TMI at the maternity store

This is probably one of those, ‘you had to be there’ situations, but it was so over the top, that I couldn’t not share it with blogland.

One of the reasons for my trip to the U.S. was to buy maternity clothes; ordering online just doesn’t work for some items. I hit the usual stores, Pea In the Pod and Gap Maternity, then headed over to Motherhood Maternity to have a look.

While browsing through the racks, a young (maybe 25ish) woman came into the store and when approached by the saleswoman, loudly announced that she wasn’t pregnant yet, but planned to start trying next year and wanted to buy some maternity clothes. Upon hearing this, my ears perked up and I wanted to scream “RUN, don’t do this to yourself, your body might not cooperate, don’t set yourself up for heartache.” Granted, 3 ½ years of infertility has colored my perspective on “preparing” for life events.

I continued to shop and finally headed toward the dressing rooms to try on a few items. Oh lucky me, Ms. ‘I’m not pregnant yet’ or even trying, went into the room next to mine.

For the next 20 minutes, I tried, and failed, to block out the TMI I heard from the dressing room next door, as did my mom and probably every other sane person in the store. Ms. ‘I’m not pregnant yet’ shared ALL about her life, including, but not limited to, her choice of birth control, her husband’s ex-girlfriend’s choice of birth control and decision to stop taking it without telling him, her house and how old it is, and her debt. Seriously. I kept peeking out of the dressing room and giving my mom the “Are you kidding me” look, to which she’d shake her head. I suppose the only saving grace to this craziness is that Ms. ‘I’m not pregnant yet’ had also informed the entire store that her husband didn’t want to start a family until they had lowered their debt, which judging by the amount of maternity clothes she was buying, would not happen for a long time. And while she was definitely a customer, it should also be noted that there was a line of visibly uncomfortable, pregnant women waiting for a dressing room.

Like I said, it was probably one of those situations in which you had to be there, but while it was happening, it was certainly entertaining.

Words to the wise: keep your personal information to yourself, especially in a store full of strangers.