Warning: Your Pregnancy Is Everybody's Business

So... this isn't necessarily about ecomobility, but it is in part about how pregnancy/having a kid is going to effect my lifestyle. I was directed to this other soon-to-be mom's blog, dooce.com, by a friend who said I would probably enjoy her wry and hilariously sarcastic writing style. Although I absolutely enjoy her narrative style, I started to feel really guilty while reading about all the symptoms of her pregnancy. I can't say I relate...

Nausea? Not once (yet). Heartburn? Zero. Wacky heightened senses and strange cravings? Nope. Crazy emotional mood swings? Not so much.

I've heard that I'm REALLY lucky. Other than the weight gain and getting a baby bump (and one face break out) I've felt totally normal. The thing that makes me feel abnormal is the conversations I have to have with people about the pregnancy. I hate hate hate being reduced to my pregnancy. Women often complain about feeling violated when people might touch their tummies. This is probably just personal, but physical proximity to strangers or non-relatives doesn't really bother me that much. Actually, there's a guy friend at work who shows way more interest in my bump than Don does! It's sweet.

What DOES bother me is people continually telling me that I have no idea what I'm getting into. Not having had children before, I can't really come up with any proper retort. I've never claimed to know everything or be idealistic about how much work and what a commitment this is going to be. But, it doesn't mean that the things that matter to me now (having a healthy and active lifestyle, not trashing the environment, living with awareness) will cease to be of importance. Sure, I might not have the exact same schedule and habits as pre-baby, but it doesn't mean I'll stop caring.

The onset of baby life this summer (I'm due June 4th) will likely cut into cycling. I think newborns are probably too floppy to put on a bike or hitch to the back of a bike. That's okay, it'll just mean that I'll walk. So instead of an 8 min bike ride to go out for some shopping or lunch, it'll probably mean a half hour walk. That's okay! Plus, my train station 5 mins away opens this April, so baby and I will pack it up and get in the train. I'm really looking forward to hopefully not having to go to the gym. I'm AWFUL at going to the gym. I get so unmotivated and I don't find it very rewarding or fun unless I'm signed up for some sort of class (and usually the time commitment means I end up missing half of them) or I'm going with a friend. I prefer to get exercise while out and about getting other things done. So hopefully walking will be a good way to care about the environment and my body.

Also, I hate being equated exclusively to my pregnancy. I feel as though I can't say ANYTHING that doesn't get chalked up to being pregnant! For example, if I boast about feeling terrific because I slept in that morning... somebody at work will say something like, "Of course you slept in, you must be SO TIRED because you're pregnant!" I mean, has this person not paid attention all those other days I revel about sleeping in because I happen to stay up really late all the time and uh... really dig sleeping in? Example 2. I was commenting on how I wanted some glazed doughnuts really badly. Then I got the "You've got super cravings!" responses. Little do these people know that even in elementary I'd bike to the bakery after school (maybe 2 times a year) and get like... 4-6 glazed doughnuts (with the good intention of bringing them home to share with everybody). I'd end up eating all of them. I just love glazed doughnuts, I'm not going to lie. And it's not because I'm pregnant. Can't somebody just really love glazed doughnuts?

Generally speaking, I find that many people just hear what they want to hear despite the specific questions they ask me about the pregnancy. When I tell people I feel fine, they tell me that I should take advantage of being pregnant and just admit that I'm tired. Uh... okay? If I was tired, I'd just say so. So it's the lame conversations I don't like. If somebody just wants to monologue about what they think about pregnancy, why don't they just do that instead of opening up a conversation with me with the guise of a dialogue when that's really not the case?

Conversely, I DO have some excellent conversations with some people who are really supportive and happy for me and seem to know where I'm coming from. It's those exchanges that keep me going and give me the strength to leave my house and smile and nod when people say dumb things to me.

Oh yeah, that picture up there is of our little dude fetus. I refer to Don as big D and Dougal as little d. So right now this little guy is being referred to as mirco d.

Don't get me started on the faces I get when people ask me what names we're thinking of. I didn't have the good sense to realize some people would be so negative and opinionated about the name of a child that wasn't even their own! I have since then decided not to let it bother me. I've never asked for anybody's approval when it came to choosing anything... ever, really. And I'm always confident in my choices so... it's going to me named what Don and I like and people who want to scrunch up their faces can suck it!