Finding maternity wear in Beirut is...

...practically impossible, if you, like me, don’t have a lot of money to spend, and/or don’t have a car to drive around seeking out special boutiques all over town. There’s no Motherhood or Old Navy. A few weeks ago, I even took a taxi to the ABC mall, because I had seen on the H&M website that they would have maternity clothes (neither their store in Hamra, nor their store at the Souks have it). Turns out, they don’t sell H&M mama at the ABC mall either. In fact, the shop holder told me, the only H&M in Lebanon that has maternity wear is in Sidon, a 45 min. drive south of Beirut. Really? I mean, really?! I asked them if perhaps they could bring in a few items for me, even offered to pay in advance, and they just laughed at me, “We can’t do THAT!” Nice customer service, H&M – not!

Quite desperate I found a small boutique in Hamra a couple of weeks ago that sells maternity wear, but unless I would like to be mistaken for a pregnant prostitute, there was nothing there for me to buy. Then I remembered having seen the occasional maternity t-shirt in the medley of clothing at Eldorado on Hamra street. It’s a store that sells brand clothes that for some reason were rejected by the original shop. Like an outlet, I guess. Sometimes they have a lot of nice items from a variety of brands like Calvin Klein, Target, Walmart, H&M, C&A, Part Two, Vero Moda, etc. and sometimes they have nothing. I went, searched through their piles, and… I didn’t find a big collection of maternity wear, but I did come upon a small stack of H&M mama ¾ sleeved t-shirts with ruched sides in various colors, Large and Medium. Good enough for me! Paired with the jeans and pants that I have from earlier pregnancies, my two skirts and one dress, I’m good!

I'm not chic or fashionable, but at least dressed.