It's Personal

Although I keep a blog about my daughter, I consider myself a private person. I rarely share details of my relationship with my husband (known as H in this blog - he's even more private) and only include funny, interesting tidbits about my life with Tali. I graduated college a few years before Facebook took off and never really caught on to that whole trend of sharing every detail of your life with the world.

But, when you are pregnant, a big (and somewhat personal, in my opinion) detail of your life is on display. And many strangers feel they need to comment on it. For example, this weekend, H and I went to a wedding. As I was exiting the plane, the flight attendant said "congratulations." I immediately thanked her, not sure what she was congratulating me on and then I figured it out. I'm pregnant. I found it weird as the only other conversation I'd had with her was when she asked me if I wanted something to drink. Later that evening, the sister of the bride asked to touch my belly. I don't really know her that well and find it a huge violation of personal space for someone to start touching your body. I politely told her no and saved my snarky response ("only if I can touch yours") for a more appropriate occasion. 

The close friends and family members who ask how I'm feeling is fine. It's nice to know that people care. But the acquaintances and strangers who comment on my body just makes me a bit uncomfortable. Why does a doctor (not an OBGYN) feel the need to tell me she thinks I look huge? Is that a way to get a new patient to return (I did, actually, but only because I think she's good at her job). And why does the nail technician in a salon need to know if I've had morning sickness? Oh that's right, because she wants to share every detail of her pregnancy with me.

The only thing I actually enjoy about strangers commenting on my pregnancy are the dads. I find it sweet when they begin to tell me how much joy their children have brought them. It's a side of men, especially strangers, you don't see very often. It happened quite a few times when I was pregnant with Tali and has happened a handful times so far with this one. I consider it one of the joys of being pregnant.