Maternity Uniforms--AUGH!

nightowl1989 · March 2014

Maybe someone can even point me in the right direction... I was talking to a friend who just had her baby and she said it took forever to get her maternity ABUs, so I figured I might as well make work of that while I can still fit into my normal uniform. Well, I have to order them online because the BX doesn't carry them for some reason that makes very little sense, and I've found the trousers (the sizing is supposedly the same, so we shall see) but no blouses! Obviously not quite as pressing as the trousers, but I'm pretty sure I'll need them eventually. Anyone know what the deal is? This is so frustrating!

Avion22 · March 2014

It took me a long time to get Maternity ABUs as well. Like I ordered in September and got them in late November -- not even an email from aafes.com saying they were back-ordered...they just didn't come for the longest time.

A few things to try:

- Ask around to see if anyone has a blouse they can lend you until you can buy some. I think 1-2 sizes bigger than your normal size should work (I usually wear an 8R blouse and a 10R has worked just fine for me)

- Look at your Airman's Attic or Thrift Store, or check out base classifieds or craigslist

- Buy larger sizes in regular ABUs. The maternity ABUs I finally DID get are in the old material (not the rip-stop). Our mil clothing only sells ABUs in the rip-stop fabric, so if I did this I would have to mix-and-match, which I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do....but whatever, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

- As for the trouser sizing, I would recommend sizing up if you still have time to do that. I usually wear a 14 in ABU pants, and a 16 has worked pretty well for me. They're cut a little bit slimmer through the hips and butt, and you don't know how you'll carry. Plus the waistband is kind of weird and can dig in funny (some people remove the elastic and replace with a drawstring). I did get one random pair of 18s (despite only ordering 16s...I guess it's all they had), and they are definitely too big.

- DEFINITELY talk to your leadership and tell them that you're having trouble getting Maternity ABUs. This has been a huge problem for about a year, and honestly I'm sick of it. They need to be able to provide uniforms for pregnant women, and this is just ridiculous. At one point when I was about to order online, the price for an ABU blouse went up to $135 (!!!!!) because of "supply and demand issues" (meaning, we have no supply and know there's a demand, so we jacked the price up). I called to complain, and they eventually changed it back to normal pricing, but of course they were back-ordered by then. I feel our leadership needs to be aware of this issue. If nothing else, so they can be understanding when you show up in some weird uniform combination because no maternity uniforms are available....

nightowl1989 · March 2014

Thank you so much ladies! It's such a pain in the butt, but DH found some blouses at the BX...no trousers, of course, but it's a start. What is that saying we have...piss poor planning or something like that. Certainly seems to apply with this uniform fiasco!

Drewmarie44 · March 2014

Shouldn't you CIF issue them to you with a memo signed by your command. That's what I did.

Avion22 · March 2014

Drewmarie44 said:

Shouldn't you CIF issue them to you with a memo signed by your command. That's what I did.

It varies by service. In the Army, maternity uniforms are issued. In the AF, the service member has to go out and buy them herself (though enlisted members get a small uniform allowance to compensate for some of the cost).

nightowl1989 · March 2014

I bought the trousers 2 weeks ago now, but they haven't come in. My bloat is making it hard to wear my flight suit, but I can't wear my ABU pants at all. I think I'm about to be in a pickle.

:-<

Avion22 · March 2014

nightowl1989 said:

I bought the trousers 2 weeks ago now, but they haven't come in. My bloat is making it hard to wear my flight suit, but I can't wear my ABU pants at all. I think I'm about to be in a pickle.
:-<

This happened to me too before my ABU maternity trousers came in (they took almost 2.5 months). I bought a Bella Band, and used that overtop of my normal ABU pants for a while. Eventually I had to go up a size in ABU pants, and still use the Bella Band. If push comes to shove, you might have to switch to wearing blues instead of ABUs (sucks, I know). Definitely talk to your leadership about the issues you've been having. You might be able to borrow some ABU trousers from someone else until the ones you ordered come in.

ashleydnorman · March 2014

Yes, my maternity Abu uniform took forever to be shipped! So frustrating! Are any of you ladies going to wear sneakers? I swore I wouldn't but I'm 30 weeks and it is getting really hard to reach to lace my boots! I'm thinking of wearing toms but not sure what the parameters are for sneakers. Any advice would help

ashleydnorman · March 2014

I can ship mine to you-- however I still have ten weeks to go so it would probably be too late at to that point...

nightowl1989 · March 2014

@ashleydnorman I appreciate the offer, but you're right. I have a few friends here who might take pity on me. lol

@Avion22 OMG I can't wait 2.5 months. This is ridiculous. I'm definitely going to let them know. This is unacceptable!

HisChamaoleGirl · March 2014

I had to stop wearing boots thanks to the swelling of my feet. My third trimester was during a heat wave and that made the swelling that much worse. I wore plain colored sneakers instead of the ones I wore during physical training which were different shades of neon. While no regulation covers sneakers, I didn't want to draw any more attention to myself than necessary.

beccaxrad · March 2014

Lackland will get ABUs to you within a week. That's what I had to do because online everything was back ordered. On AF portal it says they hope to have the issue solved by May when they get the new uniforms in.

nightowl1989 · March 2014

May. Well. We shall see.

nightowl1989 · April 2014

Almost a month now...still nothing. I literally have one uniform I can wear now. I'm trying to hold out as long as possible because I don't want to have to buy something I really don't need.

Lnarkie1222 · April 2014

I had to have the BX order them... Order was placed in January as soon as I found out and they still have not come in... I know this has been a problem for some time. A lot of the girls in my unit wore PT gear... The uniforms will most likely come in after the baby is born! Ugh!

nightowl1989 · April 2014

Our BX is useless and told us they couldn't order them and we'd have to go online.

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