Monday, August 27, 2007

More on the stomach touching

Today a random student I don't know walked up to me in the hallway and asked, "Is you pregnant?"

I told her yes, I was, and then she said, "Can I touch your stomach?"

I said, "I'd prefer that you not do that." She said okay and went along her merry way. I'm sure she thought I was a big ol' meanie, but I did not know her at all.

I also have a student who recently returned to school after having a baby six weeks ago. She wants to talk baby with me every day. Now, I'm not one to "shun" these young mothers because many of them have very sad situations and I try to support them any way I can, but at the same time, I don't think we need to be bonding over pregnancy. Kind of strange.

I told TimShady the other day during one of our gab sessions between classes that I'm learning that motherhood is like a club and I'm a new inductee. Suddenly, women who really weren't all that friendly to me want to know all these things about me. When I was married with no kids, I was uninteresting to them. Apparently I'm incredibly fascinating now that I'm with child. Weird.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have always thought you were fascinating! (As long as students don't want to share labor stories, I can handle it!)

Jenny said...

Word on all of that. The stomach touching, the "so we can bond now" thing that students do, and the biggest thing---how other women change their view of you when you are having a baby. I also noticed a big change in how other women and men (!) treated me after I got married.