June 13
Things not to ask/say to a pregnant woman
I am rapidly closing in on my due date and these past several months have taught me how obnoxious strangers can be. Of course, I already had an idea of how obnoxious people can be but being pregnant really seems to up the ante for some.
To help those who seem to have trouble not harassing strange pregnant women in retail stores I have compiled this list of things not to ask/say to a pregnant woman you do not know.
1. Do not reach out and touch/rub a pregnant belly. If you do not know the person, or if you barely know them but would not normally hug them when greeting them then an unsolicited belly rub is not OK. (I happen to love getting my belly rubbed by people that are close to me, but the cashier at Lowe’s who accosted me while she was supposed to be checking me out…not so much!)
2. Do not ask a pregnant woman how much weight they have gained. This information is for her Dr. and her mommie friends who will sympathize and commiserate with her.
3. Do not fire off questions about what kind of drugs she is thinking of taking during labor or whether or not she is going to vaccinate her child. Unless you are family or a close friend this is none of your beeswax.
4. This is an important one - do not, I repeat, do not corner a strange pregnant woman and start telling her some horrific story about your neighbor’s sister’s house keeper’s labor and how she almost died, etc. No one likes to hear horror stories, especially not about pregnancy.
On the flip side, here are some welcome comments that most pregnant women will appreciate:
1. “You look terrific!”
2. “Wow, I couldn’t even tell you were pregnant until you turned around, you look great!”
3. Any variation of good luck, god bless, etc.
Aside from the random obnoxious stranger (see list above) I have been blessed with some lovely comments from well meaning people along the way. The smiles followed by god bless and good luck always brighten my day. And they definitely make me forget the less tactful comments that have popped up along the way.
COMMENTS(5)5 Responses to “Things not to ask/say to a pregnant woman”
Leave a Reply
Things not to ask/say to a pregnant woman was originally mixed on June 13 at 8:00 am, and then promptly served in Teetotaled
Daily Inspiration
"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!""
- Robin Williams
Looking for web hosting?
- Try Bluehost.Hosting over 175,000 domains, including Teetotaled.com
June 15th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
You DO look terrific, honey. Really.
June 15th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Brownie points for you babe!
June 16th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
So asking you to weeble-wobble to see if you’ll actually come back up like the toy probably isn’t on the “good things” list then…
June 16th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
At least that one is creative! I have not been asked that yet but it would not surprise me.
Unfortunately I would not automatically come back up
June 18th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Some people do seem to think that a pregnant woman is someone they can treat like she has no brain.