You’d expect that with the slow waddle, loss of balance and the nurturer role kicked into high gear, there would be nothing scary about a pregnant woman, but to some, there is nothing more frightening. I remember walking through the mall in my last week of pregnancy (trying to go into labor) and catching people staring or quickly averting their eyes with a concerned look on their face. It seemed that everywhere I went, I made people nervous. I’m sure they were thinking, “she looks like she is going to go into labor at any moment!”
I’m going to blame television and movies for the common misconception that all pregnant women will spontaneously break their water and have a baby just moments later. I had a really hard time convincing one particular person that I was not just going to suddenly have the baby right in front of him. He was always looking at me out of the corner of his eye as though I were a walking, ticking time bomb. Every time I winced or leaned against something, he thought I was in labor and freaked out. It was pretty funny, but at the time I also grew a little exasperated!
The fear of the unknown is also to blame. Most people probably don’t know the first thing about delivering a baby and do not want to be held responsible for something going wrong. At the same time, if a woman goes into labor, anyone within a short distance will feel obligated to help in some way. In that respect, I can see how being around a very pregnant woman might make someone nervous about having to possibly assist her if she goes into labor spontaneously.
If you find that family members or coworkers are a little apprehensive around you, put their minds at ease by giving them some basic instructions for how to respond. For example, keep your obstetrician and hospital’s phone numbers at your desk in plain view at work, just in case. Let your coworkers know that all they have to do is help you call your doctor in most cases. Assure them that labor hardly ever progresses as quickly as it does on TV, and that it is most likely that once you go into labor, you’ll have plenty of time to get to the hospital. You may even have time to stop at home first. As for the strangers in the mall who stare at you like you’re about to bite, just ignore them!