Since I found out I was pregnant back in March, I've been looking ahead at my summer schedule and imagining what I'll look like during different events. For example, there was a wedding about 11 weeks into my pregnancy. I had imagined I'd be huge by then and would need some sort of maternity dress by then. I did not.
Last weekend was Rock the Garden, an outdoor concert at the Walker Art Center. I had imagined I would need to be wearing some sort of special maternity summer outfit for the day. I did not. I wore a normal outfit (and rain boots, since it sprinkled all day).
We're going to see the Black Keys on July 3rd. I had imagined needing to have a special maternity band shirt made. I will NOT need a special maternity band shirt, the way things are going.
And while I'm not exactly looking forward to getting huge, I would like a more 'maternity-like' belly. Right now, it just looks like I've been letting myself take a few extra trips to the Chinese buffet for extra won tons and orange chicken. Or maybe I've just been on the couch watching soaps and eating barbecue potato chips out of the bag for a month. Or perhaps I've been on a 14-day cruise, hitting the midnight buffet every night. It's possible I have recently discovered the local Krispy Kreme gives away their day-olds before 8AM every day and it's right on my way to work. In any case, I don't look pregnant.
And yet, I have an avocado-sized baby nestled in there (which is currently pressing into some important nerves and causing my leg to tingle all day). I mean, I have a moving, living, growing baby in there--one with a heartbeat and a mouth that opens and closes and all that good stuff--and no one would know. I mean, everyone knows now because I'm writing it in here, and this is an internationally-read blog (haha!).
But strangers on the street don't know. Wait staff still offer me wine when I'm out to eat. No one has offered me their bus seat. (This may have something to do with the fact that I haven't been on a bus since getting knocked up, but still. You get the point.)
It's not that I want the attention, really. It's more that I'm SO excited about this and I want everyone to know about it now! So...tell your friends. Feel free to say something like, "Oh, her? Yeah, she's not just gaining a mess of weight. She's just going to be a mom."
