Stages of Pregnancy

Over the past nine months, I've noticed that the way strangers look at me has changed dramatically the more pregnant I got.  I am not unaware at the glances at my direction every time I go grocery shopping and they have certainly changed.  I told Tim about my observation and he thought I should blog about it.  With his help, I present:

The 4 Stages of  Pregnancy

Stage I: "Silently Pregnant"  

At this stage, it was way too early for most casual observers to notice that I was pregnant at all.  For the first 12 weeks I didn't show anything anyway.  Nobody cared because I didn't really look any different or, at most, I was just slightly thicker in the waist.  Life carried on as normal.  

Stage II: "Possibly Pregnant"

This was when the baby bump started becoming more obvious.  People's gazes started to linger and you can tell the wheels in their head were turning.  Most people would probably agree that I was pregnant, but there was still that tiny chance that I wasn't.  Because I didn't offer up any information their curiosity went unconfirmed.  I've actually been pleasantly surprised with how responsible people were in refraining from asking the question that is blaring in the their minds. It's like the whole world finally got the memo about the risks of asking the "Are you pregnant?" question.  Good job people!

Stage III: "Definitely Pregnant"
At some point my belly got large enough that people could confidently make the decision that I was indeed pregnant and not just getting fat.  At this point, people would go ahead and bring it up in conversations without feeling like they were going out on a limb. Some people even tried to play it off like they'd known about my pregnancy for ages.  There was lots of excitement in conversations and people wanted to know all about the pregnancy.  This was especially true with women in their 40's and other mothers.  During this phase, my belly was still in the "cute" phase, but it was large enough to give people the green light to use the "P" word. Checkers at the grocery store would ask me if I was having a boy or a girl.  Random people felt licensed to touch my belly. Tim says my impending motherhood radiated warmth and I shouldn't blame everybody for wanting to bask in the glow.

Stage IV: "Bless her heart"
For me, I noticed this stage starting at around week 37.  My belly isn't cute anymore, it's huge.  Instead of warm smiles, I just get the looks of pity.  The only question I ever get from a stranger any more is, "When are you due?"  This really means, "You look like you are about to pop! Are you sure that baby wasn't supposed to come out a few weeks ago?"  All that "glow" I had a couple weeks ago has disappeared.  It's probably buried somewhere in my enormous ankles. 


I am so ready for this baby to get here already.