Hand me down Heaven! Pregnancy week 17

I know I mentioned that I bought some maternity clothes while on vacation, but the truth is the stocks were still pretty limited. I had one pair of khakis for work and 4 dressier shirts. Other than that, I’d bought several t-shirts one size up and was still able to wear two pairs of (fat) pants, but they were quickly reaching their limits. I had a couple pairs of casual pants that were low enough waisted to serve me as well, but things were getting tight (in more ways than one). My Mom was trying to help by sending things from the thrift shop she volunteers with, but there were a few issues. The largest was that my Mom’s usually decent taste (or decent understanding of my taste) seems to have slipped with my pregnancy. She keeps choosing bad 80’s clothes – things that I’m guessing just won’t sell at the shop – coolots and the like. The second is – well, has anyone else noticed that sizes have changed in recent years? Everything has gotten a little bit bigger. I can still buy things the size I wore just after college, but if I try to put on the clothes I still have from then – that are ostensibly the same size – they are too small. So, my Mom is buying things one size larger than I “normally” wear now, but they are these bad 80’s clothes so they are sized smaller than things made now and therefore don’t fit at all. If you saw some, you’d know I wasn’t crying too much over the lack of fit.

But then through my desert of maternity store stress (how many things do I really need? Will I wear this? Will it fit in 3 months?), thrift store “bargains” and my fat pants came an oasis! A very good friend of my sister in law has had 3 kids and is DONE. Absolutely and emphatically. She’s about 1-2 inches taller than me and just a little thinner than me “in real life,” so her maternity clothes work wonders on me! The real joy is that with 3 kids, she’s got tons! Just bags of clothes – work stuff, casual stuff, even formalwear! I’m completely outfitted! And the stuff is so much nicer than what I was finding at maternity stores! A lot of it is stuff I’d want to wear regardless! Thank heaven!

My Mom also came to visit with some loaners from a friend of hers (she has a daughter and 2 daughters in law about my size with some stuff I could borrow). Ironically, all of them combined have less stuff than Karoline did, but I found a few good things there too. And Mom did buy me a few sweaters as an early birthday gift (grandma can’t resist starting to spoil early!). Given all of it, I’ve got some good options – and, thank goodness, can essentially avoid the maternity stores for some time.