The bump chronicles #23: The bump look

Weeks pregnant: 34
Baby size in fruit: 🍈

I have now achieved a stage of pregnancy where my bump is absolutely unavoidable. It’s like an entity of its own. I realised this when I started catching people doing what I call “the bump look”. First they look at your face and then they look down at the bump while trying to be subtle. It’s a bit like the way people attempt to surreptitiously look at your breasts if you are (un)lucky enough to have big ones. Sometimes there is a slight widening of the eyes. Sometimes there is a request to touch it. When people ask I almost never mind. But I can promise you that there are exactly no pregnant women who want you to touch their bump without asking unless you are a close blood relative or the kind of friend you’d phone at 4am. If you wouldn’t grab someone’s boob and give it a jiggle, you shouldn’t grab their belly and do the same.

Little O’s size… if a cantaloupe was a football

I am attempting to remain stylish while simultaneously expansive. It has its moments. Maxi-dresses are definitely my friend however I have discovered that it doesn’t matter how pregnant you are, if you wear a short skirt, men will shout things at you out of their van. It will be tempting to shout back, “I am already knocked up, there’s nothing left for you to do.”

This week feels like a kind of period of “winding things up”. This is my last week of personal training. My trainer and I have made the joint decision that 8 months is probably pregnant enough to start relaxing a bit. Part of me is very ready for this. I am big and cumbersome and Little O has decided he no longer chills out while I am working out so he often joins in while I am right in the middle of trying to lift or push a weight which is a challenge. On the other hand the gym has become such a big part of my life that not going seems really weird. I am going to be joining one of the mums in my NCT group’s prenatal pilates class though for my last couple of weeks so I won’t be doing nothing.

It’s also our last week of NCT. I have to admit that I had some doubts about whether I was going to enjoy NCT or learn very much but the classes have been really informative and the group of couples we’ve met are great. I hope we’ll all get to hang out before and after we have our babies.