"I’ve just passed 30 weeks and the world views my baby bump as public property."

I’ve just passed 30 weeks and am enjoying a pleasant reminder that large chunks of the world view a baby bump as public property.

In the last week alone I’ve had several strangers comment that they can’t believe I have as long as I do until my due date because I’m “so big”. One of these women was due two weeks after me and I didn’t even clock that she was pregnant until she told me. Yeah, I kind of hate her!

My own father kindly told me I look “chubby” (gee, thanks Dad) and while he explained he wasn’t being unkind, he was just commenting that I look more pregnant, which “is a natural thing” and I know what he was trying to say, his choice of words was poor to say the least.

Listen: Bec Judd knows what it’s like to be pregnant and under public scrutiny. Post continues… 

My diet is up for dissection and I’m chided for eating “too little” for a pregnant woman or laughed at for eating “so much”.

I’ve clocked several men looking at my stomach with a barely concealed look of shock and horror as I’ve passed by.

I had still been able to wear my regular t-shirts up to this point, but weirdly they have all suddenly shrunk into inappropriate crop tops (maybe I washed them wrong?). I know my stomach has got big, I don’t really need anyone to point that out to me when the daily battle to find something to wear reminds me.

So does my struggle with everyday tasks. This morning in the supermarket it was too hard to reach the apples at the back of the display, so I gingerly plucked some from halfway down. The inevitable result? Apples spilling wildly in every direction as I frantically tried to contain them, with an unlucky few Braeburns splatting to the ground.

This happened no less than four times before I managed to fill my bag. I felt like everyone was judging the clumsy, pregnant women as I sent apples flying in all directions.

This is the same supermarket where the smell of the meat and fish aisle made me throw up in the first trimester, so I really do feel like I check my dignity at the door when I go there.

I know it was around this time in my last pregnancy that bump size became a problem for me. I turned up at my antenatal class and felt like my stomach was double the size of anyone else’s (a fact my husband helpfully confirmed was correct!). But by the end of the classes it appeared that everyone else had caught up and I didn’t look like such an anomaly.

Obviously, my stomach just likes to pop out early, but given my last growth scan showed a just-bigger-than-average baby, who is tracking much the same growth-wise as her big sister did, I don’t think I need to be too worried.

I just need everyone else to stop worrying for me and instead tell me that my skin is glowing and they’ve never seen my hair look so shiny. Lovely, thanks.

This post originally appeared on Pregnancy Exercise. Author Gemma Finlay has spent her working life in journalism, marketing and publicity. Since having her daughter, Nina, in 2014 she’s become obsessed with all things pregnancy and baby related. Dealing with the physical side of pregnancy made her hyper-aware of the importance of getting good advice about looking after yourself both pre and post birth. She’s passionate about sharing quality information with other mums. Follow Gemma on Twitter. 

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