People and Pregnancy

Parenthood begins at pregnancy and it is one of it’s most beautiful phases. However, in India, especially the South, one gets to hear a lot of funny things/ free advice, from almost every third person, may it be one’s own relative or a neighbor or a random stranger one meets, which is sometimes funny, sometimes irritating, and sometimes very awkward. In India, there is no shortage of random things you hear when you are pregnant. These are some of the funniest and most irritating things a pregnant mamma in India can expect to hear!

Do not MOVE!
A lot of people believe that a pregnant woman is like porcelain, one poke and she will fall and break! All through my pregnancy, I had people advising me to move slowly, not to run up the stairs(actually, not to even climb the stairs!). Had I followed all that, I would have felt so sloppy and sedentary! I actually was more active during pregnancy than I usually am, went for swims and walks, and scampered about! Unless you have a medical condition that requires you to be at rest, you can be your normal self, if not more active!
Eat loads of BUTTER
Oh yes, butter, especially in warm water/ jeera water. Apparently this helps in an easy delivery. Newborn babies are covered with a white buttery substance called vernix. Eating butter does not have anything to do with the coating. I guess people those days thought of vernix as butter. But there is no connection whatsoever to eating butter and having an easy delivery; the baby is not going to come slithering through the vagina courtesy all the butter one eats!!
BODY SHAMING
” Oh you are so thin, how will you be able to push the baby out?!!”, ” Oh you are so fat, how will you be able to have a normal delivery?!” “Oh my God, you have such short legs, how will you have the strength to deliver vaginally?!” “Better do a lot of household work, else you will not have a normal delivery.” Been there, heard those? People always have something or the other to say, especially with regard to your body, relating it to your mode of delivery. The obsession for “normal” delivery though. Isn’t delivery itself a natural phenomenon?! Why classify it into normal/abnormal?! This topic needs a complete new post, so more on this later!
Bump-shaming
“Oh your bump looks so small, your baby is going to be super small and so not healthy.” “Look at your bump, sooo big. Are you having twins? Or are you taking eating for two too seriously?!”
N number of MYTHS
“You skin is getting dark around the neck, this is definitely a boy!” “You are glowing, this must be a girl!” “So much acne, must be a girl.” “You are carrying high, this is a girl” “You don’t seem pregnant from behind, this is definitely a boy!” Fellas, I carried only one baby!! “Eat saffron, your baby’s skin tone will be fair.” “Stretch and sleep, then only your baby will be tall.” The most atrocious one: “Say this shloka, you will get a baby boy!” Gender, color, and every other physiological property is determined the moment one conceives, and no amount of saffron or shlokas can change that!
Sleeping postures
From the moment you announce your pregnancy, every person you meet tells you not to sleep on your tummy. Relax people, one can sleep on one’s tummy as long as one is comfortable to do so. I slept on my tummy through my entire first trimester and the initial days of the second trimester, after which it became hard to do so and had to invest in a pregnancy pillow to sleep on my sides! Also, I was asked to always get up and turn if I were to change sides. The wrapping of the umbilical cord around the baby’s neck has got nothing to do with the way one sleeps. Gosh, sleeping in itself is an ordeal sometimes during pregnancy and hearing n number of people advice you on sleeping positions does not ease it!
Scaring based on their experience
“Labor is the hardest ever. I almost died.” “I don’t think I have the courage to do it again, it was that bad.” “It’s much easier to just opt for a C-section.” For everyone, the degree of the pain differs and it boils down to a lot of factors like determination, flexibility, tolerance levels, anxiety, and so on. Each person’s experience is different with each baby! Oodles of encouragement is good but not negativity and discouragement, please.

Ladies, such talk will not cease to stop and upset your day. But remember, pregnancy is not a disease, it’s life growing inside you. Isn’t it beautiful? A healthy pregnancy is all about being as normal as you can be, just being you. Don’t let anyone take that away from you!

What were the oddest stuff you heard in your pregnancy? OR rather, what are the oddest stuff you have heard people tell pregnant women?