The Tale of the Ta-Tas

For my readers still TTC:  I would like to preface this post by saying that it is not intended to be a "whining about my pregnancy" post, but as someone who has been there, I can understand how it could easily be taken as such.  I am very grateful to be able to have this experience.  However, I want to journal about this pregnancy - from the miraculous things like feeling the baby move to the more mundane and perhaps traumatic things that I am experiencing in this journey.  Please feel free to skip reading this post.
Here is a fact about me that many of you do not know.

When I was 21, I had a breast reduction.  In high school, the girls started getting bigger and just didn't stop.  By the time I was in college, they were HUGE.  When they finally topped out and stopped growing, I was a 32 F.

After the reduction, I was a 32 C.  It was a full C, but at least I could buy my bras in a normal store and they could be pretty.  My bra size fluctuated with my weight after that point - but the girls never got bigger than a D until the pregnancy.

By the end of the first trimester, I knew that I needed a new bra - but I put off going **JUST IN CASE** they kept getting bigger.  They didn't seem to be, so at about 19 weeks along, I went bra shopping.  My rib cage had expanded some, so my size at the time was a 34 DD (or, a 34 E).  I wasn't surprised with the increase.  The sales clerk assured me that this was probably as big as they would get until my milk came in.

Ahem.  She was so wrong.  (She was also fairly young and I should have known better than to have trusted ANYTHING she said).

Just a mere 4 weeks after buying the said new bra, I realized that I was noticeably hanging out of the new and larger bra.  And not just hanging out - it was so tight that it was leaving lines on my breasts.  So, last Monday(at 23 weeks), I went out shopping for a new bra.

Imagine my surprise when I measured as a 34 G.  A G.  As in "G, can your boobs get ANY bigger???"  Just in case you didn't know - a G is the largest cup size that most stores will carry in stock.  And they carry very few of them.  And they are super expensive.  And, not that I am trying to impress anyone with my huge boobs and belly, but they are not the LEAST bit attractive.  The straps are easily 3 inches wide and there are 4 hooks in the back (you would need to be double jointed to put this bra on by yourself - I seriously worked up a sweat trying the sucker on in the dressing room).

This clerk - who was an older, wiser woman - indicated that my growth may not be done yet even prior to the milk coming in.

So, I instead of buying the uber expensive bras that might only last me a few more weeks, I ended up buying a couple of nursing bras at Mother.hood - they fit more like a sports bra and give me a little more room to grow and still support the weight of the enlarging ta-tas.  I am not a huge fan of the style - the back and the straps are more of a racer back styling (and therefore show in some of the shirts that I have) and the under your shirt effect is more of the squishing you down like a sports bra, but at least they fit and will hopefully last me longer than a few weeks.

In my last post, I mentioned that I was concerned about the amount of weight gain in the last 4 weeks.  The reason is that I had gained 7 lbs.  This is almost 2 times the recommended pound per week.  But, I also need to take into account that a good bit of this weight was easily attributed to the increase in breast size.  When I went from an F to a C in the reduction, I think that I lost over 4 lbs of breast weight.

So, there you have it.  The tale of the ta-tas.  I am sure this is not the end of the story.  Does anyone know if they make a cup size of Z?  I may need it later!