When pregnancy finds you, the only thing the rest of the world notices is the other human you are carrying in the bulbous growth that extends from your stomach (oh, and the two lumps protruding from your chest).
Those pregnancy bellies can end up being very large and very round. They will change the way you walk, the way you sleep, the way you sit and if you’re planning on bending, doing up your fly or buckling a Jimmy Choo heel, banish the thought.
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You’ll soon discover a pair of thongs set off a potato-sack dress nicely.It was when I was reading this article I was reminded of those days I heaved a giant belly around a newsroom, a supermarket, an Olympic Games venue ... and worse still, a black-tie event, which brings me to pregnancy etiquette and the dos and don’ts of interacting with a woman and her giant belly.
Every woman who’s been pregnant can recount an awkward moment.
Let me set the scene: I’m at a wedding and my feet are about to explode from the amount of fluid building up in them but I smile politely while everyone else gets drunk and talks nonsense.
Then, without warning, a heavily intoxicated male guest sneaks up from behind and places both hands over my belly, whispering in my ear: “I’ve always had a thing for pregnant women.”
True story.
Or the time breast milk started leaking through my shirt for the first time – at a press conference – you know, just so the chances of it being captured on camera were even higher.
Or when I had to jump a barbed-wire fence while reporting on a house fire, with a giant lump lolling about under my shirt, as the rest of the media pack looked on amusingly.
Yeah, yeah, dodging exploding gas cylinders is not all that funny, when it takes you twice as long to waddle five metres.
Or the time my wide load tipped me off balance as I strolled across a pedestrian crossing.
Thankfully, as I sat in the middle of the road looking like a complete idiot and laughing at my predicament, the little old man who had stopped to let me walk across leapt from his vehicle in a state of panic.
I don’t think he appreciated that I was laughing, but I did appreciate his concern. Nothing like a dose of public humiliation to bring a girl back down to earth – literally.
Pregnant women are well aware there are some people who just don’t know how to act around a giant belly.
Men and women both fail the pregnancy etiquette test. As this recent BT article pointed out, there are some who prefer to ignore the needs of a woman carrying a giant belly, turning a blind eye to her plight.
And still others overcompensate, offering to carry your notepad or hold your hand as you negotiate the stairs – sweet but not necessary.
I cannot be the only one with awkward fat belly memories. Let’s share ...
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/blogs/dirty-laundry/the-battle-of-the-belly-20110724-1hvi4.html#ixzz1TBG1cEnq
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