Pregnant Women: What We Don't Want to Hear

There are lots of things you should be careful about saying to pregnant women. We are emotional, moody, and full of self doubt and fear. I will give the world some advice about how to handle us in casual conversation.

Here are a couple don'ts:

~Don't tell us about your first pregnancy, which ended in a miscarriage. This happened to me when I was pregnant last time. I know the woman was probably working through some stuff and felt she needed to talk about it, but I was not the right person for that. Blah. Tell me about good stuff, and leave the rest for wen I am not stressing out about my own potential pregnancy problems.

~Don't say things that imply we look anything less than awesome. I have had two of these mistakes in the last couple months:

1. Today, one of my 10th grade students heard me mention my son. His reaction? "How old is he? 15?" I was like, "2." I mean, really now. Why would you guess a number at all? How old do I even look? Hint: I'm 28. And by the way, I'm like 8 months pregnant. Do most people have a 14 year hiatus between pregnancies? Come on!

2. When I was a mere 6 and a half months pregnant, my dad told me during Sunday dinner that I should have the doctor double check that I am not having twins, because he thought I looked "enormous." Seriously? Who would say that? Like I haven't struggled with self-esteem enough in my non-pregnant life. I know I have put on a couple pounds. But guess what? I'm pregnant! And oddly enough, he doesn't seem to have noticed that I have gained significantly less weight with this pregnancy than I did with the last one--like 15-20 pound less. Come on!

*Sidenote: I do hear wonderful compliments all the time, as well. For example, my friend Becky, who is also pregnant, told me today that she hopes when she is 8 months along she is as little as me. How sweet! These nice comments are way more common than the mean ones that are probably not intended as such. But guess which ones stick with me?

~I also don't think most pregnant women want to hear about overpopulation, birth defects, or the 96 hours of labor someone else went through. Nothing but sunshine and smiles, please. It will make everything so much easier for us.