The pregnancy card

By Published On: September 13th, 2011

Written by: Suzanna September 12 2011 Now at 38 weeks, […]

Written by: Suzanna

Now at 38 weeks, part of meis so ready for this baby to come out.

(DespiteJacob's full-term status, he isapparently too young to respond to “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” What? You can’t blame a girl for trying.)

The other part of me is actually sadat the thought of losing my belly.

This isn't because ofsome sweet, sentimentalmaternal reason. Truth is, I'm a bit of a scoundrel anddon'twant to give up playing the pregnancy card.

Without my belly projecting three feet in front of me, I'll once again be firmly located in the land of the regular people. And, in the land of the regular people, no one insists on carrying groceries to your car.Random strangersdon't squeal excitement and congratulations overyou in public. And, they definitely don't offer to give up a seat for youat theDepartment of MotorVehicles.

Before I was expecting, I had never thought about the fact that a person who is actually two people gets treated differently than a person who is, well, just one person.

I'll never forget the first time that someone showed meextra courtesy because of my blossoming stomach. I wasin an airport and a man offered to help mejuggle all my belongings in thesecurity line.(I've flown a million times, and the only offers I'd ever had before werefrom creepers more interested in helping themselves.) Then, once on the plane,another man offered to putup my suitcase in the baggage compartmentabove the seats.

Ever since then, it seems like everyonehasgotten nicer: the cashier at the grocery store, the mechanic doing my oil change, even my husband.

Tom remarked the other day that I better be soaking up all the extra attentionand favors while I can because it won't last much longer.He wasjoking (I think), but I know that part of what he saidis true. Folks treat you differently when have a giant belly. I'm not a beer drinker, but that makes it seem tempting.

Of course, finally getting to see if our little one will have Tom's eyes, hair, or nose (knock on wood) will make not getting extra attention in public worth it.

Still, I intend to milk it while it lasts. And, at this point, that means I have two more weeks to soak it up. Random strangers, take note!