Why didn't anyone warn me?!

I officially HATE shopping for maternity clothes!  Before pregnancy I guess I always assumed that shopping at maternity stores would feel like a rite of passage or something.  I'd see pregnant women and think 'oh, they look so cute with their little baby bump in that outfit.'  Well, I'm not sure where these people were shopping, because I do not feel cute in any of the maternity clothes I have tried on so far. 

First of all, Motherhood Maternity has a monopoly on the maternity market.  Not only do they have their official Motherhood Maternity store, but many other stores only carry their brand. During a recent trip to the mall I went to 3 stores and the majority of the maternity clothes available were MM brand. If I wanted to buy something from Motherhood Maternity, I would have bought it there! 

Then the other irritation I have is that if by chance I find a store that doesn't have all MM brand, they have 2 racks of maternity clothes to choose from.  I was so excited to hear that H&M carried some maternity clothes, but was quickly disappointed when I saw the tiny selection.  Don't blink, you might miss it.  Oh, you want maternity work pants...well I hope you like these because they are the only ones available.  Great. 

Finally when you see something that looks half way decent on a manikin, you go to try it on and it turns into a mumu.  Of course it would look cute on that tiny little manikin.  Put it on my growing belly and butt -POOF!- all mumu.  (which makes me feel like going moo! moo!) 

So here I sit, in my pre-pregnancy work pants with the top undone, re-adjusting my bella band every 5 minutes to make sure no one can see my granny panties.  I can't wait for summer...maybe then I can actually get away with wearing a mumu?  And swim suit shopping, that should be fun!  Oh well, I guess it's a small price to pay for the prize at the end of this journey.