I Know I Am Pregnant

[elizabethkott]

"wow your stomach grew a mile this weekend"
Response: Bet your wife wishes part of you did too..."

"clear the way big mama is coming"
Response: And here come her foot - right in your @ss!

People are STOOPID. Why, why, why would anyone in their right mind think that these sort of things are a)funny b)appropriate c)well intentioned or d)welcomed?

It's times like these I wish I was allowed to carry a tazer.

[lizajane]

What great comments. I'll have to remember some of them. But just as an aside, I have the opposite problem. I didn't show with DS1 until about 7 months (I'm not a tiny person and I wear fairly loose clothes anyway) and I'm not really showing now. I've had people say, "Are you still pregnant?" And I've had quite a few people look at me like they wanted to ask that, but didn't think it was appropriate (at least they had second thoughts!).

I remember saying to my husband that if I actually looked six months pregnant, someone might have helped me load the huge fan/light combo into my cart at Home Depot a couple of years ago! Usually I don't mind fending for myself, but that was definitely a tricky one.

i was the same way. i have a tipped uterus and a long torso, so those babies could really hide in there. i started wearing maternity clothes with my second kid around 18 weeks. i always measured 2cm small, even though both of my babies weighed nearly 10lbs and i gained more than 30lbs both times. what i always got was "you don't even look pregnant." which made me want to say, "you think i look like this ALL the time????"

[tylersmama]

what i always got was "you don't even look pregnant." which made me want to say, "you think i look like this ALL the time????"

Oh, yeah. That was fun. Before I became a SAHM, I was a certified athletic trainer at a high school. One day when I was probably around 26 weeks or so, some of my girls basketball players were hanging out in the training room before a game. I mentioned something related to being pregnant and some of the girls were like "you're pregnant? no way! we didn't know you were pregnant!" I said "gee thanks, you thought I was just getting fat, huh?" Teenage girls...

Story #2: On my due date, H and I went to KFC to grab some lunch. Right before we go to sit down, the cashier finally asks me when I'm due, so I tell her "today." Her response: "oh wow, I almost didn't ask, cuz I didn't want to offend you if you weren't pregnant." Me-->offended that you aren't sure that I'm pregnant ON MY DUE DATE.

[dr mom]

the cashier finally asks me when I'm due, so I tell her "today." Her response: "oh wow, I almost didn't ask, cuz I didn't want to offend you if you weren't pregnant."

But worse, oh so much worse, to ask someone when they're due only to be informed through gritted teeth that They. Are. Not. Pregnant.

I had an idiot approach me at Wal-Mart when DS was three weeks old and ask how far along I was. Um, hello, I am standing here holding a tiny newborn - what the heck do you think, I was pregnant with twins and decided to "save one for later?"

As a general rule of thumb, I believe it is never, ever OK to ask a woman if she is pregnant unless you are 1) her physician, or 2) concerned that she may be in active labor. If you have to ASK, there is a chance you could be WRONG. Much better to say "oh, you look fantastic, you are positively glowing!" and leave an opening for her to tell you that she is pregnant.

Of course, MY pet peeve is that if one more person tries to touch/pat/stroke/caress my belly, I'm going to reach out and grab their boob, hard.
There is such a thing as personal space, KWIM? It's not a good luck charm - why the heck do random strangers suddenly feel personally ok about invading my privacy?
(I will also slap away the wandering, potentially germ-infested hands of total strangers trying to touch my newborn...so maybe I'm just oversensitive about this.)

[elephantmeg]

With DS I took forever to show, and had been slacking off at the gym (after being on an embarassing poster all over the hospital advertising it, sigh). One of the anesthesiologists was giving me a hard time for paging him twice for a pre op sedation order, "I was at the gym, I haven't seen you there recently". I mumbled some excuse about going later. And a coworker said, "yeah Robert doesn't like all the bouncing around". He got this shocked look on his face "you're pregnant?". I shot back, "what did you think, that I was fat and lazy". The look on his face was priceless. As was the look when he found out I was 24 weeks....

[sidmand]

Of course, MY pet peeve is that if one more person tries to touch/pat/stroke/caress my belly, I'm going to reach out and grab their boob, hard.
There is such a thing as personal space, KWIM? It's not a good luck charm - why the heck do random strangers suddenly feel personally ok about invading my privacy?

Very true. Because I never was really obviously pregnant. I never had that happen and I'm a pretty private person and that would have been absolutely awful.

I did used to feel a bit bad that no one ever asked if I was pregnant (except when I was wearing the shirt [so not me] that said "B-A-B-Y" in rhinestones across the front!). But now I see that if you don't know, it's really really better not to say anything!! Not that I ever said anything before, but having BTDT...not something you should say.