Whether you’re nearing the end of your second trimester or you still haven’t announced your pregnancy, the holidays can put you in some awkward situations. Bringing the entire extended family together, including some of your more eccentric relatives, is nearly always a recipe for comedy – being pregnant just adds to the amusement. Here are a few roadblocks you should prepare to navigate.
1. Avoiding the pat-down. Once you start showing, somehow all personal boundaries seem to topple over – at least in everyone else’s eyes. Even though you love having your husband rub your belly and talk to your unborn child, you probably won’t enjoy a half-hour of being manhandled by every member of your family…and their romantic entanglements of the month, not to mention their college roommates. After the initial greeting period has passed, you may want to politely announce that you need some time to rest (how can anyone deny that request?) and would prefer to minimize the physical contact for a while.
2. Refusing to be turned into a sickly patient. If you’ve managed to escape the grasp of touchy-feely aunts and cousins, you may have entered into the territory of over-cautious paranoia. If every time you pick up a plate someone is rushing to tell you to sit down and take it easy, you may need to kindly assert that being pregnant hasn’t taken away your ability to walk.
3. Discreetly skipping the libations. On the other hand, if you’ve only recently discovered that a baby is on the way and haven’t shared the news, you may get some questioning looks when you turn down a glass of wine for the first time since you turned 21. You might be able to sidestep a potentially awkward moment by keeping your glass filled with juice or a light-colored carbonated beverage that could easily pass for something a bit more fermented.