Jilli, I suggest you hie thee tO the nordstrom rack at southcenter--I was shocked at the number of HH or G cups they had--they usually only have "regular" sizes

I think I was a 32D at age 12 or so. Fairly traumatic -- I went from being a tiny 10-year-old who looked about 7 to wearing a C cup in the space of a few months or so.

I was a radically late developer, but I don't remember a transitional stage. Like I was short, and then I was kinda tall, I was flatchested, and then I had D cups. Mother's side of the family is pretty generously gifted in that regard. I certainly don't peg the meter.

I got the 38DD's from Dad's side of the family; I am built just like my grandmother and great-aunt.

I got 'em when I was ten. All of a sudden, I had C cups in 5th grade. Bad thing is, I'd tried to stuff my training bra once and got caught out, and then BOOM, I got these huge natural breasts and kids teased me horribly that I was stuffing my bra. By the time I was a freshman, I was in a 36D. Woo. Thing was, for about 3 years, my mom and I wore the same bra size, so I just wore my mom's old bras -- we weren't rich, and they were plain white ordinary bras.

But I came home in high school one day in tears because I coudln't run in gym class without my breasts FLYING out of the cups (front hook bra) and this was when only Athletic Girls wore a sports bra, and they were primitive. Initially, my mom was a little disbelieving that her 13 yo had bigger boobs than she, but we got out the tape measure, and lo and behold.

She kinda sighed and was all "Well, you have your grandma's bosom" which HORRIFIED me, because Grandma's large uniboob was not exactly what I had in mind.

I wear a 38D/DD, depending on the bra, and I'm happy with that size. I would not be happy with anything larger. I feel so bad for girls with tiny frames and large cup sizes; what a pain.

My extended family has a continual "No, yours are bigger!" competition going on. Theirs seriously are bigger. I just have a freakishly small rib cage. But we have been caught out in public arguing about it and grabbing each other for volume comparison. Apparently it's really important not to have the biggest breasts.

However, anything below a C cup? Those aren't mammaries. It's a fine line.

I would not be happy with anything larger. I feel so bad for girls with tiny frames and large cup sizes; what a pain.

raises hand

I'm a 32 or 34 band, and cup size somewhere F or bigger (there seems to be no standard for how cup sizes bigger than DDD get labeled -- some brands go E F G, some are E EE F FF G GG, and a bunch of other systems.) There have been a few times (usually when I'm at the lower end of my usual weight range) when I've had to buy a bra with a 32 band at one of the specialty bra shops and then had the seamstress there take it in an inch or so.

I didn't really develop early but I was a year older than the other girls in my classes so it felt like it.

I wear a 40B in the 2 styles of Lane Bryant bras I like and wear all the time. It's almost a C cup but the C cups are a little too big.

However, when anyone does the standard measuring I measure as a D cup. I don't know why it happens but it does.

Even though my weight gain over the years my boobs have pretty much stayed the same size.

The daughter of one of Mom's best friends had breast reduction surgery when she was 17 or 18. I don't know what her measurements were, but she was very petite and was already having back and shoulder issues.

However, anything below a C cup? Those aren't mammaries. It's a fine line.

...they're tits?

I'd be fine with the A cup if it were a smaller band size--those are easier to find. But apparently they assume that if you have big ribs (and even when I've been thinner, my band size measurement was only maybe an inch smaller) you've also got big tits. Not so, manufacturers! Not so.

Jilli, I suggest you hie thee tO the nordstrom rack at southcenter--I was shocked at the number of HH or G cups they had--they usually only have "regular" sizes

Oooh, really? Rock on, I will go visit there after I return from PDX. Plus I need to scope out their hosiery section; now that fashion has decreed that patterned and lace tights are "IN", I can stock up.

DCistas - the Nordstrom Rack at Friendship Heights opened yeserday.