Do you ever feel that now you are pregnant it seems everybody has the right to invade your privacy, give you unsolicited advice and touch you without asking? And I am not just talking about family members or friends, as obtrusive as they maybe, but people you have never even met before!
Here are the 10 things every pregnant woman hopes that she will never have to hear from her family and friends, acquaintances and strangers alike!
1. Can I touch your tummy?
Why is it, just because you’re pregnant, people think that they can touch or stroke any protruding belly whenever they feel like! If a woman has a nice bum or great pair do people come up out of nowhere for a feel – No they don’t – Keep your hands to yourself!
2. You look tired!
Of course she looks tired! Walking around carrying extra weight, always wanting to pee all the time, hormones all over the place, only topic of conversation is babies; having babies or raising babies, never being able to find a comfortable position to sleep in, being kicked all through the night… If she wasn’t tired she would be a walking miracle.
3. Are you going to breast feed?
Breast feeding is a personal choice. There is no right or wrong here. Babies are not disadvantaged in any way or do not develop differently if they are bottle fed or not. Some women can breastfeed and some can’t, some babies take to the breast easily others don’t and it can be very frustrating and even painful for those mums that struggle.
As long as the baby is developing as it should, growing as it should and putting on weight as it should either method is fine. Don’t let anyone tell you, you are not a good mother because you feed your baby from a bottle .
4. My word you are huge!
People can be so insensitive sometimes. Pregnant women, on the whole, feel bloated and big anyway, even when they are not. They certainly don’t need to be told over and over how big they are getting. Your tummy gets as big as it needs to correctly incubate your baby so it is born happy and healthy, after all isn’t that what pregnancy is all about.
5. You’re not very big!
Babies come in all sizes and women that do not have big tummies are worried enough about whether everything is going the way it should .
One of the women in a our prenatal class was very slight and hardly looked pregnant at all and she was asked so many times if there was anything wrong that she became obsessive and depressed and for no good reason, she gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby.
6. What are you going to call it?
Naming my baby was a personal thing between the two of us. We kept the names we liked very close to our chest and were not interested in hearing other people’s opinions. We like our kids names and they like them too! That’s all that matters.
7. My labour took 24 hours with no pain relief!
No pregnant women ever needs to hear about long labour, complications through pregnancy, pain, 36 weeks of morning sickness etc… If you are going to discuss your own pregnancy with someone going through it, highlight the good times. Your glowing skin, how thick your hair became, the way you both talked to the baby every morning, how reassuring and wonderful your midwife or obstetrician was. Keep your horror stories to yourself!
8. Are you getting the new 4 wheel drive pram with built in change table and bottle warmer!
By the time you have your third child you realize very quickly a pram is a pram is a pram. You really don’t need to spend $1000 just because your friend has one. After all, all the only thing you will ever use it for is getting your baby from A to B. And it is not just prams! Before you go and mortgage the house getting all the things you need for baby do your research and get only what you really need at a price you can afford.
9. Are you having a boy or a girl?
Why is that the first question anyone asks? What business is it of theirs? Why does everyone think they have the foolproof way of telling if it is a boy or girl. You are carrying high must be a boy, Your wedding ring swings clockwise, must be a girl. You crave sweet not savory, your pee is orange… the list is endless. Basically the only way to find out is by Ultrasound, NIPS, CVS or Amnio. Everything else is just a punt at best!
10. Have you read the latest research about..?
Pregnant women, especially first time pregnant women, constantly worry that they are not reading enough, researching enough, giving up enough or doing enough, that they are responsible for not giving their unborn baby every opportunity. But the constant barrage of information of what worked or did not work for someone’s sister’s brother-in-law’s first wife is enough to drive any sane person to drink. Please, keep your opinions to yourself!
