Lying has not worked out for me.

So, about nine months ago, give or take, I decided that my babies are always late, and so telling people my actual due date would just result in weeks of comments such as "Any day now!" or "Have you had your baby yet?"  Which, to me, are just frustrating, when you pretty much know that delivery is still a month away.  Even when I assure people that I'll probably be late, I hear things like, "Well, you never know."  Which, I understand, you don't ever really know, but, I kind of do.  Well, so I told everyone (except Paul and some of our family, and a few friends), that we are due in August.  I just pushed the due date back three weeks, thinking that I would be free and clear of all reminders of how unbearably long it takes me to gestate.

Well, I think this plan would have worked for many women.  Some women carry high, and it's hard to tell how pregnant they are.  But, as it turns out, it is pretty obvious that I am full term, because people are coming out of the woodwork to tell me that I will be birthing any day now.  Random strangers at grocery  stores (yes, it has progressed beyond polite conversation with the checkout person), people I have never even spoken to at church.... I'm trying to think of other examples.  But, now that I think about it, mostly I just go to the grocery store and church.  So that's basically it.

My friends either know that I'm a little (or a lot) sensitive or think I'm due in a month, so they leave me alone.  It's everyone else who bombards me with reminders of my ever aging fetus.  Well, strangers and the nurses at my doctor's office.  Seriously, doesn't anyone go the full 40 weeks any more?  Apparently not, because my 37, 38, and 39 week appointment were all met with comments about me "still being here".  Yep, just getting my money's worth.  Keep up the good work.

So now I know.  Lying doesn't help.  Although, next pregnancy I am considering pulling out the big guns:

"When am I due?  Oh, I'm not pregnant."  That'll stop the comments real fast.

But for now, I just content myself by committing to just pretend people aren't pregnant when it's painfully obvious they are.  I sent my good vibes out into the universe the other day when I passed another (very) pregnant woman in the grocery store, looked at her right in the eye, grinned, and said, "I love your haircut."

The view from here.  Why yes, that is a cow spot on my shirt.