The Swimsuit

I have been a swimmer for a number of years, sometimes with a masters swim group and instructor, sometimes on my own, but always early in the morning. I figure that moderate swim workouts are something I will be able to continue throughout my pregnancy -all the books say that swimming is a great low impact form of exercise for pregnant women. The only thing they neglect to say is that you might have to resort to swimming in the nude because finding a swimsuit that fits is no easy feat.

For the first part of the pregnancy I thought I'd be just fine with my regular suit. That was until my breasts began to rapidly enlarge, and after one workout my suit had crept down so far it was nearly exposing my nipples! OK, time to figure out a new plan. Off I went to the swim shop, to begin searching for a solution. The woman there was most helpful. First she suggested a 2 piece. A 2 piece?!?!? That's for lounging around on the beach, not for swimming. Real swimmers do not wear 2 piece swimsuits. Besides, do I really want to have a nude belly hanging out for all to see, stroke, and rub? Uh uh, no way. Then she pulled out a box from the back of the store marked maternity. Oh boy... These little black numbers were just what I'd suspected. Frumpy. Low cut across the hip, a little skirt to cover the expanding backside area, and... you guessed it, an empire sash and bow. This is not a swimsuit intended for actually swimming -this is more of a swimming costume! The other factor when you swim a lot is to get a good quality polyester material because the spandex just breaks down after a few weeks of wear.  Then I had a brainwave, what about getting a swimsuit in the same style I'm used to, but just in a couple of sizes larger? I pulled out a few of these from the rack and whipped off to the change room.

Ta da! It worked. I've now got a proper swimsuit for actually swimming that has room for my expanding parts, and it's got a pretty design to boot.