I can't really find a way to tell this story without the use of names, so I've made up fake ones for the sake of making things a bit more clear (my friend and my other friend might get a bit confusing).
Me and my cousin were having lunch and she started telling me about her friend, Jess. Jess has a medical condition which meant she might find it difficult to conceive and she did struggle - it took a few years but finally she got pregnant and is, of course, overjoyed. About 6 months into Jess's pregnancy, my cousin's other friend, Sarah (Jess's best friend) announced her own pregnancy with her second child.
The way my cousin told the story was, "So you'll never guess who has decided to go and get pregnant now. SARAH! Can you believe that? Now Sarah is going to get all the attention..." She seemed to feel like it was really selfish of Sarah to get pregnant and steal Jess's thunder.
I, on the other hand, couldn't believe what I was hearing. I recalled the story to my mum later, and said, "Can you believe 'cousin' thinks Sarah would get pregnant just to steal Jess's spotlight? She already has a baby - I'm pretty sure she knows that having another baby isn't something to do purely to make someone else jealous?!"
But my mum disagreed 
. She sided with my cousin and said, "You'd never believe how common it is." She then pointed out that when she got pregnant with me, it was as though every one of my dad's four sisters decided to steal her thunder and got pregnant at the same time or very shortly after my birth.
It seems so ridiculous. And really irritating, as me and DP are privately TTC and now I'm worried that I'll be seen to be stealing the thunder of my friend who has been TTC very openly for a while and who could become pregnant before me!
I had a friend who announced her pregnancy when I was about 4 months pregnant with DD, and I was happy! I thought it meant we had something in common and meant we could both be excited together. And I could answer any questions she had, as I was a few months ahead, and sympathise with her when she hit trimesters I'd just finished.
If my mum and cousin were to have it their way, surely I'd be expected to wait until I was 100% that none of my friends or family members are pregnant before I start TTC? And considering I'm at that age where all my female friends are getting ready to settle down and have babies, surely that would be impossible? Why do people think this way? Why can't people just be happy for each other?