The Mommy Club

= Ticket to the Mommy Club



I was thinking back to when I had a huge, pregnant belly. For me, a pregnant belly is your ticket into the Mommy Club. This is an exclusive club because no one tells you that it exists until your belly is large enough to say, “I'm in!” Before this, you go along quietly on your way about your business. And then, once people see your “ticket,” they see this as a sign to talk to you. And they do. They all do.
It usually goes like this: You are an inconspicuous woman going about your business-say you're checking out at the grocery store. Then, you hear someone (usually a woman, and one older than you) come up to you and ask questions, which, more than likely, will be one (or all) (or all repeated over and over again in no particular order) of the following:
1.When are you due?
2.Is this your first?
3.How far along as you?
And then they smile sweetly and are so excited for you. And they should be. After all, it is a miracle you have in the works. But after having my first and feeling let down by all the smiles and excitement other women had for me, I wondered why they were so excited to welcome me into the Mommy Club, why they had so much hope for me in their eyes.
It wasn't until recently that I figured out why this was. I came across a woman at the grocery store who was obviously pregnant and we started chatting. I was excited for her, but was trying to figure out why I was just so excited in light of everything I was thinking about my experiences of being newly pregnant. And I figured it out.
It was because I wanted so much to be able to go through it all over again and do it a little differently. I wanted to be able to take the knowledge and experience I have now and take it back when it was just me and my first newborn baby. I wanted to erase all the frustration, confusion and exhaustion I experienced. But of course I can't. All I can do is talk to pregnant women I run into at the grocery store, ask them if this is their first, and express how excited I am for them...because I truly am.