The "tummy"

I took a trip to Motherhood Maternity today. It’s a store for maternity clothing, and I loved everything about it except the seemingly redundant name. In any case, I wanted to make a post about it, not really because of the clothes (which were a bit too much for me just yet), but more because of the fake, attachable tummy that they keep in the dressing rooms, which I thought was TOTALLY cool. Of course, I couldn’t resist trying it on. The tummy is basically a round pillow with a Velcro strap that you wrap around your back. While I haven’t quite outgrown my regular clothes, as I’m sure you can see in my belly picture, I am starting to feel quite constricted in the abdominal area, so I figured I might as well check out the clothing, just to see what’s in store for me.
I have to admit…I HATED all the high-waisted shirts. Ick. They look great when I see them on other women, but for me, they’re too much. I think a stretchy tee with a little extra room will be fine for me.
Still, that’s not really the topic of the post. The topic is the belly….or my belly I should say. My belly right now appears to be an almost exact replica of a disgusting beer belly. It’s gross. Just the other night, H and I were watching TV, and I had my pants unzipped because the waistline was hurting me. He started laughing and said, “Don’t move”. And then he took a picture of me, and my belly. As you can see in the picture, I look like some weird man who’s had too much beer…all the picture really needs is a tummy scratch and a koozie. Really, the best thing about the picture is that awesome shirt…man I love that thing! Anyway, when I was at Motherhood Maternity today, they had these great jeans that I just really wanted to try on, for two reasons: 1. I really liked them, and 2. I wanted to see what it really felt like to have that big elastic waist pulled all the way up. And actually, it was REALLY comfortable! Way more so than the jeans I wear now. And the waist they have is incredible! It’s flesh colored, first of all, and it’s made of this lycra material that stretches really far, but is super breathable. You can read about they’re whole “secret fit belly” concept here. Believe me, everything they say is true.
Ok, so after all that blah blah, I’m going to get to the point, which is this: the pictures I took with the belly on. They’re really funny, and surprisingly, they really make me look VERY pregnant, so it was interesting. So, here’s the warning: the pregnant tummy isn’t mine…it’s the fake tummy. I’m putting up a picture of my real tummy (to be updated on Monday….13 weeks!!) just so you can see the difference. Here’s my real (beer belly) tummy, with the maternity jeans on:









And here’s me with the fake maternity tummy on:

Isn’t it alarming how real it looks? I have to say, I was very surprised, but also very pleased to see that, provided the rest of me stays relatively similar to what it is now, I won’t look entirely like a cow when I’m really big. For now, I’d trade this beer belly for that maternity tummy ANYDAY!!!