10 weeks, 2 days

Bloat

Shortly the 7 week mark, the bloat began taking on a life of it’s own.  I’d be perfectly fine all morning, and then in the late afternoon I could feel the waistband on my pants start digging into my midsection.  Uncomfortable.  It got to the point where I had to undo the top button.  Klassy.  I texted J and told him that I needed to go to the gym more and/or pick up a bella band.  He replied that I looked beautiful.  Which of course was the correct reply, but not very useful. 

After some research I decided to try to the actual bella band as opposed to the Target knockoff.  A bella band is basically a stretchy tube of fabric that fits over your waistband of your pants to hide the fact that your pants are no longer buttoned.  It’s fashioned to look like a tank top, if it were seen poking out from under your shirt.  The goal is to keep wearing your non-maternity pants for as long as they fit over your hips and thighs.  My goal for the authentic bella band was detoured by my laziness.  Since we were already at mall, I stopped into Motherhood Maternity and picked up their version of the band, called the tummy stocking.  I’ve been wearing it fairly consistently, and I’m not in love.  It just doesn’t stay where it’s supposed to.  I think there are 3 reasons for this: 1) It’s a knockoff, and sometimes you get what you pay for. 2) It’s one-size-fits-all, unlike the actual sized bella bands. 3) I’m still not really big enough for it yet.

After two weeks, the entire thing was shredded and fraying.  I ended up picking up the real Bella Band this weekend, but have only worn it once, since I don’t really need it when I wear my work skirts (and therefore have been wearing work skirts quite a bit.)  It definitely fits more snugly and doesn’t move around as much, although at this point it’s hard to say whether that’s due to composition or because my bloat is bigger this week. 

This bloating is really crazy.  I love that we’re taking weekly pictures, because it makes it all the more evident this is bloat not baby.  For instance, last week, at my 9 week pictures, the bloat was all but gone.  J looked at the picture and said “HOLY BOOBS” because my stomach had shrunk, but the breasts? Not so much.  Which only makes them look bigger.  Last night we took a picture again and a week later my breasts look less big because my stomach sticks out more.

The bloating still happens mostly at night, though will definitely kick in after I eat.  J and I went out to dinner, and by the end of the night it looked like I might have swallowed portions of my meal without chewing.  And my meal might have consisted of a medicine ball.  The bloat is all upper stomach, which makes me wonder if that’s where eventually I’m going to start showing.  If so I am definitely going to be carrying high!