Maternity Needs

I am only 7 weeks pregnant, but my husband and I live on a tight budget and would like to begin to plan for the costs of any maternity needs I may have throughout the pregnancy. I have a few questions for the experienced mamas here on the board.

What are the maternity essentials? When, generally, will I need to worry about purchasing maternity clothing? Will I need special bras and underwear during pregnancy? I know i'll need nursing bras, and plan to get them before I deliver becaue I doubt I'll want to rush off to the store right after, so how do I know what size to get before my milk comes in and my boobs expand? Any other clothing/accessory tips for me?

Thanks in advance!!

 

The Pregnancy Book by William and Martha Sears is a good resource. As is "A Good Birth, A Safe Birth."

Don't buy nursing bras now, your body will change TOO much in the next 7 or 8 months.

It is even too early to get too many Maternity clothes. Make sure you have comfy things for the winter, as I am supposing you are due in March. You will, in a few weeks, or even now, be at the "too small for Maternity clothes, too big for my clothes" stage. Sweats, or just loose dresses is best at this point. (It's too hot for sweats at this point now, anyway.)

I think there is a Sticky about good pregnancy and birth and nursing books, Stay AWAY from What to Expect When You Are Expecting it is outdated, and tells you little more than how to be a good patient, and their breastfeeding info is WAY outdated. I'll find the Stickey for you.

Also visit www.lalecheleague.org as they have some fantastic pregnancy and birth books. Ina May Gaskin's two books, Spiritual Midwivery and Ina May's Guide to Childbirth are very good. There are a lot more.

 

Well first of all, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Having been on a tight budget while pregnant (medium risk, partial bedrest) twice, this is what I felt I could not live without...

* 4 good cotton maternity bras - I got the ones that doubled as nursing bras, and was very happy I did... they lasted through BOTH pregnancies, and 4 1/2 years of nursing
too! Wait until at least your 7th month to get them though, or you'll get them too small. I went from a barely-B cup to a C/D in my last month!
* 3 pairs of maternity pants - don't buy these until you absolutely can't fit into your regular pants, and maybe even go a size larger than you need... you'll be happy for the extra room in a few months.
* 3 maternity shirts and an oversized sweater - I bought maternity/nursing tops to save money. They were SOOO big after the first month though that I couldn't wear them anymore. Nursing shirts are awesome for those first few months if you think you'll have modesty issues about nursing in public, but after that you just learn how to do it wearing a normal shirt. So even though they're cute, you can probably skip them. Until you can't stretch a shirt over your tummy, stick with your everyday shirts, or borrow a couple from your SO.
* 2 comfortable maternity dresses - I wore these exclusively during my last 3 months of each pregnancy... but you could live without them if you had to. I stretched so far out front though that these were the only things I could squeeze into!
* a body pillow - yeah, I think it's a must. It helps with all sorts of pregnancy discomfort issues.

That's about it. Just about any book you can think of can be picked up at the library for free.

Oh yeah... other things I think you can live without if you're on a budget???
* a crib - or ANY special baby "bed" for that matter!
* a changing table - get the $20 thingie that straps onto the top of any old dresser instead
* a big fancy shmancy stroller - wait 'til baby can lift their head up, and get an umbrella stroller with a basket underneath. Your back will thank you, the 1000th time you get it out of the back of your car!
* and special baby bathtubs - climb in with baby Slippery soapy babies are nearly impossible to hang onto, and babies LOVE company anyway
love,
mom

 

i think that every one onhere has pretty much gave you everything but the one thing i wish i would have gotten were maternity undies man i was so uncomfortable in my regualr panties that i just went without. the body pillow i would have loved to have that wheni was pregnant. wheni was pregnant i was on a very very tight budget couldnt really afford clothes so i just wore my fiance's shirts and sweat pants throughout the whole pregnancy.

 

I've never been pregnant, but I've seen a zillion close friends though pregnancies the last few years!

One of the things I've been able to supply them that they say has been very useful is comfy empire-waist dresses (with or without a nursing top portion). Something like this can usually fit all though your pregnancy and post partum, and it'll still look good after your body's back to "normal".

And congrats!

 

Congrats!
Everyone already gave you some awsome advice.
I thought that I could go the whole pregnancy with no maternity clothes, but i was wrong. By my 7th month, I was already too big for the biggest t shirts and stretchiest pants I had. My clothes were always digging into my belly and it hurt. By the last trimester, that's when i'd start looking at some nice, loose maternity clothes, but only a couple things. And try to find stuff that's going to look good after, too. I'm still wearing almost everything that I wore while I was pregnant cuz it still looks good now. So that was a big money saver.
Since you're going to be pregnant mainly through winter, you should be ok, since you can wear lots of sweaters and stuff.
As for nursing bras, don't buy one until you're almost due. Most women's breasts grow a lot during pregnancy, and then after baby is born, they grow more. So when you're at the end of the pregnancy, go buy one that's still a little bigger than what you are then.
Oh, and a pack of maternity undies, like fallenfairy said. Regular undies will get you by ok, but when that belly has really gotten big, you'll want some comfortable underwear.
yeah, and I'd invest in 2 good body pillows. They're usually only about $10 each. I would make a "u" shape when i was in bed, with one on each side and my regular pillows connecting them at my head. Then I would put one leg on top of the pillow of the side I was laying on, and samw thing with my arms. If that made any sence.....
some nice, comfortable and wide shoes, too. I was mainly pregnant in the summer, so I wore either no shoes or slip flops. but yeah, since your feet will probably really swell, you'll want the extra room.
That's about all I can think of right now...

