The skinny on postpartum attire
Written by Shannon Szyperski | | letters@toledofreepress.comI’m not much of a weight watcher. I’ve had the good genetic fortune not to have to worry much about giving or taking a few pounds here and there, because it all seems to work out in the end. Even through two postpartum chapters of my life, my body graciously seemed to snap back to its pre-pregnancy form by each baby’s first birthday.
Never having had to put forward much effort myself, I feel a little guilty when I see other moms so committed to fitness that they spend most of their days in workout clothes. I imagine them coming straight from spinning class when I spot them picking up a few things from the store in athletic pants and a tank top. My own health regimen, which consists mainly of the occasional walk around the block, the often-suggested eating of small, frequent meals and fidgeting relentlessly throughout the day, pales in comparison in the effort department but has always been good enough.
But now, as I attempt to return to some semblance of normalcy following the addition of baby No. 3, my body is not quite following suit. I vaguely recall some friends commenting on decreased body elasticity when having a baby after age 30. Being 27 and only having one baby at the time, I barely took note. I do, however, specifically remember talk of a baby bulge that didn’t seem to go away.
As I take in my postpartum-over-30-third-baby shape, I finally have a visual of what they were talking about. I seem to have not one but two baby bulges left over this time around. It is as if I have two fanny packs stacked one on top of the other but without the practicality of zipper pockets to store my car keys and cell phone in.
Hoping that the dual nature of my postpregnancy baby bump had something to do with the banded maternity pants I had been clinging to, I decided to move on to my after-baby wardrobe. I attempted to slip into my two-sizes-above-normal jeans that had done the job after my second child was born. Sadly, each side of fabric failed to even bridge the gap of flesh necessary to meet in the middle.
I was tempted to stick with the maternity pants for a while longer, but the only shirts that seem to hide the elastic part of the pant that yells out “I’m pregnant” are maternity shirts.
Instead, I was off to the store. My journey to pants that fit could not have come at a more rock-bottom moment. The only pairs of maternity jeans that fit me both ended up in the wash at the same time, so I had to venture out in a pair of yoga pants that I had only worn to bed up until that point. It’s rather humbling to buy clothing in your pajamas because you just have nothing else to wear.
I was happy to find that three sizes above where I had been pre-baby seemed like they would do the trick. It turned out that the real trick was trying to find the right style of jeans in the right size. All of the jeans I could find left in my size were labeled “stretch,” “low rise” and/or “skinny,” which are three words I avoid at all costs.
At some point in the recent past, most women’s jeans started to come with some degree of stretchiness. I don’t get it. In the morning, I put on a pair of jeans that fit just fine and by lunchtime I have to do everything in my power to keep them around my waist because they’ve grown two sizes. For similar reasons, the term “low rise” and I just don’t mix either.
Then there’s skinny. When I’m buying something three sizes over the size I think of myself as, the word “skinny” certainly does not come to mind.
And then it hit me. Maybe all of those fitness clothes-clad moms I see at the park, at the store and on the street didn’t just come from spinning class like I thought. Maybe they aren’t even as athletic as I assumed. Maybe they’ve got the baby bulge, too, and just couldn’t find any other pants that fit.
Shannon Szyperski and her husband Michael are raising three children in Sylvania. E-mail her at letters@toledofreepress.com.
