Question of the Day

While at work, I took a little mental vacation on our friend Facebook. I noticed a question posted about pregnant women and when to ask them if and when they are expecting. Great question - not so great answers. Most of them were insinuating that someone was pregnant or just some eye rolling. So, I figured I should take a crack at it (since we know I love to share my opinions).

Let me start with my general rule - I don't care if there is a newborn poking out of a woman, never, NEVER, NEVER! ask her if she is pregnant. Ever. Seriously. Because if she isn't pregnant, you basically just told her she looks fat enough to be with child. Hope your toes taste delicious as you try to pull your foot out of your mouth after that. Good luck.

Okay, but seriously, you never want to assume something about someone. Pregnancy can be the greatest joy in someone's life and I promise you, they will tell you all about it. But, sometimes a woman might not want the attention or might be having a difficult issue with their home life where a pregnancy might not want to be discussed. Others may be superstitious and not want to bring it up. Or she isn't pregnant at all or has some baby weight to loose. You can never be sure, so it's a great time to play dumb until someone mentions it to you. As soon as that happens, then you can talk about it until you are a blue in the face.

Sticking with the same note - don't touch a pregnant woman's stomach, unless you ask or are invited to do so. Would you like unwarranted touching? Me either. Coming from someone who hasn't had children, but is surrounded by mothers and pregnancy, your protective instincts are kicking into high gear with your children. I'm pretty sure if you touched a pregnant belly on the wrong day, you'd end up with a broken arm or at least a few broken fingers (and personally, I'd say you'd deserve it.) 

So: don't ask someone if they are pregnant and don't touch a pregnant belly. Don't say I didn't warn you.