It is pretty funny but when
you become visibly pregnant
people, as in absolute
strangers, start to randomly
approach you.
They touch your belly and
tell you long personal stories
about when they had their
kids or the time that their sister’s-
husband’s-cousin had a
terrible breech labor.
I was at a large public event
over the weekend and many
people did just that.
Everyone seems to have a
theory about my pregnancy.
Again, these are absolute
strangers whom I have never
met before in my life.
They know nothing of my
life, my husband or our medical
histories.
Most people think my belly
is too small, others are sure
that I have gained way too
much weight. A lot of people
declared that I am having a
boy because of my “I swallowed
a basketball” look.
Those people are right, I am
having a boy, but the scientist
in me says that my shape has
more to do with my genetics,
diet and activity level than
the sex of my baby.
Speaking of the sex of my
baby-I had a 3D ultrasound
and there is really no doubt
about it, we are definitely
having a boy.
Not only are we having a
boy, we are having a boy who
takes after his mother.
When the ultrasound first
started the baby stuck out his
tongue at us. My mother said,
in a joking fashion, that he is
just like me.
I told her that, if he were
really just like me, he would
have given us the finger. Sure
enough, about 15-minutes
later, he gave us the finger.
That’s my boy, and I even
have it on DVD.
I am sure that the DVD will
come in handy when, in
about 13 years or so, I am
explaining to some school
administrator that Alex has
always had an attitude problem.
Alex is the name that we
have picked for the baby. We
don’t have a middle name
quite yet, but there are a few
possibilities on the table.
That is another thing people
do when you are pregnant;
they ask you about the name.
First, there are a bunch of
questions about why you
chose that name.
Then, they give you their
opinion of the name, like you
are ever going to see them
again and really care what
they think of the name you
picked for your child.
Next, you get to hear the
story of every person they
have even known with that
name, what the person did
for a living, whether or not
they were handsome or pretty,
the whole nine yards.
The whole stranger dynamic
changes when you are
pregnant.
No one walks up to someone
who is not pregnant and
starts asking a bunch of personal
questions or tries to
touch their belly.
If a stranger did that to me
at any other time in my life I
would react much differently.
Most people would probably
call the police.
Pregnancy is such a weird
time in a person’s life.