Some people are so strange.....

I have read a lot of different things that pregnant ladies have posted in various places about random people touching their stomach and saying inappropriate things to them....up until this week I have not had the personal experience of this.

My first encounter happened earlier in the week....a lady came into the jewelry store to pick up a repair we had done for her. She doesn't come in too often, but I like seeing her, she is a nice lady and I always like to see what purse she is carrying, what sunglasses she has (I happen to own a pair of Chanel sunglasses that she owns as well), how she is dressed, etc. The last time she came in I told her I was pregnant and we chatted about it a little....I didn't know we were having a girl at the time and probably wasn't showing near as much as I am now. On this visit, she asked if we knew yet and I said, yup, we are having a little girl. And then she proceeded to ask how much I had gained so far. Um, what? I can count on one hand the number of people who know this (and one is the doctor, so that sort of doesn't count) and can't really count any number of people that I would really like to share that little fact with. I told her I wasn't totally sure, had been trying to ignore the number at my doc appointments, and guessed an approximate number, something like that to kind of just blow it off.

A much more traumatic event occurred yesterday. Another customer who comes in from time to time came in to pick something up....now she had actually just been here earlier in the week and didn't notice me much, but yesterday she immediately said, oh, you're pregnant. Yup (just like I was the other day). And then she said, and it's a boy! Um, no, lady, it's a girl. Definitely need to get a new prescription on those x-ray glasses I guess. She goes on to guess how far along I am (she said 7 months, I am about 6 and a half, so not bad) and then on and on about how the way I am carrying almost 99% of the time says boy. But it actually got worse. She told me to turn around (for a back view, I guess) and then was groping my stomach and even my hips. She finally decided that since I did have some thickness in my hips (she used the words 'love handles' at one point) that maybe I was in fact having a girl. Well, thanks, Doc. Actually, she is doctor of some sort...but I know she now mostly does research and stuff (and gets Botox for migraines in an unrelated topic, haha) so I am not totally sure how that qualifies her as an OB. It got a little worse from there but I am trying to block it out so I don't need therapy for years (for this issue anyway). I felt like I had been totally molested, to say the least.

Which brings me to my point....why do people feel like they can just do or say whatever to a pregnant lady? Hello, surely you know that are our hormones are in complete overdrive now, right? Why chance getting your head knocked right off your body if the comment or action is not received well?! Or it is because, like me, pregnant ladies everywhere are like deer caught in the headlights when something like this happens and don't call the person out on their inappropriate/rude behavior? Do women who are not pregnant (but maybe have been in the past) just want to compare their personal stats with someone else, even if it is not someone that they personally know? But it sure isn't like I am asking the same rude questions right back. Maybe I should. That might shut them up. Not sure what to do in response to the groping though, haha.

I really like talking with my family and close friends about pregnancy and babies and I appreciate that they are able to be open and honest with me every step of the way. I don't feel weirded out when they ask me something personal because surely they have either told me or would tell me the answer if I were to ask the same question. But someone I hardly know, someone I barely see a handful of times in a whole year??? Just weird and nosey and uncomfortable!

All I can say is that I am glad I will only be pregnant for approximately 11 more weeks (a little less if I am lucky) and won't have to worry about this issue anymore. Of course then I am sure I will get all sorts of strange, unsolicited advice from the same kind of people about everything from losing pregnancy weight to how I should raise my kid....can't wait!!!