 

Oh, yeah. Congrats!

There was no way I could get through a pregnancy without Maternity clothes. I got too big, andn mostly in my belly, ribcage, breasts and butt. In many womyn, the ribcage expands quite a bit. Often tight clothes you wore before you were pregnant will never fit again, because the ribcage doesn't go back to before pregnnacy. I bought some bra extenders, but they only lasted me a few months, I needed bigger bras, but I don't buy nursing bras until the last month or so. Buy at least 2 which are 1-2 cup sizes larger than you are wearing at the END of your pregnancy, for those first weeks, when your breasts get huge.

I did like a changing table. I am small, and I don't like changing diapers on the bed. Kids tend to pee, and even poo when the diaper is taken off. I'd prefer that not be on the bed. Also, I found it impossible to change diapers IN the crib. I;m too small to reach. We did cosleep, but sometimes used the crib. When I really needed to stretch out, when I was going to leave the baby in bed, but I wasn't going to be there (we have a water bed) and when Bear and I had sex. It came in handy, but not everyone wants a crib. It depends on what you want.

I needed Maternity clothes though. There wasn't a way I could just wear "big" clothes, because the rest of me didn't get any bigger. I was well into Maternity clothes by 12 weeks with the first baby, and earlier with the others.

Congrats again. How are you feeling?

 

One thing you might want to do, depending on where you live, is hit some garage/yard sales. Almost every weekend around here, all summer, there are several, and I managed to pick up all my baby furniture from garage sales for super cheap. Dresser and change table (lots of storage for all the diapers I made as well as all the baby blankets) were $20... can't go wrong with that!

I wore/wear wrap around skirts a lot, as well as a couple pair of yoga pants. I didn't like the materity underwear, as they came up too high on my belly... I just bought some low rise large underwear without the exposed belly elastic... they work well. There is a picture of me in that type of underwear in my gallery if you want to see what I am talking about.

Congrats!

 

I started wearing maternity clothes really early, I start showing right away, and they are so much more comfortable! But... my friends and I kept passing along our maternity clothes whenever someone else got pregnant, and none of us really had to spend any of our own money on clothes. By the time I was pregnant with my second child, the pass-along maternity clothes had become four or five large boxes! Don't worry if you think your friends wear a different size, you'd be suprised how much your body grows during pregnancy. With my first baby, I went from wearing medium size to thinking XL was too tight! don't turn down any freebies! Same goes for baby clothes. My kids got so much hand-me-down clothes, they could have worn a different outfit each day without ever wearing the same thing twice... but then, I was in my 30's, and all my friends had kids before I did. You might be able to find a good deal on someone else's maternity clothes at ebay or some other online auction website.


nursing bras need to fit properly, don't buy any new bras until you need them. some women only go up one or two cup sizes, some of us go up lots more than that. Keep in mind that most brick and mortar stores usually don't sell sizes larger than D or maybe DD. don't settle for a bra that doesn't fit! get some band extenders (they sell them at places like Hancock fabric store for just a few bucks each) for when your ribcage starts to expand, and you will get more life out of your old bras that way.

I personally hated maternity undies, so I wore cotton bike shorts instead, just a size or two bigger than usual. They helped with the thigh chaffing when I wore a skirt, too.

I want to whole-heartedly agree with Maggie's book suggestions! Anything by the Sears' is good, and Ina May's books are the very best out there to prepare you for the reality of childbirth.

 

Yeah, like Mamaboogie said, you will probably get a TON of hand-me-downs from family/friends/strangers. Lol.. I had customers bringing in bags of baby stuff to the restuarant! People I barely knew were giving me stuff... not that I kept all of it! Also, is there a "free store" or something like that where you live? We have a "family place" that parents donate used baby clothes to, and the Family Place turns around and makes them available to expecting parents for free. They also rent high quality breast pumps and that kinda stuff... so see if there is a place like that in your area?

 

Thanks for the great advice, guys. I think I will stop by the local thrift shops when it comes time to buy maternity clothing, and garage sales when it comes to furniture. We do plan to save some money for a nice video recorder since my family is so far away I would like to be able to send them lots of video! Since I am in Texas and it is pretty much hot here year-round (as a Michigan girl I am lucky to get a 60 degree day here in the winter) I don't think I'll need to much but some comfy dresses, tank-tops, and light pants. I think I'll need to get new pants pretty soon because my low-rise jeans I usually wear have been uncomfortable around my abdomen already. Probably from the gassiness and bloating (I've lost weight so far, not gained yet) but I know they won't be comfy with even a slight buldge in the belly. I worry about finding bras because I was a DD before getting pregnant, I hope I don't get too much bigger!

