Pregnancy

Maternity clothes that keep working after the birth:

trousers and jeans come with either a soft panel that rises over the bump or a low elastic band beneath it. Nursing bras, with cups that unclip from the strap, and tops with a hidden opening stay useful for as long as the baby feeds, so they are the pieces worth spending on. Most maternity lines follow your usual size rather than a size up, which makes a used lot easier to buy than it sounds. The long dress for a maternity photo session or the baby shower is the exception to everything: worn once, it nearly always comes back as good as new. The baby’s going-home outfit sits with baby clothing, and the hospital bag with diaper bags.

Pregnancy pillows and the room they take up:

a U-shaped pillow runs down both sides of the body and fills most of a double bed. A C-shape wraps one side and the back and leaves more space for whoever shares the bed. A small wedge slips under the bump or behind the back and fits in a bag for a weekend at the grandparents’. Choose a cover that zips off for washing, because the filling cannot go in the machine.

Maternity bands and postpartum girdles:

they look alike in a photo and do different jobs. A maternity band is a wide, soft strip of elastic worn under the bump and closed with hook-and-loop. A postpartum girdle is firmer, often a high-waisted brief or a long shaper with several rows of hooks so it can be taken in as the weeks go by, and it is the one kept on through the weeks of recovery after the birth. Whether either suits you is a question for whoever is following your pregnancy, not for a listing. Buy by the measurement the seller gives rather than the S, M or L on the label, since sizing varies a lot between makers.

A pregnancy pillow loses its value in the filling:

a full-length U or C pillow costs roughly Q300 to Q600 new, and a used one with a washed cover and filling that still springs back goes for around Q100 to Q200. The cover washes; the fibre inside flattens into lumps after months of nightly use and cannot be brought back. A maternity band is around Q150 to Q250 new and barely worth reselling unless it hardly saw use, while maternity clothes hold their value better than ordinary clothes, because each piece was only worn for a few months.

Elastic, hooks and filling on pre-owned maternity gear:

the elastic goes first. Stretch a waistband or bump panel and let go: it should spring back flat, not ripple or stay slack, and a panel gone shiny and thin at the top will not see out another pregnancy. On a girdle, count the hooks along every row and check the stitching at each end, where they pull hardest. Squeeze a pillow along its length for lumps and hollows, unzip the cover to check the inner lining for stains, and smell it for damp. Creams, oils and anything else meant for the skin are only worth taking sealed and in date.

A lot of maternity clothes, listed by size and by month:

put everything in one listing and give the size you wore before the pregnancy as well as the one on the labels, because that is how a buyer works out the fit. Say up to which month each piece still worked, photograph the panels stretched, and count the pieces by type. A postpartum girdle goes fastest unworn or with its tags; if it was worn, say for how long. A woman coming from Villa Nueva or Coatepeque in her last weeks will not want to try things on in a doorway, so your measurements are what bring her, and a lot she can collect in one trip before her due date is the one she chooses.