Mom could be pregnant for just moments before the annoying people begin to emerge. Some hit the scene as soon as it happens. Others wait to emerge until pregnancy is a little more obvious. Whenever they get to mom, it won’t be a good time.
Sure, mom is a little more sensitive during this time in her life. Emotions are running high with so many hormones and uncertainty about the future. But even under the best of conditions these people would be difficult to deal with.
Mom has enough going on. She's changing so much, she’s not sure if she’ll ever feel normal again and then she has to worry about motherhood. This should be enough stress for the 40 weeks of pregnancy. But, oh that’s not all. Mom will have to deal with a slew of annoying people. These people don’t take her feelings into consideration. They’re primarily worried about themselves and what this pregnancy might mean to them.
Somehow each of these annoying people make it into the life of each pregnant woman. Have heart mom, no one is alone in their encounters with annoying people. The sad thing is that most of them have no idea that they’re that annoying person in mom’s life.
15 Belly Touchers
Eventually every pregnant mom will come across a belly toucher. This person might not be someone mom sees every day. More than likely it will be some weird person in an elevator or at the grocery store. Its those wild cards that will really stand out to mom. Some people, for some reason think that any pregnant belly is theirs to touch. Not only touch but rub and caress. Every pregnant woman needs to be ready for this incident. Think of a way to step back and change the subject. But as we know the pregnancy hormones can get the best of us. Depending on the day who knows what might be said to an intrusive belly toucher. Touchers beware - you don’t know how a pregnant woman will feel about your intrusive belly rubs.
14 Mother-In-Law
Your mother-in-law might be lovely (but more than likely not). And during pregnancy the mother-in-law can be extra annoying and intrusive. Even without meaning to she’ll have an opinion about this or that. A simple comment about “they way we used to do it.” Like the last 30 years of research hasn’t changed the opinions of how best to raise children, give birth or what medical procedures to have. Some mother-in-laws might be super obnoxious and consider this child her own.
The normal mother-in-law issues are only heightened with the heightened hormones.
You actually know her son and all his faults...to a T. Heaven forbid you raise your child to not know how to load the dishwasher or put dirty clothes in a hamper. This is just one person who is guaranteed to be annoying to the pregnant mom.
13 Childless Advice Givers
The Childless advice givers will have tons of advice for the pregnant mom. They’ll know exactly what she should and shouldn’t do when raising her future child. They’ll also have an opinion about what she should be eating, how she’ll lose the baby weight and whether or not she should bottle feed or nurse.
Mom might get confused and think these annoying people have gotten their Phd in parenting then she’ll remember that they work part time and live in their mom’s basement.
Why she just spent the last 30 minutes listening to them wax on about the best diapers to use she’ll never know. Mom will just chalk it up to baby brain and hope that she can make a quick exit before she becomes hangry and lets them know exactly what she thinks of their extensive birth plan.
12 Pregnancy Spotter
The pregnancy spotter will know that moms pregnant before mom does. This person makes it their personal mission to guess when someone is pregnant and make an untimely public announcement about it. They look for the smallest clues and the annoying part is they’re usually right on. Mom could have went weeks longer without telling a soul if it weren’t for the pregnancy spotter. The pregnancy spotter makes this impossible. With one in your life you might as well make the public announcement as soon as you pee on the stick. That’s the only way you’ll have the element of surprise. That is unless your conception spotter is unusually good. She’ll hear your egg drop and know the moment it’s fertilized. Beware of this person. She’ll start making suggestions and then the whole group will be on to you before the egg even is implanted.
11 Know-It-Alls
Maybe worse than the childless advice givers are the know-it-alls. These people will know the exact science of everything related to pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing and will let everyone else in on the RIGHT answers too. They think that there is one right way to do everything and scoff at the idea of anyone doing it any other way.
If they spot you doing something they deem to be wrong they’ll quickly call you out on it. They’ll think their doing you a favor too.
Sometimes these people get super personal too. They might wonder if you began doing perineal massage yet and if your using olive oil or a synthetic oil. Mom will try to back away and avoid situations with these types of people but they will search out and find mom. Pregnancy and childbirth is just too ripe a topic for a know-it-all to pass up giving advice on.
10 Make The News Their Own
Any mom hoping to wait a little while before calling the national news about her pregnancy is sure to run into someone that wants to make the news their own. This person will likely be an aunt, mom, mother-in-law or granny who is super excited about the pregnancy.
This person will be so excited to run out and tell the world that they’ll forget its mom and dad’s news to share first.
No matter what good intentions this person has it can still steal the joy from mom and dad of announcing it the way they wanted to. Mom and dad will only experience so many pregnancy announcements and its normal to want to make it special. The news stealer will alert the media (or tell a bunch of friends and family or break it on Facebook) then be totally clueless of why mom might be upset.
9 One Uppers
The one uppers could be pregnant at the same time as mom or has been pregnant before. When mom excitedly announces she felt the baby’s first movements yesterday the one upper will say, “I felt my baby two days ago.” When mom tells close friends she’s expecting, the one upper will post a dramatic video reveal on Facebook.
If mom says she was sick everyday for 12 weeks during pregnancy, the one upper will report she was sick everyday for 15 weeks.
The one upper won’t let mom enjoy one moment in the pregnancy limelight. She’ll try to push her out of the limelight and jump in the center instead. It can be hard for mom to be around a one upper. How can you complain about it without seeming selfish yourself?
