Classic example of what never to say to a pregnant woman

HOLY SH**. This is the danger of having a public and private blog - what if you mess up and post to the wrong blog?! I totally posted this to my public blog two seconds ago and think my armpits are still soaking wet with anxiety. PHEW.

On to the post...

Ok, we all know things never to say to a pregnant woman. We probably have said a few of them ourselves, myself included, and even though I have now been down this road called pregnancy, I'm sure I will still put my foot in my mouth in the future. Part of the problem is that one just never knows what is going to push a hormonally-wacked out pregnant woman's buttons (myself TOTALLY included). However, I will share with you a classic example of what NOT to say to a pregnant woman.

This past weekend, my brother-in-law graduated from college on Saturday. We of course went to the graduation ceremony. I wore my now-standard dress up maternity dress- a magenta knit number that I got at Gap for $9.97. The dress is comfy and I feel small in it. My bro-in-law's school had a recognition breakfast that he invited us to go to before the ceremony. Upon our arrival, my MIL saw me and exclaimed to my brother-in-law, "Isn't she getting HUGE?!" (emphasis was really on huge). Now, eight years of knowing my MIL, I am finally starting to understand how she works. A little. I KNEW that she didn't really mean that I was a whale, but that she was really excited that I was starting to show. So I didn't even get annoyed in my head at this comment. I just smiled and let it go.

HOWEVER. When the comment was REPEATED (word for word) before graduation when we met up with some other family members, I coulnd't help it. "D-, I think that is definitely in the list of things to never say to a pregnant woman." My bro-in-law's GF was cracking up because her eyes got really big when she heard the comment. My MIL started laughing and explaining, "That's not what I meant...". We had a good laugh about it.

Lesson for the day - Instead of saying, "Isn't she getting HUGE?!", try, "Oh you're getting a baby bump! Cute!" or something to that effect.

Or, try this, said to me by the mother of one of my bro-in-law's friends: "You don't look like you're due in August. You look beautiful". That, my friends, will always work ;)