Thursday 18 December 2008

What not to say to a pregnant woman

Some of these things have been said to me, and some to my pregnant friend who is 7 weeks behind me. I'd love to hear if you have any to add. I included suggested responses in parentheses. People never cease to amaze me with what comes out of their mouths. Do people just have nerves of steel when talking to pregnant women, or what?

1) "Aww, you look like you swallowed a basketball, or maybe a watermelon." (Thanks, I'm growing a human in my gut. What's your excuse?)

2) "Really, you are only that far along? I thought you were due any day now!" (Well thanks, you are a quite a peach).

3) "I can't even tell you are pregnant."....this one's not so good when you've gained 20 pounds. (Thanks, that must mean the 20 lbs. I've gained are all in my butt...or lips in my case)

4) "Really, you've only gained 15 lbs. I would say that in your belly alone, it looks like at least 20." (Nice, I'm not even going to ask what you think I've gained when you add up the rest of my body)

5) "Gosh, you look huge today!" (Thanks for pointing that out. I thought it was just me!)

6) "When is the baby due?"....don't ever ask this question, even if is obvious that they are pregnant. You never want to run the risk of humiliating yourself.

4 comments:

annieck said...

I hear ya! I did one of these posts on myspace when I was preggers with Ash. Oh, be sure you'll see more of this from me. I get the worst comments! I mostly hear, "YOU'RE HUGE!" "Are you having twins?" No. "Are you sure???".
What is wrong with people?

Eve said...

I am crying from laughing so hard right now! I mean, really, I cannot understand people who would say things like this! Do they not think before they open their mouths??? I cannot say that I have gotten any rude comments, yet, this time around, but I'm sure it will happen eventually.

Donna said...

There was a week when all the comments changed from "you look great!" to "wow- you are really showing now!" and "Man- you got so big overnight!". Anywho- our Bible study was this: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Bible-Study-Guide-for-Catholics/Mitch-Pacwa/e/9781592764204. It was good to go over the 7 sacraments with St. Paul, but the reading was kind of heady- not very reader friendly. We ended up reading it, but then printing out what catholic answers said about the sacraments and reading the catechism to get a grasp on each sacrament. Thanks for showing me CSS- those look great! I think I want to do the 5-week one on the passion during lent.

Hillary @ The Other Mama said...

I was 36 weeks with Owen and a lady at Staples tried to convince me I was having twins. She would NOT leave me alone and kept ON and ON. It was horrible.
And then, again with Owen (I was huge- he was 10-8 and it was August), I was getting dressed for church and was crying because nothing would fit around me. I think it was my last week and it was horrible. The first thing I heard when I walked into church was an older lady who said, "I didn't think you could get any bigger, but somehow you did!" Nice. Thanks.