"My goodness you look pregnant today"

As most of you know, I am back in school.  I have a microbiology lab and I sit at a lab table with 3 other ladies.  Being that the class is Microbiology, we work alot with E.coli, Staph, and other potentially harmful bacteria.  On the first day of class, I let my lab instructor know that I was pregnant as well as the 3 girls at my table because there are certain steps in an experiment that I cannot perform.  With that being said, only 4 other people in the class know that I am pregnant for sure.  I have one particularly loud lady in her mid thirties sitting at my table.  Just to get a visual, she is probably 100 pounds overweight and her voice is so loud that it bounces off all 4 concrete block walls in our lab.  Anyway,  I walked into lab and set my things down.  She says in her loud boisterous voice, "My goodness.  You look pregnant today."  The whole entire class stopped to look at me.  Even the instructor had a pained look on his face.  The five seconds that everyone froze to look at me felt like an eternity.  I am usually pretty quick on my feet with a comeback to practically anything but this one left me with not a word to say.  The only words I could sputter out were, "Thanks.  I think." Finally, everyone went back to what they were doing.  I think she realized as soon as it came out of her mouth that what she had to say probably came out wrong and probably didn't need to be said.  I felt bad for her but what the heck do you say to that?!

This brings me to a topic on pregnancy that I have become quickly familiar with.  I could write a book on just this topic. Why do people feel the need to comment on a pregnant body?  I wish people understood that there is nothing you can say to a pregnant woman in reference to her body that makes her feel good.  NOTHING! If you tell her she looks skinny and you "cant even tell" she thinks there is something wrong with her and the development of her baby.  If you tell her she looks big...well thats a no brainer.  A woman is aware she is gaining about a pound a week, no need to remind her! Women could actually take note from the men on this one.  Men don't say anything but excitedly smile and look at you like you are the most amazing thing they have ever seen.  They have such a sweet and curious nature when it comes to a pregnant body. Take note ladies...there is something we can learn from men!!!! 

Here I am on week 18.  Once again before dinner with friends.  We take our picture then because its probably the only time during the week I put some effort into myself!

Oh and I forgot to mention the wonderful outing Stephen planned for us on Saturday.  We went up to Dahlonega, GA which is a historic town in the mountains of north Georgia.  The weather was all sunny and about 65 degrees.  We walked around the town square and peeked in all the little mom and pop shops.  These shops were mostly based around food and wine with tons of cookware and cookbooks.  There was one shop strickly for BBQ sauces.  Stephen was in heaven!  After shopping we went to the Smith House for dinner.  The Smith House is an old antebellum home that has been turned into a restaurant and bed and breakfast.  You pay a flat fee and its all you can eat home cooking.  The best fried chicken and collard greens I have ever had.  It was such a wonderful afternoon!!!