A pregnant me - in a "tentish" top. 1970
My mom with her first four kids - maybe this is late 1947 or early 1948.
I was shopping for Mother's Day gifts tonight. I saw a pregnant girl - I swear she was 15 if she was a day. And she was running around the store with her girlfriends - but she was holding her back like it hurt. She was wearing a very fitted tank top.
Then I saw a cute top on the sale rack. Almost bought it. Then I noticed the tag - it was a maternity top! I'm pretty sure no one would have come up to me and said, "Why are you wearing a maternity top?" But if they'd seen it as a maternity top in a store or on some pregnant lady, they would have known it was a maternity top.
Driving home, I thought about my mom. I remember her standing in her slip and ironing her one of two maternity outfits. She usually had two - a really nice one and a pretty nice one. And they were two-piece. And the skirts had a cut out for your expanding belly and loops and laces to tie it up so it stayed up. And the top was a very tentish kind of top. And she was usually getting ready to go to her doctor appointment - in Glendale! And the outfit I most remember was a lovely salmon shade. And I'm also sure she made them herself.
During my first pregnancy, I had a couple of dresses and tops that were tentish too. After that, the fabrics weren't clingy, but they did drape rather than stand out like a tent. I do recall with Noah that I had a stretchy skirt and a stretchy top - so I've pretty much spanned the gamut of maternity fashions. For what that's worth.
I mostly thought about how I, and most of the women I know, have lots of clothes. Way more than we need. And 40 years ago, I recall having one dress - well, it was one dress that fit - until I lost the baby weight - when I could wear the other few dresses I had. But mostly we didn't have the volume of clothing that most of us have now.
I keep trying to pare things down. I have a rule that if I buy something new, I get rid of two things. But that just sort of seems to keep things steady, not smaller. I've never gotten rid of something and then regretted it. Maybe down the road I remember it and think maybe it would happen to come in handy that day, but I don't feel very bad about it. Still, it seems hard to get rid of the excess - and it truly is excess - I acknowledge that!
I'm not sure what all this means. Maybe you are trying to pare down too. Maybe you can share your secrets with me. I mostly thinks it's a paradigm shift - one that I haven't really made yet.
But I'm trying.
And I was thinking that my mom has 12 children - and we don't have a single photograph of her pregnant!
Then I saw a cute top on the sale rack. Almost bought it. Then I noticed the tag - it was a maternity top! I'm pretty sure no one would have come up to me and said, "Why are you wearing a maternity top?" But if they'd seen it as a maternity top in a store or on some pregnant lady, they would have known it was a maternity top.
Driving home, I thought about my mom. I remember her standing in her slip and ironing her one of two maternity outfits. She usually had two - a really nice one and a pretty nice one. And they were two-piece. And the skirts had a cut out for your expanding belly and loops and laces to tie it up so it stayed up. And the top was a very tentish kind of top. And she was usually getting ready to go to her doctor appointment - in Glendale! And the outfit I most remember was a lovely salmon shade. And I'm also sure she made them herself.
During my first pregnancy, I had a couple of dresses and tops that were tentish too. After that, the fabrics weren't clingy, but they did drape rather than stand out like a tent. I do recall with Noah that I had a stretchy skirt and a stretchy top - so I've pretty much spanned the gamut of maternity fashions. For what that's worth.
I mostly thought about how I, and most of the women I know, have lots of clothes. Way more than we need. And 40 years ago, I recall having one dress - well, it was one dress that fit - until I lost the baby weight - when I could wear the other few dresses I had. But mostly we didn't have the volume of clothing that most of us have now.
I keep trying to pare things down. I have a rule that if I buy something new, I get rid of two things. But that just sort of seems to keep things steady, not smaller. I've never gotten rid of something and then regretted it. Maybe down the road I remember it and think maybe it would happen to come in handy that day, but I don't feel very bad about it. Still, it seems hard to get rid of the excess - and it truly is excess - I acknowledge that!
I'm not sure what all this means. Maybe you are trying to pare down too. Maybe you can share your secrets with me. I mostly thinks it's a paradigm shift - one that I haven't really made yet.
But I'm trying.
And I was thinking that my mom has 12 children - and we don't have a single photograph of her pregnant!
