These posts are so echoing my feelings. I hate shopping for new maternity stuff. It can be so discouraging. On the other hand, now and again you find a little something nice, and it's kind of fun because you have an easy excuse for a new wardrobe.
High streets and I don't get on well. I'm six feet tall and about an 18, which makes sizing on the high street difficult. I'm not sure where people expect us to buy stuff if you aren't a petite skinny minny. I've kept my eye out here and there. With DD2 I accidentally ran into a sale at an outlet store for mamas and papas or one of those shops and managed to pick up a bunch of discounted stuff. I wore those into the ground.
The trick with pregnancy shopping is to not go browsing for too long. You'll get worn out and discouraged fast. I find that instead of going in looking, it's wise to go into the store, immediately look for a sales rep, and ask outright "do you carry maternity clothes, and where can I find them?" Then you can use your browsing energy for looking at clothes rather than searching for the right section. Most high street shops don't label their maternity sections well, and I often miss them if I'm just looking around, so it pays to just ask up front.
This time I've been lucky because I had several things that I had saved and a friend had her last recently and is my size, so she gave me bags of her maternity hand-me-downs. It was great. I recently started pulling them out and it was like Christmas. Instant new wardrobe!!!
Now if I could just find a pair of trousers and jeans that would actually stay up for me . . .
