Pre- & Postpartum
Buy and sell pre- and postpartum in Costa Rica.
Most pre- and postpartum gear is worn close to the body for a few weeks and then outgrown: postpartum girdles with rows of hooks, support belts for the bump, and the packs of nursing and maternity pads bought before the birth that never got opened. Plenty of girdles are bought in the last weeks of pregnancy on a guessed size, which is why a nearly new one so often needs a second owner. In Costa Rica many of the better ones are Colombian-made and sized on a Colombian chart. You can list new, sealed or lightly worn pieces, and buyers write to you directly.
Postpartum girdles, from the velcro band to the full body:
the simplest is a wide elastic band that wraps the belly and closes with velcro, cheap, adjustable and easy to get on with a newborn in the other arm. The Colombian-style compression girdle is the more structured piece: a panty or mid-thigh short, or a full body with straps and an open bust, closing with columns of hooks down the front or a side zip, with an opening at the crotch so it can stay on in the bathroom. Most are cut in powernet, a firm fabric that breathes; seamless knits are softer and lighter. Before the birth the main piece is the maternity support belt that sits under the bump. Maternity clothes and pregnancy pillows have their own place under pregnancy, and prenatal vitamins sit with supplements.
Girdle sizes on a Colombian chart:
that is where most buying mistakes start. Colombian makers size by a tape measure around the waist at the navel and around the fullest part of the hips, and their letters do not line up with the US sizes on most clothes sold here. Because many women buy before the birth, the measurement is a guess based on the waist they had before pregnancy, and the girdle arrives too tight or too loose. Rows of hooks give some room, letting the same garment close tighter as the weeks go by, but they cannot fix a whole size. When to start wearing one is for the doctor or midwife to say; the buyer’s job is the measurement.
A girdle with the tags on, and one worn every day:
are two different purchases. New, a Colombian postpartum girdle in powernet runs about ₡40,000 to ₡90,000, the top of that band being the full bodies and the imported ones, while a plain velcro band costs a small part of that. An unworn girdle in the wrong size keeps most of its value, because the next buyer is making the same guess and skips the wait for an import. One worn daily through the recovery has been washed over and over, its powernet has lost its grip and the hooks have been under strain for weeks, so it sells for little, and some buyers will not consider a worn one at all.
Hooks, powernet and sealed boxes:
tell you what a pre-owned piece has been through. Stretch a panel of the girdle and let go: it should spring back flat, not ripple or stay slack. Run a finger down the hook tape for bent or missing hooks and loose stitching, work the zip along its whole length, and check the seams around the crotch opening, which take the most strain. Shine or pilling on the inside means long wear. The consumables follow a stricter rule. Pregnancy tests and the packs of nursing and maternity pads bought ahead of the birth are only worth taking sealed and in date; an opened box is worth next to nothing, and the same goes for stretch-mark oils. With a breast pump, whatever shape the motor is in, the parts that touch milk should be replaced with new ones.
The girdle that came in the wrong size:
is the easiest thing to pass on, as long as the listing does the measuring for the buyer. Give the size on the label, say it follows a Colombian chart, then lay the girdle flat on a table and measure straight across the waist. Photograph the label, the inside lining, the hook columns and the crotch opening, and say plainly whether it was worn, for how long and how it was washed. Group sealed packs into one lot with the expiry dates visible in the photos. Whoever comes to collect from Grecia or Ciudad Quesada may be in the last weeks of pregnancy, or a partner sent while she stays home with the baby: either way nobody is trying it on at the door, so the tape measure in your listing is the fitting room.