrap-around shirts in a similar material, or nice shirts that can be layered under cardigans.

- You only need two or three pairs of pants. Pregnancy is not the time for variety in your wardrobe, unless you want to spend a lot on clothes.

- At some point, you may need to buy new shoes because of swelling. Make sure these shoes are not heels. Buy one pair. Only buy a second pair when you can really show a need for them. 

Stretching it out

We shared the news with everyone, including my classmates, after my last class. It went over very well! I have not run into any of my classmates since, but many of them have sent their congratulations. If there are any negative opinions, I am sure that I won't hear them until I return to school.

This week, I went back to visit some friends in the state that I worked in before going back to law school. It was wonderful seeing so many friends, including a couple of particularly close friends. Several of them have babies or are pregnant, so I sought their advice. One of them gave me a whole bunch of maternity clothes that she didn't wear during her pregnancy, which was so incredibly nice. A bunch of the things she gave me are work-appropriate. I also visited a Goodwill location in my old town and picked up a maternity button-up shirt, a cardigan that I can wear now and keep open when I'm larger and a plaid shirt. For some reason, I am obsessed with the idea of wearing a cute plaid shirt with a belt once I am showing.

I am starting an internship tomorrow, and I will need to tell my new employer that I am pregnant before it becomes too obvious and weird if I didn't mention it. My advisor told me that pregnant students at my school have not had a problem obtaining internships and summer associate positions, so I remain hopeful that it will be the same way when I have to apply for more internships later this year.

Moving and telling the world

We are officially in the second trimester! On Saturday, we started telling the rest of our family and some other friends about the kiddo, who is the size of a peach right now. I have created our Facebook announcement, which will go up later this week once my last special class is over.

Moving this week was absolutely crazy. Anything that could go wrong did -- the move took longer than we thought and we owed more money, one of our cats caused my husband to go to the emergency room and I managed to get a key stuck in our deadbolt and now it doesn't work correctly. However, we're doing fine now and unpacking is going well. We're trying to keep the nursery as clear as possible so we don't get used to storing items in that space.

I have been having a hard time focusing on law school this summer. I have a few papers that I need to submit in the next two weeks, so I had to stay home today from a family event and write more one of them. I have a hard time sometimes figuring out how much work I need to do each day in order to finish on time, and I can only focus for about three hours a day on my papers. 

I was supposed to meet with my advisor last week, but she cancelled at the last minute. I always seem to have appointments when she has serious life events -- stolen phone, sudden passing of a close relative, etc. I'm starting to think that I may be a bad omen in her life, so I am setting up an appointment with another advisor who I like since he is available sooner rather than later.

Starting show and tell

I went ahead and told my closest classmate about the baby. She was thrilled! I have sworn her to secrecy and asked her not to say anything at school. Unfortunately, we do not have any classes together and rarely see each other in the hallways, but at least there are fewer slip-ups that could happen.

On Wednesday, I am meeting with my career advisor to talk to her about my schedule. I wonder how she will react to the news. I am still undecided about whether I should tell the professor for whom I work as a research assistant. I suppose I should let her know before I leave. I do not have a lot of close relationships with my professors. It's a small school, and I do not really know how pregnant students are regarded. 

We have a plan for telling everyone. After we move, a relative of ours is having a baby shower. A bunch of our family members are coming in from out of town, and two of them are staying with us. We are going to start telling people then, although not at the shower itself. After that, we are going to start calling our friends. I've been sewing our "costumes" that we will wear for our Facebook announcement, which will probably go up once my summer classes are over in early August. 

I went to my first midwife appointment yesterday. Amazingly, she is also pregnant and due within two days of my due date! Apparently this kiddo is hiding pretty well in my body, as we could only hear its heartbeat for short periods of time. My pants are starting not to fit so well, so I bought another beband from Target. I wish there was a similar option for shirts, as my breasts are starting to strain against my favorite Ts.

This week has been full of packing for the move on Thursday. My husband will return home from his work trip tomorrow, and I hope he is ready for 24-7 packing. 

