My husband secretly gave away nearly $1,400 worth of my maternity clothes to his pregnant sister while I was working a nursing shift.

I was eight and a half months  pregnant, with swollen feet, an approaching due date, and almost nothing left that fit me. When I demanded my clothes back, he calmly continued making his lunch.

“You’re nearly finished being pregnant,” he said. “My sister needs those things more than you do.”

I thought his selfishness was the worst part.

Then I discovered his sister was selling my clothes online.

And when my mother-in-law arrived with three enormous shopping  bags my husband finally learned that his mother wasn’t going to defend him.

My name is Anna Keller. I was thirty years old, living in Des Moines with my husband, Nick, and expecting our first child, a daughter we had already named Nora.

On Saturday, October 10, I returned home after an exhausting early shift at the hospital.

My feet ached, my back hurt, and all I wanted was to take a shower, change into something comfortable, and eat the strawberries I’d bought on my way home.

Instead, I walked into our bedroom and discovered that most of my maternity wardrobe had disappeared.

At first, I assumed Nick had moved the clothes while cleaning.

I checked the laundry basket.

Then the dresser.

Then the guest room.

Nothing.

My maternity leggings were missing. So were my comfortable dresses, nursing pajamas, cardigans, and the special maternity scrubs I wore to work.

Even the beautiful sage-green dress I’d purchased for my pregnancy photographs was gone.

Five months of careful shopping had vanished.

I’d spent $1,380 building that wardrobe, purchasing things gradually whenever I could afford them.

That might not seem like an enormous fortune to some people, but I was preparing for unpaid maternity leave and a new baby.

Every purchase had been deliberate.

I had even saved the receipts.

When I finally found Nick in the kitchen, he was spreading mustard across a sandwich.

“Nick, where are my maternity clothes?”

He barely looked up.

“I took them to Tara’s place.”

I stared at him.

“Tara? Your sister?”

“Obviously.”

“Why would you take my clothes to her?”

He continued preparing his lunch.

“She’s pregnant, Anna. Her boyfriend left, and she’s struggling financially. I figured she could use them.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

His sister was twenty-six weeks pregnant.

I was thirty-four weeks along.

I still had approximately six weeks before my due date, followed by months when I would need nursing-friendly clothing.

“Nick, I told her she could have some of my things after I finished using them.”

He shrugged.

“You’re almost done anyway.”

I looked down at the maternity scrubs I was wearing.

They were among the few things remaining because I’d been wearing them when he emptied the closet.

“What exactly am I supposed to wear to work on Monday?”