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Don't worry, I'm not running around without pants on. Not all pants are bad. I have a problem with maternity pants and women's pants in general: They have hips; I don't.

Women's clothes are made for people with hips, and ok, bigger thighs than mine. I look like a Mountie reject in women's pants. Well, maternity pants are modified women's pants, basically. So maternity pants NEVER FIT. I could be 9 months pregnant (this is in theory, since I've yet to be 9 months pregnant) and I would swim in the smallest pair of maternity pants. Not only that, but the ones I've tried are really long. This doesn't help since I've tearfully stowed all my shoes with heels until my center of gravity returns to its natural position. I live in flip-flops.

So anyway, I've been making due with larger-size junior's jeans (junior's, not children's, thankyouverymuch) and in the last couple of months have used the rubberband trick (although i prefer to use a hairband0. While this has served me well, this baby's getting bigger and my shirts (even maternity) aren't long enough to cover the gap, as we'll call it.

This is where Bloom'n Belly Band comes in. It's a band of fabric, somewhat resembling a tube top, that is there to bridge the gap! I have yet to use it on pants that I can't close the top button, but I am impressed. I have two pairs of capri pants that close but ride very low because they have to sit under my belly. The belly band has protected me from giving sneak peaks of London & France and has also seemed to keep them from sagging.

There are three ways (although I'm sure somebody could think of a fourth) to wear the band. One is the regular, straight from the belly (under shirt) down to over the pants; the second way is to fold it in half so it's somewhat under the belly, or maybe mid-belly, down to over the pants; and the third way is scrunched so it's under the belly and covering the top of the pants. I've opted for the third option, since having pants on my stomach is annoying to me whether or not I'm pregnant.

Any way you wear it, this band also gives you a little leeway with tops too. I'm not one of those pregnant ladies that loves to have the belly exposed. A top can be a little shorter and still look fine, because it just looks like you've got a second layer on underneath. This is what I think, what Bryan's said to me, and what a friend (my one and only down here) said she thought it was at first too.

And all this for about $18 (including S&H). Fabulous. There are other ones out there (like the BellaBand) but why spend twice as much on something I'm wearing for such a short time?

Bottom line: Pants have been redeemed by the belly band.