Whenever I meet an acquaintance who did not yet know I was pregnant, or meet someone again after not having seen them for a while, their first question is always: “How far along are you?” or “When are you due?”
I don’t get it. What’s so interesting about the date? None of these people are close acquaintances who see me regularly, or work with me, so it’s not like they need to know from what date I won’t be around any more, or at what point to start asking about the baby.
Do they feel like they must ask something, in order to be polite, and that’s the first question that comes to mind? Do they have a mental scale of what a woman should look like at x months, and need to fit me in?
The second question is generally “Do you know what you’re having?” and I can understand why that would be interesting – it’s easier to imagine a little boy or a little girl than a little boy-or-girl.
Helen,
Re: “When are you due” etc.
That’s nothing, wait until after the birth. It’ll be:
“Were you in labour for long?”
“How many stitches did you have?”
“Was your Husband there?”
“What was the wieght at birth?”
“Are you breast feeding?”
“Are you getting any sleep at nights or does he / she keep you up all night?”
and of course “How old is he / she?”
plus everyones different methods of wind-ing a baby after feeding.
Being Pregnant / having just given birth seems to invite the most personal of questions
Well hello Doug! Thanks for dropping by – didn’t expect to see you here.