Good evening mommas!! Tonight I am going to address an interesting topic. This has come up in my own personal pregnancy and also in a few of my girlfriend's pregnancies. I didn't even think to discuss it until I received an email tonight from a momma who is 28 weeks 2 days pregnant. This young momma asked me "How do I deal with when other people touch my bump without asking?" I have to say I am an expert on this. I'm going to start off by telling you a story.
My husband has someone in his family who is incredibly hands on...even when not welcome. I am not the most touchy feely with people I am not super close to. As I am sure I'm not the only one, I didn't and don't have the best relationship with this person. Anyways, we hadn't seen his family for a few months during my pregnancy because I was so sick and had been on bedrest so when we finally saw them I had a decent size baby bump. The reason we were seeing the family was for a memorial mass. So as I stated before, I am not the most touchy feely person...especially not with people I am not incredibly close to, the family was well aware of this. Baring that in mind, we are in church and I have a baby bump and my husband and I went to go get communion and had to walk in front of a few people who were not going up for communion. As I passed by, I was stagnant waiting for the line to continue. All of a sudden, I felt a pair of hands come up behind me and touch me on my belly. Needless to say, I was completely shocked that A) someone was touching my bump, who knew I hate to be touched by anyone outside of my very close personal circle and B) I was getting my bump felt as I was in church.. going up to get communion. I kindly removed her hands from my belly and gave my husband a look to see if he had witnessed what happened. As I started to go forward to the aisle she tapped me on the back and said, "do you have any cravings?!" Now normally, this is a fine thing to ask a pregnant woman...not when in the middle of church and you've just touched the bump unwelcomed!
After knowing I didn't want to be touched and am now aggrivated by the situation, we go outside to say by to everyone at the end of mass and her hand comes in contact, yet again, with my bump! My son was not happy because he kicked so hard I think he broke a rib. I left it alone and we left. I spoke with my husband about it and how to address it because I didn't want to make waves for him, at the time we saw them somewhat often. He was upset almost as much as I was by the fact that I was touched by theis woman who I was not close with, at all, without even asking, in the midst of a memorial mass. We saw her the following day and I addressed it with her and told her I really didn't appreciate being touched without her even asking me. She apologized and moved on...to the next time she touched my bump without asking. Only the next time, she poked my belly, not feel the baby, poked..hard! I think it goes without saying we don't see them that often.
At any rate, the moral of my story is it happens to the best of us. Many people just like to touch the baby bump and it is one of those things, along with all the other "joys" of pregnancy we must deal with. It is 100% okay to let someone know if they have crossed the line and they have made you uncomfortable in any way! There are times where it is completely appropriate and very comforting when people touch the bump and they feel him or her kick and move, but never feel obligated to let someone touch when unwelcome. I have made maternity shirts that read "Touch the bump Baby gives you a lump" with little baby feet. Having a shirt like this pretty much sums it up and will give humor to the awkward situation of bump touching! Contact me at my e-mail helpingmommytone@gmail.com or contact me through twitter
https://twitter.com/helpingmomstone or on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/trish.moise if you are interested in purchasing one! I hope this gave you some humor and answered you're question on how to handle bump touching! Stay tuned for my next post on proper stretches and workouts for expecting mommas! Keep em' coming! Thanks so much for the support!
After knowing I didn't want to be touched and am now aggrivated by the situation, we go outside to say by to everyone at the end of mass and her hand comes in contact, yet again, with my bump! My son was not happy because he kicked so hard I think he broke a rib. I left it alone and we left. I spoke with my husband about it and how to address it because I didn't want to make waves for him, at the time we saw them somewhat often. He was upset almost as much as I was by the fact that I was touched by theis woman who I was not close with, at all, without even asking, in the midst of a memorial mass. We saw her the following day and I addressed it with her and told her I really didn't appreciate being touched without her even asking me. She apologized and moved on...to the next time she touched my bump without asking. Only the next time, she poked my belly, not feel the baby, poked..hard! I think it goes without saying we don't see them that often.
At any rate, the moral of my story is it happens to the best of us. Many people just like to touch the baby bump and it is one of those things, along with all the other "joys" of pregnancy we must deal with. It is 100% okay to let someone know if they have crossed the line and they have made you uncomfortable in any way! There are times where it is completely appropriate and very comforting when people touch the bump and they feel him or her kick and move, but never feel obligated to let someone touch when unwelcome. I have made maternity shirts that read "Touch the bump Baby gives you a lump" with little baby feet. Having a shirt like this pretty much sums it up and will give humor to the awkward situation of bump touching! Contact me at my e-mail helpingmommytone@gmail.com or contact me through twitterhttps://twitter.com/helpingmomstone or on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/trish.moise if you are interested in purchasing one! I hope this gave you some humor and answered you're question on how to handle bump touching! Stay tuned for my next post on proper stretches and workouts for expecting mommas! Keep em' coming! Thanks so much for the support!
No comments:
Post a Comment