"I'm not being rude but ...

[yama]

... your're HUGE!" said the cheery man working in Hamleys as I entered this afternoon.

I said "actually, that is rather rude." He carried on with "Do you know what you're having?"

I'm only 34 weeks and I've had comments from strangers for months.

I mean, under what other circumstances is it appropriate to comment on the size of a woman's body?

the day before i was induced a random woman on the street stopped me and said i looked like a cannonball coming towards her! i also had all the 'sure it's not twins...' etc etc.

the only thing i ever say to a pregnant woman now is 'what a lovely bump' - and even then only to people i actually know, why the hell do complete strangers think it's ok to comment!

when i wasn't pregnant :

work colleague : "oh when's it due?"
ME "i'm not pregnant actually"
work colleague : "oh, well you LOOK like you are"

when i was pregnant :

random friend's friend bolts over to rub my admittedly rather large stomach (at this point we're off to a very bad start) "when's the baby due"
ME "i'm 28 weeks"
HER "oh my god you look you're going to have it NOW" ..............

Jesus ............ sod off

Well said LondonKiwi.

The other day I got "you're starting to show". I'm not, I've had a bit of a belly for at least a year now.

And today I got "my wife didn't show until she was at least 6 months, I think some women just use it as an excuse to eat crap". Yeah, nice and judgmental.

I was about 30 wks and quite neat considering it was my fourth. My MIL took one look at me in a stripey top and said, 'And what have you come as today? A giant bee?' I wasn't remotely amused and can't believe I didn't say anything back! GRRRRR!

Sorry allbie, but that made me laugh!

I had a very interesting time dealing with the unexpected bitchiness of two close friends. I had, historically, been a couple of sizes smaller than them ... and they really, really enjoyed telling each other and everyone else how much I was 'ballooning' in pregnancy. To be fair, I gained vast amounts of weight, but I simply hadn't expected them to enjoy it so much.

They claimed only to have said 'blossoming', when I finally mentioned it to them. My (fat) arse!!

I didn't lose all the weight, either ... how much of a good friend am I??

allbie: of course, you have been muttering all your imaginary replies since, yes?

I've cobbled together a few, but they are all quite rude and I don't know just how offensive I can reasonable be about a complete stranger's MIL

Lol people can be so rude. all i keep being told is but you cant be pregnant your so tiny seriously tempted to turn round and say no course im not im just announcing it for the fun of it and because nothing exciting is happening!!!

Druzhok i totally understand what you're saying!! I also have a "friend" who is bigger than me (when im not pregnant) who has been quite mean to me (im now 30 weeks). Everytime somebody says Ive hardly put on any weight she says: "What??!Look at her, she's massive!" finishing off with an evil laugther to sound as a joke. So the other day I actually said: "stop being jealous of my figure, you actually look more pregnant than me!" ( i also added the evil laughter in the end!) IT FELT GOOD!!! I hope she's learnt her lesson, if not i have planned a few more comments to her stupid jokes!

For me the worse was 3 days after I'd had dc2 when my SIL looked me up and down and said "are you sure you've had the baby ha ha"

Oh how I laughed!

This pregnancy has been non-stop 'you're huge/must be having twins/look like you could drop at any moment etc' followed by 'you're all bump aren't you?' As if that makes the first comment ok.

A friend who has just had a baby said the twins thing to me this week - now, she really should know better!

Lol at cakeandroses yoyur friend should know better she must have moaned at how frustrating people saying these things can be herself!

Being pregnant makes you a fair target for weight comments in peoples eyes. I was asked with Ds if i was even eating anything due to having a small bump and was told i was a selfish horrible girl who didnt deserve the baby off an wee old lady on the train If only she knew ds had stopped growing at 21 weeks and we didnt find out til 37 but people are quick to judge

A colleague said "look out it's jabba the hut" thanks

I put on three and a half stone when pregnant (in my defense, she was over 10lbs) and had all the usual "you're huge"/"sure it's not twins" comments which were mostly boring rather than offensive. In the end, at sixten days overdue I borrowed a comment from a friend and responded to one complete stranger with "yes, I'm huge, and you're arse is fat. But I'll be skinny again in a couple of months."

Most offensive one though was a customer, "Do you know who the father is?"

And why on earth do complete strangers attempt to convince you that they, and not the sonographer, can tell the sex of your baby from the size/distribution of your bump?

Aargh. Gratuitous apostrophe alert. Apologies.

Petisa: glad it made you chuckle!
Druzhok: Many times I have replayed the scenario in my mind and my retorts have been so cutting but felt soooo good! Course, I should've just told her to buzz off!!

I have to agree with LibraryLil, after years trying to get pg I'm loving every comment and enjoying getting to talk to everyone who'll listen strangers about my pregnancy.

My most annoying one this time was my mother, who I hadn't seen for a couple of months, she didn't ask me how I was feeling or say that I was glowing/looked well (surely obligatory? ) but repeatedly said I was so big I must have my dates wrong. And I mean repeatedly.

CakeandRoses - is it better or worse that a taxi driver repeated that to me for an entire journey? He even suggested that I ask to be re-scanned!

Slightly different one on the weight theme - how's this...

"Was it planned?"

I was so taken aback I muttered something about 'well not the exact date (we'd been trying for 6 months) and then realised that he might think it was accidental (not that it would matter or be any of his business if it was)and had to stammer something about wanting one for a while!

Really couldn't believe how rude people could be?!!

He did offer to take me to the hospital - avoiding all the bumps of course. Yes, he was a comedian.

Bread guy in our local market, on seeing me when I'd just got really big, yelled across half a dozen stalls 'It's definitely not one of mine!' Which would have been quite offensive if it had been anyone else, but I knew him well by that stage and merely grinned.

Sweetest comment was at the local tip - dh and I had turned up with a carload of stuff to junk on a really hot day and were stuck in a queue. Car was unbearably hot so I got out and stood by the door. Nice guy yelled to his mate: 'Fetch the lady a chair right now, can't you see she's in a predicament!'

Bluetit I too was asked that, my response: "God has a plan for everyone." It shuts people right up!