I remember telling myself not to go overboard buying those maternity clothes. Had I gone to term I would have spent more than the $249.10 that I calculated a few minutes ago, just before throwing the receipts away. I was able to use some of those clothes early on in my pregnancy with July, but given the s p r e a d of my hips from the twins even those didn't last very long.
Luckily my girlfriend came to the rescue with a huge plastic bin of clothes, hers and her sister's, both declaring their doneness with childbearing, and although they are both 3" shorter than me, crop pants were great for the summer and there were lots of t-shirts and many cute dresses. I also had lots of maternity tanks left over, and skirts that were helpful even after the baby was born.
Maternity clothes for babylost mamas are not just clothes with baggy bellies. They are a symbol of a past life or lives, never to be realized, of hope gone forever, of firsts that will happen only in our minds. I didn't have the financial luxury of dumping all of my old clothes and starting fresh, which is why I am so grateful for the donation, more than my girlfriend will ever know.
I did wear many of the clothes that I bought previously, but each and every time I put something on I remembered the girls and sighed that lost sigh. I was actually happy to stuff myself into clothes that I didn't choose. I wasn't attached to them and won't be sad should I have to return them or pass them on.
The clothes I did buy, well, that's another story. I could possibly hold on to them for a very long time.
