Maternity Where?

One day, while out clothes shopping, I found myself having the following exchange in a surprising number of shops…

Me: Excuse me, where’s your maternity section?

Sales assistant: We don’t have a maternity section…

Me: *[confusion and disbelief]*

In one shop, one sales lady even looked at me like I had two heads when I asked the question. She then proceeded to advise me that they have maternity bras, but that’s it. Not really sure how she translated maternity wear with underwear… unless she expected me to just go out in my bra and pants.

I’m not being too demanding by expecting big known stores to have a maternity section, right? It’s not like women have stopped having babies; if anything it’s probably on the rise seeing as people can’t afford to go out these days…

We went out into Brighton after having a nice relaxing morning in the hope to grab me some smart/casual wear for work as I now can’t wear my uniform as I’m now office bound. I do have some clothes, but my jeans have already started to become a little uncomfortable when I sit down (especially belts) what with the lack of gym work and the changes in my diet (i.e. changing from skimmed to semi-skimmed milk – big difference, apparently). I’m also starting to bloat a lot after I eat a main meal. I also don’t have ‘office wear’ so t-shirts won’t cut it.

We went to the usual places first, like actual baby shops, like Mothercare, and we were on a roll, albeit an expensive one. But then it got tricky, we went to the following shops and quickly found they didn’t have a maternity section:

• Primark (or Shitemark as I now put it… I expected to get cheap [very cheap] tops here, but no…)
• New Look
• Marks and Spencer (yeah, I was shocked too!)
• BHS
• Debenhams (I’m putting this one on the list as their maternity section consisted of a small corner of one large floor [probably less] and also consisted of dresses and tops for size 12 and under…)
• Next (I know!)
• Peacocks

I was successful in H&M (thank God), but that was it. That was it. I wasn’t going to venture into the unknown land of The Lanes as I wouldn’t be able to afford anything from boutique land, plus I was getting tired, so that was it for me. I was shocked and hugely disappointed.

Stores like Next and New Look advised me that a lot of their maternity wear was online, and I later found out that M&S had an online maternity store, however that really didn’t cut the cheese (mmmm, cheese) for me as I like to try before I buy. I know you can return it, but that wastes time for me. I want to see it, try it, buy it, and keep it. Simples.

By the end of the day, although I had got some nice items, I had expected more – a lot more. Why have shops stopped selling maternity wear? Do they expect women just to buy plus sizes? I sure hope not.

I, for one, don’t want to look like I’m trying to hide a gut by wearing size 22 on my size 16-18 body. I want to show off my bump and have clothes that hug the bump so that it clearly shows I’m pregnant and not just fat.

K

FYI: This blog was written on or around the 12/08. I was approximately 7-8 weeks pregnant.