As far as how I am feeling, I have been awful! I am lucky if I can keep anything I eat down for more than a half hour. I also feel really belchy and have been constipated. I have been able to keep the prenatals down if I take them before bed though, so I am glad some nutrition is getting into my system! I have also lost about 10lbs probably because I can't keep anything down. My mother told me the same happened to her when she was pregnant so I don't think it's too abnormal. My first OB appointment is the 25th of this month, and I'll make sure then. I am still looking into birthing centers for the birth, if I can find one covered by my insurance plan. But if now, my OB deliveres at the same hospital my mother-in-law works at. My MIL is a nurse practitioner in the neo-natal ICU so she knows the doctors and nurses and she will spit fire if my needs and wants aren't being met during the hospital stay (and she is a big breastfeeding advocate, and will make sure no forumla makes it near my baby). I have decided to have a natural birth so I can breastfeed immeadeatly after delivery, if all goes well. I also plan to take a class on breastfeeding before the baby comes.

 

My stomach stayed in shambles the first 3 or 4 months. Gasy and belchy all the time. And, I dropped 25 pounds. Of course, I was sick....and not aware I was pregnant until after 3 months anyway.

I can still wear most of my regular clothes. I just push my pants down under my belly. When they get so tight they leave marks, I pack them away to resist wearing them again. Most of the shirts I wear are my boyfriends. I have some maternity shirts....but not many. They're so EXPENSIVE and I don't have that much longer to go anyway.

I put baby furniture on layway about 2 months ago. It's easier to pay off that way. Plus, my mama works at Wal-Mart and gets a discount on things there....so that helped too.
As far as clothes, there are baby showers and what not....you should wait until after you see what you get there before rushing out and stocking up on baby clothes. Plus....you'll probably end up having to buy bigger sizes, as in my experience, you'll get mostly newborn or 0-3 month clothing at the shower.

 

well good luck...
i am five months pregnant and so far the only things i have had to have are new 2 bras and a new pair of shoes...
i already wore baggy comfortable clothes so they are just now getting tight and my boyfriend is a pretty big boy so once i out grow my things hes are waiting....
i suggest the number one thing is to papmer yourself if you have to spend 10 extra dollars to buy the most comfortable shoes go for it.... believe me they will pay for themselves....

i have managed to buy just about everything i need for my baby girl for less then 400 dollars everything from a full room of furniture to clothes till shes about 3.... i got lucky with some awesome yardsales.... i didnt really want to go for all the furniture and nursery crap but once i started looking and realized i could get it all extremely cheep and second hand i went for it...
i even found a pump n style breast pump for 20 dollars... just look and price compare.....

 

I don't think using a used breast pump is safe.

 

if its sterilized, I am sure its fine. Why else would family-minded places rent them to low income families?

 

I didn't know they did that. I just thought I'd read somewhere that it wasn't safe.
My bad.

 

Maybe you are right... I just know that there is a place around here that rents really, really good breast pumps to people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford one and because of that would turn to using formula.

But I do know that you can sterilize pumps, well.. most pumps, quite easily!

 

there are lots of places that rent hospital grade breast pumps, although you have to buy the "cone" part (yeah, I don't know the name) that actually touches the breast new and sterlized.

The morning sickness is totally normal. Lots of people get it. I even had to take 2 months off work, mine was so bad. I remember smells getting to me so bad that i had to bring rolls of toilet paper into the car with me so I could stuff wads of it up my nose while I was driving since i couldn't stand the smell of the car. There were days I wouldn't eat a thing, and then some that I would pig out (and usually end up seeing it again 1/2 hour later)....there was one day I woke up craving plain, semi-burnt popcorn, and I ate 6 bags in 2 hours!!!!!
The good news is, that on average, the morning sickness should start to go away by your 14th week. Mine disapeared on the exact day I started my second trimester. Other women have it last the whole pregnancy, some only for a few weeks, and some have it come and go.
I don't know if it'll work for you or not (it didn't for me, but did for some other moms i know) but try, plain salted soda crackers in the morning. Keep some beside your bed to eat before you get up. And gingerale is supposed to be another good thing. As well as toast. And LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of water!!!!!! That will supress the nausea like you wouldn't believe! I drank it constantly until the city I was living in started doing chlorine treatments to the water and I couldn't stomach it anymore.

 

Psh....I wish I would've known that before spending $60 on one!

 

$60 is usually pretty cheap. Decent ones will usually run for about $300, and a hospital grade one, generally well over $1000
A friend of mine spent $400 on hers, and turned out to never produce a single drop of milk, even after drugs and trips to dozens of LCs and LLL. That musta sucked.....