We had a nice holiday at home with our families (a trip that almost didn’t happen because I woke up sick Monday) but I am so glad to be home tonight…and to have a legitimate excuse to avoid traveling for the rest of the holidays. Though some people acted like I shot their dog when we tried to explain that I was going to be WAY too pregnant to travel home in December, a fact that I thought was pretty obvious by the fact that I’m *having a baby* less than a month after Christmas. This is NOT new information, people! But I digress…
Back to the intended topic…chivalry. Which is really just common courtesy as I see it, but apparently it no longer exists. On Tuesday I had a regularly scheduled doctor’s appointment to check on the progress of the baby and make sure I was OK to travel for the weekend. When we got there, there wasn’t a single seat available in the waiting room. I’d never seen it so packed. At least one-third were occupied by men who were accompanying their partners. Kudos to them for making the effort, but is it really too much to expect that at least ONE of them would get off his behind and offer his seat to a woman? Particularly a PREGNANT woman? And I wasn’t the only woman left standing. There is no way I would have let my husband sit next to me while other women were having to stand up.
The same thing happened at a restaurant over the weekend. The waiting area was full and all of the seats were taken. Not a single person offered their seat to either me or my mom. Again, no way would I have allowed my teenager/child/husband to sit while a woman was standing. It’s mind-boggling. I haven’t mentioned it lately, but the pain from the pelvic separation has gotten much worse and over the weekend was excruciating due to hours in the car, sleeping in a bed that wasn’t my own, and the fact that I am just reaching that very pregnant and extremely uncomfortable stage. (My husband commented just the other day on the fact that he caught me waddling, something that I had managed not to do just yet.) So for me to be forced to stand in these situations was beyond unbearable.
Additionally, there were several occasions where I was in a veryveryvery long and slow-moving line for the bathroom and nobody once offered to let me move ahead. Six+ years ago, when I was pregnant with my oldest son, I always saw people being considerate of pregnant women in bathroom lines. I’ve allowed pregnant women to move ahead of me many times. Do people not do this anymore? Was my leg crossing too subtle? Should I break out the peepee dance next time to elicit more sympathy? What if I make a not-so-subtle cell phone call to my husband and ask if he can bring me a dry pair of undies from the car?
I hate to sound whiny or like I think I deserve special treatment. I’m actually the opposite most of the time. I don’t really like to use those special parking spaces for pregnant women and generally prefer to just cope with the every day pregnancy grumbles. After all, I did make this choice. But sometimes it all gets to be a bit too much, especially during the holidays or when we’re traveling. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that others use a little consideration. On a good day I may just smile, say thank you, and decline. On a bad day, you’ll probably become my hero.
