It was based on the below blog that I had not yet published. I thought you might enjoy reading where the article came from.
When someone says, "Your face has changed!" and then moves on in the conversation, you are left to wonder what exactly they meant by that. I know many of you would argue that this is not an insult, and that I am hyper-sensitive and hormonal. (By the way telling a pregnant person that they're over-sensitive and/or hormonal is also a BAD IDEA.) I beg to differ. If there isn't a compliment that follows that statement then.... @^#%#$ you!! Do you mean my face has become distorted? Do you mean my face is fat? What does that mean and how can a pregnant woman NOT take offense to that?
"How far along are you?" No matter what I answered...I got, "Oh wow...", or "You sure it's not twins?!" Ahahahahah oh people, you are so funny!!! My doctor and his very advanced machines have told me multiple times now that there is only 1. OK!!??!!
Recently, someone told me they like standing next to me in pictures because they are bound to look skinny.
Yep.
I wear strong armour now so the comments bounce right off and at this point I am entertained by them. Now when people tell me my face has changed I ask them to explain themselves- "Like how? fatter? distorted?" I enjoy watching them squirm a bit.
I ran into someone who has never been pregnant who asked me how I was feeling. I am a bad liar and seem to be leading the campaign on letting people know that SOME people don't enjoy pregnancy, so I'm usually honest. This was around 20 weeks when I was still feeling nauseous quite regularly. So I told her. Her response: Ya, you'll probably feel that way for the rest of your pregnancy. Hey doc! Thanks for the positive news! I mean really?!? This person also asked me if I'm having twins. A real double whammy.
Must give a shout out to my amazing husband. Basically, someone else has moved into my body and brain and he has been living with a completely hyper emotional, erratic lunatic for the last 27 weeks (yes, only 27 weeks and not 4+years). He has been exceptionally patient, he has rubbed my back until I have fallen asleep, as soon as I was no longer able to reach my feet, he became the one to moisturize them... amongst many other things. (Leg shaving is next dear :) )Thank you, I'm sorry, I love you, repeat.
I think the message here is simple. If you see someone who is pregnant, say something kind. I can assure you that even if they are loving being pregnant, they are feeling some things that aren't awesome. Maybe they don't recognize their feet because they're super swollen, maybe they're extremely clumsy and ironically cannot bend down to pick anything up, maybe getting in and out of a car is a challenge these days, maybe they're getting up to pee 6 times a night. I mean these are just guesses. In any event, being pregnant is an experience. And as long as I don't resemble Jessica Simpson towards the end of her pregancy, I think I've done a-ok.
Tell the next pregnant lady you see that she looks beautiful. She needs to hear it. Please. For me.