Tuesday, December 11, 2001 -- A new bra.

Well, I'm not a 36H, I'm a 34H. Actually it is more like a 33H. My back/rib cage is actually shrinking from my pre-pregnancy size. And I'm carrying this baby really low, so it isn't really affecting my rib cage. Usually it would get bigger during pregnancy, not smaller.

I should have known not to measure myself and order a bra over the internet. Luckily, the Motherwear people will take it back. It fit fairly good in the cup, but the straps would not stay up - a sure sign of a too big band size. So, I went to Tina today. Tina runs Tina's Closet, a lingerie specialty store in the next town over. She custom fits bras and carries sizes up to a 50I. This is very important since I can't walk into ye average department store and get a 34H! So, anyway, she didn't have a 34H, but she had a 36G that she took in 3 inches for me. Yay! I once again have a bra that fits - for now.

So Tina finds that most women wear the wrong size bra. The majority of which need to be wearing a smaller band size and a bigger cup size. She loves to watch a woman wearing a good fitting bra for the first time. Suddenly, the woman has a waist and her clothes look soooooo much better, and the darn straps stay up, all by themselves! I remember laughing out loud in amazement at myself. So, she custom fits every bra. When you stretch them out, she'll take them in again. She repairs the poking out underwires. She knows her bras ain't cheap, so she'll do what she can to make them last as long as possible. And her pregnant customers get same day or next day alterations!!! And remember - always fit your bras to the loosest hook, so you can make it tighter as you stretch it out.

I realize now that I was never a 34B. That's what I wore thoughout high school and some of college. The damn straps kept falling down!!!! I just thought I had abnormally sloped shoulders. I was probably a 32C or even a 30D, I was so darn skinny! Tina has a chart in her dressing rooms that match up your band size with your blouse/dress size. So a 32 would fit someone who wore a 6-8, 34 goes with 10-12, 36 with 14-16, etc.... So there's no way I was a 34B while I was wearing a size 0-2-4! Not that I need to ever worry about that happening again!!! I would just like to get back into my nice, pretty, dainty, 34DD's again. *sigh*

I think there is a stigma attached to having big boobs. It is okay for porn stars and some movie/tv stars and maybe prostitutes, but not for "real, everyday" women. So when one's bra becomes too small, I think many women, including me, think it's the band size that has gone up. Towards the end of college, when I began to gain weight, I started buying 36C's. Even though they didn't fit right at all, I just couldn't fathom that it was my boobs getting bigger, not my back. That's when I started buying racer-back and t-back bras, so the straps would stay up! Also, the bigger cup sizes with smaller band sizes just aren't available in Victoria's Secret, or most stores. The "Full Figure" bras often start with 38's and go up from there. I wanted pretty lingerie, so I bought the wrong size, not knowing it was the wrong size, even though it definitely wasn't right. What's a large chested woman to do???

Well I hope that women who have seen the light will share their knowlege with their friends and their daughters! Everyone should have a bra fitting by someone that knows what they are doing! Bras are expensive, clothes are expensive. I don't know how much money I wasted on ill fitting bras which led to money wasted on ill fitting clothes.

Well, that's my rant for the day!

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