Dealing with the General Public

Most of us have friends who have gone down this road before and we've seen and heard the stories that make pregnant women and moms cringe.  I'm talking about the belly touchers and the folks who can't keep their comments to themselves.  If you haven't experienced these special aspects of society, you are one lucky lady!  Or you never go out in public.

"You must've swallowed a watermelon!", "Is that a pumpkin under your shirt?", "You look like you're ready to pop!", "Are you sure you're going to make it to your due date?", "ooh, you have a headache? Maybe it's preeclampsia!", along with various comments on what you're eating, not eating, how you're eating, etc.  I can already hear the comments for Thanksgiving - "did you eat the whole turkey?".  Save the cuteness for someone else.  I think you sound like a moron.

I will say that it took awhile for me to realize that when I am helping people at work, oftentimes they're sitting and I'm standing, and my belly is right in their face.  I've gotten some strange looks, and wondered why.  I am certainly not the first pregnant person you've ever seen!  Then I realized that it's probably just as awkward for them as it is for me.  However, it does not give strangers the right to pat our pregnant bellies!  In some states it is actually illegal to touch a pregnant woman's belly.  I've had three "patters" to date - two men, and one woman.  The woman's mother scolded her, which made me happy and appreciative.  Non-pregnant people don't get their bellies patted, why do we have to go through that?

On the flip side, there are some heartwarming stories I can share with you about general public and pregnancy, too.  One night I stopped at Neighborhood Walmart to grab some quick dinner items, and then remembered a few other things we needed.  Ultimately, the little hand held basket was not going to get my purchases out of the store and to my car very efficiently, and I was trying to carefully balance the pizza box and grocery bags and 12-pack of toilet paper along my sides.  A mother and her high school aged son stopped me and had me put my things in their basket and the son carried the pizza and toilet paper out to my car.  The mother even had him put all my groceries in my car for me.  I thanked them profusely and smiled to myself the whole drive home.  Multiple times, I've had strangers and coworkers alike tell me to cut in line for the restroom.  A man even told me once, "you go ahead since you're going for two".  That was amusing! Then there's just nice people walking by that give congratulations, which is nice to hear, even from a stranger.

It's not all bad, and the truly kind people in the world really stand out.  As with everything and anything, everyone's got their own advice, their own opinion, and they all want to share it for better or for worse.  In the grand scheme of things, it's just entertainment to get us through the day.  The most important thing to remember is that you are carrying around a little person who is depending on you for growing strong and healthy, and we need to keep our stress levels as minimal as possible - as challenging as that may seem some days - but it's so worth it!