I am regretting inviting a colleague to my baby shower. It will be quite a personal affair, hosted by a member of my family at their home.
I don't have many friends where I live (abroad in a small place) but am lucky to have some close friends, mainly older through family connections, as well as a few my age through various walks of life here. But I do not have a regular 'social circle'. This colleague started reaching out to me once I got pregnant and seemingly wanted to be helpful and supportive. She is older than me and not married and without children. That's not an issue but let's just say I don't entirely approve of certain of her lifestyle choices and being a bit of a prude, have always struggled with wanting to give her the benefit of the doubt as well as genuinely feeling uncomfortable with some of the things she says and does. For example a more minor one is that she casually swears a lot (whilst reminding people about her posh background when she can!). A more serious one is that she is very prone to bitching together with calling people nasty names and I would not be surprised if she has said some things about me in the past. She is also very nosy and gossipy which is possibly her way of deflection as aside from the swearing and bitching she has some circumstances in her own life that are certainly not vanilla or saintly. On the other hand she can be very easy-going and good company at times! When she started to reach out on a more social level I was aware that I felt a bit more needy and vulnerable due to my condition and definitely appreciated some of the outings she proposed. So I decided to invite her to my baby shower.
But just yesterday I had a conversation with her and felt distinctly uncomfortable as she started bitching and swearing again, asking inquisitive questions as well as drawing up doom and gloom scenarios about what 'could' happen to the baby if we don't do such and such. This was right after I gave her an invitation to the shower! I ended the conversation quite abruptly and walked away feeling really stupid for having invited her and questioning my judgment.
Oth, maybe I am just over-thinking. Maybe it's not the end of the world if she comes and it could be that I just need to handle her better by keeping a polite, personal distance in future. At the end of the day a baby shower is not a wedding or necessarily an occasion where you only have your absolute nearest and dearest, but can include colleagues and people who have shown general female support...If I were to disinvite, I'm afraid I would simply just tell her it was cancelled, or similar...or at least perhaps ask her to tone down the language as said family member would not be too pleased?!