The clothing situation was getting desperate, so I betook myself to the thrift store. I am not willing to pay full price for clothes to be worn for two months of lying about the house. But it was getting to the point of buying more clothes or wrapping myself in a sheet for most of the week, and we're short on sheets, too.
Unfortunately, there is a dearth of second-hand maternity clothes above size medium. (And since the tent-like maternity clothes of yesteryear have gone out of style, if your stomach grows beyond medium-sized you are forced into larger sizes whether or not the rest of you has grown apace.)
Why is this? Surely women larger than size medium get pregnant and, eventually, get done being pregnant. What do they do with their clothes? Even at the mothers of twins sales there were only three t-shirts in size large, and two of those were pink. (I think I need counseling on my aversion to pink, it's going beyond a fashion statement to a personal vendetta.)
I did manage to find a couple of pairs of jeans that will still fit, and one cute shirt. Unfortunately, one of the pairs of jeans had--shudder--zippers at the bottoms of the legs. I thought that style had been safely buried in the 80s, but either it is coming back or someone really waited a long time to clean out her closet. Considerations of the style aside, though, what kind of sense is there in making zip-leg jeans for women who can't reach their shoelaces? That pair is destined to become cut-offs.
Everybody likes to moan about the miseries of summer pregnancies, but I have finished all my pregnancies in the warmer months and much prefer it that way. (I'm miserable in hot weather even when I'm not pregnant, so that doesn't make any difference.) I've never needed a maternity coat. I can wear sandals or go barefoot every day. (Barefoot and pregnant is not about male oppression, it's about blood flow. And swelling.) And it's so much easier to keep a newborn healthy and comfy and away from people with evil germs in the summer than in the winter--plus, fewer clothes means less laundry.
8 comments:
I share your aversion to pink....Fortunately I'm ok with my daughter wearing it. Good luck with the clothes! -rlr
Ok ...here's where I confess that Joshua got so big (notice where I put the blame of the size...ah hem) that I finally went to Old Navy and bought 2 men's t-shirts, large, and pretty much just wore those shirts for the last 2 months of pregnancy. I was lucky on pants though. I found some at Goodwill that took me all the way.
It IS a pain to have to buy clothes that only last for a very short while.
It does make the sheet idea sound VEEERY tempting.
Maybe the absence of size large doesn't indicate a LACK of people that size, maybe it indicates that EVERYONE is that size. Who knows? :D
Good point about the zippers--I've linked!
Sending much sympathy your way...as I can't do much else. I agree with Stephanie - probably all the big clothes are out there, hanging on genuinely big women.
I'd share my old maternity clothes, but seems like every time I get rid of them, I get pregnant again! And now that we have 9 kids....
Oh, THAT'S where all the maternity clothes are. Come to think of it, my mom never got rid of her maternity clothes, even when my youngest brother was fifteen. Well, at least I know.
I like summer babies because it's easier/cheaper to "turn the heat up." When I had my two winter babies, I was always agitating about whether it was warm enough in the house, and whether it would cost too much to make it a little warmer. With my three summer babies, we just turned the AC way down or off. Happy warm baby!
I keep an eye on JCP for maternity stuff. When they have shirts at $3.99, I buy a few "just in case." I haven't wasted money yet.
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