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June 16, 2005
Nursing Bras
Today I went in search of The Upper Breast Side. A store with a nice word play on their location, being that they're on the Upper West Side. NYC's only breastfeeding boutique.
The store is run by a woman who has to be in her 60s. She's from Israel by way of Berlin, and she's the first person in the US I've come across that knows where my first name is from and who could actually pronounce it without me needing to explain. Scarily, she still lactates and wears nursing bras and clothing. I never really expected someone her age to be going "Oh, you'll love this bra, I wear it all the time", at least, not about nursing bras.
Other than that though, the store is great. They're knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and it's really nice that you can try stuff on before you buy, a luxury that you don't get with online shopping. They're also trained to know based on your size now, how many months left in your pregnancy and the other factors what size you'll be once you get your milk in. I know that I certainly wouldn't have bought the size they recommended to me if I'd just shopped online.
Apparantly I can expect to be an E cup after my milk comes in for the first 10-12 or so weeks. Yikes. It also means that right about now I'm apparantly in the D territory... especially seeing as I tried on the nursing bras that are in the DD range, and they fit, though there's a cup worth of growing room too. Now I know I've gone up from the modest B I started with, but really, it doesn't look like a 2 cup difference to me right now. C's and D's are supposed to look a lot bigger than this. Oh well. The E thing is still scaring me, and that's not even counting that lovely thing called "engorgement" which happens a few days after birth when colostrum transitions into regular milk. When I asked about the engorgement, she was like "Oh, they'll be hard and like melons"... much fun, I'm sure.
So I made off with 2 nursing bras in sizes that just boggle my mind and some Soothies.
Two thumbs up on the follow-up customer service for the Upper Breast Side too. If there's anything else I need, or more of what I already got, I can just call the store and they'll ship stuff out to me, which is nice. They also have an array of cool nursing wear, by a brand called Boob (among others). Only the Swedes could come up with that one ;) They're also the only retailer in the US, unfortunately they're not online though, so I'd have to go in every so often to see if they have new stock in. I did find a single solitary Canadian online retailer for that brand, but I know that the US customs like to nab packages from Canada frequently and charge duty on them, so that option is a bit iffy.
Posted on 01:56 AM to: Pregnancy