Mid-Michigan Moms is thrilled to partner with McLaren Lapeer Region and McLaren Flint to bring you Navigating Your Pregnancy, an editorial series event. In this installment of our Editorial Series Collection, McLaren, and the#MidMichiganMoms team share fifteen different posts addressing all aspects of life as a pregnant woman. From humor to stories of perseverance, no topic is left off the table. Tune in, learn, share, and join the conversation!
You’re pregnant. It’s a wonderful time in a woman’s life, the two pink lines, the little blue cross, a new baby on the way. So what comes next?
A joyous period that includes fat ankles, swelling, morning sickness, sleeping on your side, and the most lovely comments from everyone passing by. I am not sure what about growing another human inside you makes other people think ‘now is the time for me to voice my opinion and tell that glowing {or sweating} pregnant lady exactly what I am thinking‘.
Did your parents never teach you if you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all? Or maybe it’s just that people don’t find the pregnant comments offensive because they aren’t the ones waddling around feeling like a mini whale with back pains, a constant need to pee, and some weird desire for ice cream. On my first go-around with pregnancy, I was dumbfounded at comments people would say, and I was even warned! But, I figured there was no way someone would actually say that to another person. NOPE, wrong! Who knew?!
So, in no particular order, below are the ten most memorable comments I was told as a pregnant person. I hope that it makes your trip down pregnancy lane, and the comments you may hear not so bad. Likewise, this is a friendly warning to others to hopefully keep that filter in check. Because – let’s be honest – as mothers or mothers-to-be, we have a lot to deal with, and fielding negative comments shouldn’t be one of them!
10. Ooh, you’re at the waddling stage! Wahoo, do I get some sort of trophy for this?
9. You’re belly has really popped in the last week. I hadn’t noticed.
8. Wow, you’re big. Let’s see where do we go from here… Thank you?
7. Don’t worry I was huge too. Again, not sure on this one either, do I go with a thank you that makes me feel better, or whew I hadn’t realized I was huge until now? I mean let’s be serious, what does that even mean?!
6. Do you even have ankles? Nope, being pregnant did this amazing thing where my feet just magically connect to my leg bones. Google it.
5. Your butt is not as big as your stomach so you must be having a boy. I did have a boy so congratulations on guessing correctly, however, are we really as a group comparing my rear end to my stomach.
4. You must be due any day now! Actually, about two months to go, but I too will keep this in mind.
3. You must be having twins! Nope, just one. Are you sure? Yup, pretty sure, there was only one in the ultrasound, but apparently with my size, I should ask them to recheck.
2. That’s gonna be like an 11 pounder! He was only 7lbs 12 oz, but no worries I thought about that the entire time I was trying to get him out of me.
1. You’re definitely having a girl, I can tell, she is sucking the beauty right out of you. Thank goodness my husband was standing right next to me or I am convinced that no one would ever believe me on this one. The best part of all is that our little surprise was a BOY. My beauty was just being sucked out of me for no apparent reason other than I was a giant pregnant person!
People’s “fool-proof” ways to “tell” what you’re having never fail to amaze me.
“You’re carrying like a basketball — it HAS TO be a boy!”
“You’re carrying like a basketball — it’s DEFINITELY a girl!”
“You’re carrying like a beluga whale — it’s GOT TO BE a human!”
I made that last one up. But it’s just about on par with the rest of the “fool-proof” strategies.