Parking in parent and child bays? Help?

[MotherOfBeagles]

Oh wise ones of mumsnet i need your help!

I am currently 33 weeks pregnant, huge and uncomfortable and struggling with awful PGP/SPD with a very severe limp. I have been using normal parking up until today and really struggling to get in and out, the last few times its been physically impossible for me to get in the car so i've been having to ask passing strangers to pull my car out for me (my DH has not been impressed with that). So my family and friends have been telling me to stop being stupid and use the parent bays.

So today i did and now i'm really wishing i hadn't!

Stopped at tesco on my way home and parking in the parent bays there was a couple next to me loading their newborn and shopping into their car. Once i was close enough it was obvious no child or child seat was in the car, so they began pointing and angrily glaring at me before i got out. Fair enough they couldn't see i was pregnant or limping yet.

But when i got out and it became apparent just how huge and obviously in pain and struggling to move i was they didn't stop. But instead starting to call me disgusting and pathetic, now normally id just argue back but my hormones are seriously messing with me so i just burst into tears and (slowly) waddled off.

There were easily another 10 parent bays free but parking was otherwise busy. So aibu to park there? If i am i genuinely will park elsewhere again, just feeling very upset and pathetic right now .

*waddled not saddled

You are definitely being absolutely fine to park there.
In fact I would have helped get you a trolley or basket.

You need the space, especially to get in & out.
Ignore them, it's not you it's them being twots.

You are a parent and child. Just one that hasn't been born yet.
They were twattish

Thanks so much everyone! Nice to know i wasn't being totally unreasonable, still gutted that i burst into tears today has just been a crappy crappy day generally and that was the icing on the cake.

Will continue to park there on days i'm struggling i think, hopefully shouldn't be too many occasions where i'm out doing jobs like that though.

To answer a few questions my dh is more unhappy that people have parked close and i think a bit exasperated that i was being a wuss and not parking in the parent bays, he's otherwise being brilliant running round after me where he can. I am with the physio and they are thinking crutches are now necessary but trying acupuncture this week first, partly because i'm too stubborn sometimes for my own good and push myself too much .

I also got stuck in a regular parking space when pregnant as couldn't get in through the drivers door or climb over the passenger seat. Waited 20 mins before a stranger turned up who very kindly moved the car for me. I've NEVER had this problem with a child after it was born. They are infinitely easier to move than one in your womb.

I'm 29 weeks pregnant, huge, uncomfortable and have terrible PGP, so I dread to think what I'll be like at 33 weeks! (Although I'm currently measuring 3 weeks ahead so I suppose I'm almost there).

I've not had the guts to try using a parent and child space after (www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12199526/pregnant-woman-fined-for-using-family-parking-space-at-Asda.html this story) last year but I don't think you're wrong for doing so!

I can't believe anyone with a newborn could be so rude to you, surely they can remember what it's like!

Oops, link fail

I would've pointed to my bump and screamed 'what's this? Scotch fucking mist?I am a parent and this is a child!'

Some people really are bellends.
Park there and don't worry about it.

Pisses me off when some drivers park closer to my bloody drivers side so THEY have space to get out of their car without any consideration for how i'm going to get back into mine.

I was told by a Tesco manager that I could park in a P+C space with my growing bump. Very different to the people who can park elsewhere but don't give a shit.

But then I can be gobby if goaded!

I have a 4 month old and find people using the bays who shouldn't be so annoying BUT I wouldn't think twice about you using them. That couple were knobs xxx

Fluffyears 😂😂😂😂

Yy to whoever it was said they're easier to move when they come out! I was driving a 3 door Micra and had to climb into the back to lift my 9 pounder and his car seat out. It was infinitely easier than getting around with severe SPD. I hope I'm never in that much pain again. P&C spaces are a lovely convenience but I'd never begrudge the use of one to someone who needed it more.

It goes away once they're out op, although I know that's scant comfort now

I found out the hard way that anyone can park in a p&c space. A car full of random adults swung into the final p&c space and I had to park right at the other end of the car park and lug 3-year-old-DS-with-leg-in-plaster-cast all the way up to the shop. Had a little whinge at Customer Services just to let off steam, and they said anyone could park there. Great. This was a few years ago though and I too have heard that proper rules may get put in place. Surely pregnant women must count as parent-and-child though?!!!!

for you OP. You had every right to park there!

I asked in Sainsbury's when I was preggers and they said if I was visibly pregnant then there would be no issue at all! Use them, make life easier for yourself and ignore the twats

YANBU.

I don't see any issue with someone who's heavily pregnant, or with someone who's elderly or has problems walking using a parent and child space.

Unfortunately there is a minority of people out there who do object to anyone without a small child using a parent and child space.

Use whichever space is best suited to your needed.

Ds is nearly 8 we still use the parent and child spaces and will do until such a time as the blue badge rules stop being so daft!

Some parents seem to think they are some sort of necessity not the marketing ploy niceness that they actually are but that is their problem not yours!

Perfectly reasonable. They were just being mean. You may want to consider online shopping though, much more convenient if you are limping x

I have spinal stenosis which ompacts on my mobility but not enough to get a blue badge so I park in parent and child spaces all the time. Don't care what others say. These speces weren't there when my son was a toddler and we managed fine without them.

I thought a lot of them included pregnant women in the parent and child ( mother and baby) spaces?

Of course you can, ignore the nobbers!

I'd say you're far more entitled than someone with a 7/8 year old & I see that a lot.

Can I just point out that, in supermarket (i.e. private) car parks, even the disabled spaces are a courtesy and not legally bound by the Blue Badge scheme. If you are 'disabled' in any way, you can use the spaces. Personally I'd say somebody who is very large with pregnancy, and limping from SPD, is pretty much disabled at that point in time; and I wouldn't personally object to that person using a space that is marked for disabled people. So I certainly wouldn't object to them using a Parent & Child space!

When I was in the last trimester and suffering with horrendous SPD, we parked in the Parent and child spaces. If anyone would have dared to question me, they would have face the wrath of a very pissed off pregnant woman!

P and C parking 'police' are arseholes and best ignored.