8 Epidural Pushers
Some people believe that an epidural is the only way to go. They wonder why anyone would experience anything close to pain when there is medication available for that. They can’t begin to contemplate anyone else’s line of thought. They want to prove their point by bashing natural birth enthusiasts with comments like, “pain during childbirth doesn’t prove anything. Moms who have a natural birth are just trying to earn some badge of honor.” Epidural pushers aren’t satisfied with someone hearing their opinion. They want to really rub it in. They tell magical tales of childbirth that was so easy. They post a selfie on Instagram of their undisturbed face as they painlessly crown during childbirth. These people are annoying to any mom questioning whether or not to get an epidural.
7 Natural Birth Pushers
Natural birth pushers are just as bad a epidural pushers but in the other direction. As a self-declared natural birth pusher, I know how bad we can be. Natural birth pushers wax poetic about the glorious experience of natural birth.
They make epidural users question if they missed some quintessential life experience by opting for meds in the delivery room.
Worse, they make moms worry about what the drugs during childbirth could actually do to the baby. And of course they’ll assure you that your doctor isn’t telling you the whole story when they safe epidurals are “safe” and won’t affect the baby. They’ll point to their La Leche League books that tell another story. They’ll leave you wondering if your a bad mom or selfish for even considering meds during childbirth.
6 It's Not So Bad, Is It? Partners
Some partners just don’t get how difficult pregnancy can be. They think that because they can’t see everything that’s going on in mom’s body that it must not be that big of a deal. The problem is that during one of the most difficult trimesters, the first one, mom is having serious battles with nausea, fatigue, bloating, emotional roller coasters and more. To the unsympathetic partner, mom still looks the same so he thinks she should feel the same.
He doesn’t have a clue as to what she’s going through and his lack of empathy doesn’t help him to understand at all.
Maybe by the third trimester he’ll give mom a little more sympathy as she waddles around and has a hard time fitting through tight places. Unfortunately, this partner will probably downplay this part of pregnancy too.
5 Jump All Over The Belly Kids
Some kids are drawn to pregnant women. They’re fascinated by it. For the most part this is adorable. But some kids love to jump all over pregnant women. They love to jump on their lap or jump in the chair next to them.
They want to be as close to the belly as possible.
Since most kids don’t understand how their elbows and knees affect other people they’ll have no idea why the pregnant mom seems so grumpy. Usually these kids are not your own either...which doesn’t help. They want to be around you all the time and seem glued to the belly. Mom with her swelling feet, so tight it hurts belly, and waves of nausea doesn’t feel so motherly to this child who isn’t hers and won’t give her space.
4 People Who Comment On Your Size
There is no comment relating to a pregnant woman’s size that is safe. There should be public announces about this fact. Most people will think that it's okay as long as they say something like, “Oh I can’t believe you’re that far along….you look so small!” For the mom who carries small, she’s usually worried that for some reason the baby isn’t growing like it should be. Comments like this don’t put her mind at ease. For the mom who is carrying big, she doesn’t want to hear how big she is. She also realizes that her hips have spread and she’s been gaining weight. She’s worried that she’ll never be able to lose it after the baby comes. For the mom who started her pregnancy overweight and doesn’t show as much as other people, comments about how she doesn’t even look pregnant don’t make her feel wonderful.
3 Food Choice Watchers
Pregnant women are under a lot of scrutiny. Everyone knows the basics of what she should and shouldn’t be doing. The food choice watchers probably actually play some sort of safety role in society to protect the health of the next generation.
But to the pregnant woman who has cut out coffee and can’t indulge in a glass of wine any more the food choice watchers are annoying.
Maybe mom wants to go to her favorite sushi restaurant. There are plenty of options mom can have that don’t include raw fish. The food choice watcher will be looking over her shoulder and making comments about each of her choices. Mom doesn’t want to hear it. Maybe mom wants to have an occasional Pepsi. The food choice watcher will make some comment about high fructose corn syrup and caffeine. Keep your comments to yourself!
2 Clueless Male OBGYNs
There are some really great male obstetricians out there. Being males doesn’t exclude them from doing a good job. But some of the male OBGYNs believe that they know about and understand exactly every part of pregnancy and childbirth. They negate the fact that they’ve never experienced either. The clueless male OBGYN will give the expectant mom terrible advice like, “You’re pregnant not sick” when mom speaks of unbearable and persistent morning sickness. He might say that a mom wanting a natural childbirth is “Trying to prove something.” or that a mom wanting an epidural is “being dramatic.” No mom should have her pregnancy and birth experience downplayed or negated by a clueless male obstetrician that has forgotten that he never actually has or ever will experience pregnancy and childbirth.
1 Danger Ahead
It's amazing how many people come out of the woodwork espousing the dangers of childbirth once mom announces she’s pregnant. If the danger warnings don’t come about childbirth or the stresses of pregnancy they definitely come about how stressful parenting is. New parents are warned that they’ll never again watch a movie or have a date. These people cause undue stress and worry for the new parents. There are so many unknowns for the new parents that they’ll come up with enough to worry about all on their own.
The negative Nancys that tell stories of lost romance and crazy kids running through the house don’t need to bother the new parents.
Keep in mind that these people are generally negative about life and probably had a negative experience parenting because that’s how they’ll see the world no matter what.