Pondering Baby and Strangers

We are at T minus 7 weeks for baby #3.  I am not ready.  My big medical re-certification exam is in 5 weeks.  I am not ready for that, either. 




I was studying today in a coffee shop when an older lady came over and tapped me on the shoulder to tell me how beautiful I looked with my pregnant belly.  I should add that I had no make-up on, hair was in a ponytail, and I was wearing essentially workout clothes.  And I feel like I am approximately the size of a boat.  She asked if I had been feeling the baby move, because (apparently she had been watching) she thought she could see the baby moving from several tables over. 



This joy that older people--complete strangers--seem to feel about pregnancy is so puzzling.  It causes me to pause.  What changes between now and 30 years from now--that I might approach a random pregnant person, inquire as to the gender of her baby, the due date, and whether baby has been active in the last 20 minutes?  It wasn't at all off-putting.  It was endearing.  Partly because she didn't seem odd.  She's one of many, many people who have expressed delight at the mere fact that I'm expecting a baby. 




I used to describe to Daniel that I felt like a celebrity, just being pregnant.  Everyone is happy to see a pregnant person.  Maybe when you're not in the middle of diaper valley... when you're not perpetually sleep-deprived and constantly at the end of your rope with toddlers... maybe the wondrous joy of new life inside someone is bigger then. 




Don't get me wrong -- I do feel such joy, looking forward to meeting this baby in a couple months and adding a precious new life into our family.  I'm just also in the middle of diaper valley... and sleep-deprived... and driven to my knees on a daily basis over the challenging dynamic between Lucy and her world... and me and mine.



But what a cool place I'm in.  What a blessing -- to be approached by strangers telling me I'm beautiful.