Why, hello there

I'm at 11 weeks today. Here is my little chicken nugget with legs (so sayeth Pregnant Chicken*). It had a heartbeat of 172 and was wiggling around! My husband loved the movements, and he keeps doing an impression of the kiddo by waving his arms and legs while laying on his back. I'm pretty sure that they are related. *wink* The tech said the kiddo is measuring on time and does not appear to have the neck thickening that is sometimes present with children who have Downs Syndrome.

It is getting really hard for my husband not to tell people that we are pregnant. This is what happens when you tell people that you want to start a family! I am pretty sure that one of my classmates from my 1L section knows what's up. She asked me "what was new" a few times in the course of two days and she keeps looking at my lower stomach (which is huge thanks to bloating). No one at school knows, but I have decided to tell my closest school friend in a week and a half when we go out for "drinks." I will be more than 12 weeks at that point, and even though we aren't telling most people until week 13, I really need another person in my life to know what is going on. She will be thrilled!

As for telling everyone else, we are moving at the end of the month just days after I hit the second trimester. We'll start calling people after we move, and then post something on Facebook after that. It will be weird telling everyone what is going on. At least they won't think that I'm bloating for no apparent reason.

*If you're pregnant, you should sign up for Pregnant Chicken's weekly emails. They really brighten up those early weeks of pregnancy when everything sucks. 

Gross jobs and food aversions

Over the weekend, we told both sets of parents about our little olive! They have been great about not spreading the news, so we're hopeful that they can keep it together until early August.

But the real reason that I am here today is the school refrigerators. The school used to have the janitors clean them out, but they stopped over a year ago. Now the school has split us into small groups by class and given us various fridges to clean. Each person will clean one fridge. They're starting over the summer to see how it will go. My problem is my super-powered sniffer, which has prevented me from even using these fridges anymore. I absolutely cannot get near them without wanting to vomit. I am not sure what to do, but I have to get out of it.

Speaking of food, my food aversions are subsiding a bit. Or I'm just overpowering them because I can't always eat carbs, whichever. I still do not want sausage in tube form (gross) and Diet Coke is losing its flavor (for the best, I drink too much). Thankfully, I have been able to eat more fresh fruit and salads, but I am not up to my normal desire for produce. My doctor said that I do not have to worry too much until my second trimester, but I am hopeful that I can switch back to a more normal eating schedule soon.

The first person we told that we were pregnant was...

...our landlord. This is not how I imagined it would be.

Let's go back to Friday morning. I went to the doctor for the first time and saw/heard our baby. It has a 150 bpm heart rate and looks like a blob, but it was not a figment of my imagination. I am, in fact, pregnant.

My husband has had a hard time not telling people that we're pregnant, but I asked him to wait to tell his best friend/parents until after we heard the heartbeat. I keep hearing about people who reveal their pregnancies so early, and it would break my heart if I had to tell all of those people that I had a miscarriage. I visited a friend last weekend who is currently pregnant, but who had a miscarriage just shy of 12 weeks.

Now that we are pregnant, we need to move. Our current apartment is nice, but it is too small. Our landlord was super nice about us leaving. It won't be a problem to move. However, I can't believe the first person I told that we're expanding our family was someone to whom we're not terribly close or related to.

My husband left a voicemail for his best friend. I texted my good friend (the one I mentioned above) the word "baby." She's at a family event right now. I wonder if she will catch on. We're planning to tell our parents in person over July 4 weekend. After that, I'm not planning on telling anyone else until we hit 12/13 weeks. Then I'd like to start calling family members and friends. We'll eventually put something on Facebook.

A close friend from school asked me whether I was pregnant on Friday. It was not totally out of the blue -- she knows that we are trying and that I didn't drink at dinner. I lied. I had to lie to my good friend last week, too. I'm just not ready for everyone to know when this tiny embryo is still so precarious.

I started buying looser clothes. I finally found a maxi dress that looks nice on me, and will continue to look nice as I blow up. At least I get to look cute, right? My nausea has mostly subsided (at least for now), so was able to eat like a normal human being today. Here's hoping tomorrow is even better.