Go ahead, touch my belly

I'm 30 weeks pregnant and I love it when people not only acknowledge that I'm pregnant, but marvel in the miracle of it by touching my belly and talking to the baby in there.

I have a message for the pregnant women who have expressed discomfort at people wanting to touch their bellies: GET OVER IT! You are about to have strangers sticking their hands up your vagina and you're worried about someone touching your belly?  Seriously, relax. Stop ruining it for the rest of us with your petty complaints.

Saturday I arrived at a barbecue around the same time as another pregnant woman I know.  We joyfully rubbed our bellies together while encouraging our babies to say hello.  It was awesome!  And it made me realize that because of the outspoken backlash of those few people who find having their bellies touched uncomfortable, I haven't gotten as much belly love as I would like.

I appreciate your desire to be polite, but ignoring the miracle that is going on in front of you is a sad state of affairs as well.

I know that nobody wants to be in the awkward position of assuming someone is pregnant who turns out to just be fat, but I am enormous and people are still acting surprised when I mention that I'm due in a few months.  Really?  You thought that was just a beer gut? Come on people, if my belly is that big and I'm *not* pregnant, we've got bigger problems here than a minor social faux pax.

I've traveled quite a bit recently and been disappointed that nobody has offered to help me as I've struggled with getting my bag up and down from the overhead compartment.  This sucks.  Being pregnant is so uncomfortable and the only upside is that people should be nicer to you. 
The next time you see a pregnant person struggling, offer to help. 

And yes, there are people who don't like to have their belly touched, it's true, but they're not the only pregnant ones out there.  So if you want to touch a beautiful bulging baby in a belly, just ask, because there's also people like me, who will appreciate the attention.

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