Personal Space

My pregnant belly is outside of my personal space now. I say this because people have started touching it - without asking first. I must be so big that they consider my belly to be in their personal space. What's funny is that, aside from my mother (who has more leeway than I give most people) these are people I barely know.

I know they don't have any ill will, but it's weird being touched on the belly. I'm more used to the occasional arm-touching on social occasions. Maybe a hug. Not a belly pat. When you think about where the belly is located - above and below two areas that are off-limits in polite interactions - maybe that's where my defensiveness comes from.

You'd probably think that I would feel that my belly was sticking way out, but it doesn't feel that way at all. My muscles can still tighten somewhat, so strangely enough everything still feels normal at this point. I guess that makes it that much more difficult to see myself as others see me, because when I'm not looking, I forget that I'm kind of big. That's when I let my defenses down and get touched.

As of the 24th, I'll be two months away from the due date.

The belly-touching is only going to get worse. But at least it's Fall, so I can add more layers of clothing. It's some sort of defense when I go out in public.