Me: End of September
Kroger Lady: There's no way you'll make it that long....
Me: (In my mind)--thanks for your expert opinion--how 'bout you put a little hop in your step and help me get out of your 100 degree grocery store quickly...
Later the same day, I went in to grab more Tums at Walgreens....
Walgreens checkout lady whose tone was very kind: How are you today?
Me: I'm doing okay (with a smile).
Walgreens lady: You don't look ok.
Me: Another smile
Walgreens lady: You look miserable....
Me: I am. (I don't know why, but I smile again).
And finally, the YOUNG checkout lady at Hancocks who both greets you and checks you out
Hancocks lady (as I'm walking in the door): You're such a cute pregnant lady (loudly)!
Me: Well, thanks. That's very sweet of you to say.
Hancocks girl: (As I'm turning around to walk down the aisles, toddler-free in a store and reveling in it) I mean, from the back you don't even look pregnant. You don't have any fat rolls or anything. (She turns to the lady who walked into the store after I did) Isn't she cute? She doesn't even look pregnant from the back....
Me: (You can be sure I've turned back around to face the girl seemingly obsessed with how I look from the back. I glance at the random lady who has been pulled into this awkward conversation): Care to take a look? (I'm smirking more than smiling by this point)
I finally manage to walk off only to encounter her again when I check out.
Hancocks girl: When are you due? Can I touch your belly? I just love pregnant bellies. Where's her head, I can't tell what I'm feeling.....
Me: Oh, um, sure. That stuff smeared on my shirt is my toddler's snot. He has a cold--fair warning. I think she's actually down here...
Hancocks girl: Oh, I'm doing my nursing school clinicals. A cold is no big deal to me. Oh, yeah, there she is...ahhh.
Me: (To myself): Wow.
If I were following the writing rules, I'd have to stop here, and save my mini-"discussion" below for another post. It doesn't contribute to my topic sentence / thesis statement / title / or whatever you want to call it. But, no one is paying me to write correctly, and no one is grading this, so today, I'm writing incorrectly. Now that I have that out of the way:
A nurse who works with kids, who we'll assume understands the germ theory, thinks it's no big deal for her to catch a cold. Does she get it that she can then give it to the kids she is working with in her clinicals? Not comforting. I bet their parents don't feel as laissez faire about it. I guess she hasn't heard the one where the kid gets a cold, gets a sinus infection, takes an antibiotic, gets C-diff, spends the next month and a half on a strong antibiotic to get rid of THAT infection, fighting digestive distress and diaper rash the whole time. Clearly not dying of cancer, but not a fun day either way.....
I guess she never gave birth to a child while she had a cold. I didn't think it was fun. I'm hoping not to do that again. I had to be on oxygen the whole second half of my labor / delivery when S went into respiratory distress, I'm still convinced that part of it was because I wasn't getting any oxygen because of my horrible "just a cold." Not to mention cold meds aren't exactly recommended for a solid foundation of you and your newborn's nursing relationship.
I should have asked what nursing program she was enrolled in and if they have completed the part about "how germs work" or co-morbid disease issues. Pregnant moms of toddlers don't want to be told any illness is "just a fill-in-the-blank"--especially the ones who have a little experience with those ailments.
...And apparently during her OB rotation they taught her that back fat rolls indicate pregnancy "from behind."
