Pregnancy comments

I am only just barely starting to hit the place where I am showing enough that people in the real world (i.e., not the ones on Twitter where I post photos and ask for input) think it's OK to make comments about my pregnancy. The vast majority of people I encounter say nothing, and who can blame them? I am definitely showing but right now for me "showing" takes the form of "shifting from a pear to an apple shape" and not "has a definite, obvious, comment-worthy baby bump."

My personal policy on making comments to pregnant women is as follows: don't do it unless you are 100% sure they are pregnant. This means that either they have confirmed their pregnancy to me personally or they are happily, glowily shopping for baby items with a giant, obvious bump. These are the only two cases in which I would make a comment. Then, if I do make a comment, it is NEVER about their size. It must always be something general and complimentary like "You look great!"

However, I understand that not all people adhere to this policy and so far, the slightly more awkward comments that I have received haven't bothered me. They have run the spectrum from "You aren't showing at all! In fact, you look like you've lost weight!" to "My god, are you having triplets?!" and frankly, both of those were just fine with me. In all instances so far where people have made comments I know they've been excited and trying to be complimentary, so the fact that their comments come across as more well-meaning than anything else hasn't hurt.

There is also one woman at the dog park who I've known for about a year but am not personally close with at all who is a big fan of touching my belly, and while that is also not my preferred option, so far it hasn't bothered me.

However, I could certainly envision situations where people's comments and actions would piss me off. Like if I'm tired or grumpy or uncomfortable and strangers or people I don't like touch my belly. Or if, like Erin, people kept trying to argue with me about whether I actually knew what was going on with my pregnancy (in Erin's case apparently people keep insisting that she is not, in fact, having twins... what would possess them to say such a thing is beyond me).

But in the meantime, I'm appreciating the sentiment and more often than not, the comments themselves. And the single best compliment I've received? "You look so happy." I've been getting that one a lot over the last few weeks, and it makes me even MORE happy to hear it.

Anyway, on that showing thing, for those of you who aren't on Twitter, here's the latest photo, taken yesterday at 18 weeks even (past photos for comparison are here):