Anyone who has been pregnant has had one of those experiences. That time when someone says something so totally absurd about your pregnancy that your jaw literally hits the floor. You cannot imagine how these people get through life on a daily basis when such total and utter stupidity can come out of their mouths. Even worse is that the majority of these comments come from women who have also endured the 9 long months of pregnancy and the emotional hurdles that go along with it!
We all loved when people commented on our weight, judged our decisions and constantly told us how we were going to harm our child before they were even born….because we weren’t freaking ourselves out enough – we for sure needed their assistance in pushing us right over the edge! Well sit back and enjoy some doozies! These will knock your socks off! (on a happier and more positive note – check out these super cute Gender Reveal Party Ideas!)
Thanks to all of you for for submitting your “stupid things people say to pregnant women” on my Facebook page! I sifted through and pulled out the best of the best (and I couple I wanted to include, but just couldn’t…. they were SO not okay!!)
- I am going to start out with one of my own! I was pregnant with my third. I already had two beautiful boys. A work colleague asked me if I knew what I was having. “Yes, it is a boy!” I answered excitedly! “Oh No….I am SO worried that will happen to my daughter too!!”
Here are some of my great reader responses! All anonymous, of course!
- “I didn’t do an epidural because I love my baby.”
- While I was pregnant with my 3rd child my Mother-in-law introduced me to someone and proceeded to tell them that this was my 3rd and final. Umm who made her boss over how many children I will or will not have?
- One guy asked if I had double checked with the doctor because it looked like I was having triplets… talk about a meltdown moment
- “Are you pregnant? AGAIN! Like mom said, you can teach ignorance, you can’t teach stupid.”
- “Wow! Your tits and ass are huge!” (from a 74 year old male patient of mine)
- A guy walking behind me didn’t realize I was pregnant, when he walked passed me he said, “oh wow, You should put a sign on your back that says WIDE LOAD!”
- “Are you having twins?” “No I’m not having twins.” “Are you sure?” No I’m so stupid I have no idea how many babies are in my stomach.
- “Aren’t you a bit big to be that far along?”
- When I went to my first Ob app. The nurse asked a list of questions. The stupidest, “do you and your husband have sexual intercourse?” I looked at her, then my belly, then her again. I said uhhhh yeah…..
- A woman I never met blurts out,”you’re pregnant?!” I just stared at her and someone said,”well yeah!” She retorted with,”I didn’t know, we all carry weight differently.”
- Not to take a bath or the baby will drown.
- “How much weight have you gained?”
- Some told me that I didn’t look pregnant and wanted to know if I was only faking the pregnancy to marry him and get his money?
- My favorite one wasn’t actually said to me, but to my husband… and from his mother no less… she asked him, actually had the audacity to ask if he was even sure that the baby was his.
- “It’s nice because you’ll still look pregnant after you have the baby, so you can use the pregnancy parking.”
- “You’re pregnant again? You don’t need to have them so close together cause you can’t spend enough time or love with them.”
- From my Mother-In-Law “Maybe you’re wrong..maybe u’re not pregnant..you shouldn’t be pregnant before my other daughter-in-law”
- “You don’t look old enough to be pregnant. Are you going to keep it?” I was 20.
- “Is it a boy or a girl?… Oh.”
- Someone told me that I was going to be in a wheel chair when my daughter graduated from college… I was gonna to be a old mom!! I was 23 when I had her.
- “Was it planned?”
- While shopping with my other children and pregnant with my 3rd…”you didn’t learn the first two times how babies are made?” Then pregnant with my 4th… “Don’t you think you have enough kids?”
- “Are you pregnant or just bloated?” I was about 32 weeks pregnant at the time.
- “I knew you were pregnant when I saw you in March,” Except I wasn’t pregnant yet.
- I was on the table waiting for my c-sec with my twins. I was talking to the NURSE and telling her they were boy/girl. Then she asked me “are they identical?” I said not when we change the diapers. You would think a nurse would know better.
- “You look better with a little fat on your face.”
- We all get this question over and over… but I ADORE this answer – “What’s it going to be?” I told one person I was hoping for a puppy they didn’t look impressed
- From my husband…on mothers day….”eeewwww….why are your nipples so dark?”
So…what have we learned here? First of all, be very careful with what you are saying to pregnant women… a foot in the mouth comment will stick with us far longer than you would ever think. AND, being on the receiving end of these comments is part of the badge of motherhood… it happens to all of us. Just nod, smile, walk away ….. and blog about it later!!
P.S. What is the stupidest unsolicited parenting advice you have received from a stranger? See some of our readers answers here! You won’t want to miss them…trust me!
Had the baby? Check out this one!!!
When I told my Dad that my husband and I were going to have our second child he said “You do understand how this happens, don’t you?” I was so hurt because of his insinuated disapproval or that we should somehow “know better” or were too dumb to and we couldn’t have possibly intended to have two children. Maybe he thought we should have “learned’ after the first time… My Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease a few months later. My message in sharing this painful situation is that usually other peoples’ ignorant, insensitive or hurtful comments are more likely a result of the insulator’s own personal issues. As difficult as it can sometimes be, it is important to step back and consider that hurtful comments are a reflection of the person saying them. Take a moment to feel sorry for the person making their hurtful attack. Then move on!
My mother keeps harassing me about what foods I eat, how much weight I should gain, and then telling me how she only gained 25 lbs with me and my brother. She has no idea what I normally eat (certainly not chips and candy all day) and she also really has no idea how much weight I have gained – my weight gain has been on track anyways. Thanks for making me feel insecure.
I was 16 when I got pregnant and then 17 when I had my son. My mom knew first and together we slowly told my family. But when I told me dad (parents are split up) he told me I was making the biggest mistake of my life by not getting an abortion! And when we told my grandma she said “it’s time to call doctor tiller!!”. Like it was their decision or something. I still finished high school on time like I was supposed to and worked the whole time too. Oh and when I wanted to name my son after my dad since he had all girls (my son would have been Robert scott III the father wasn’t there so my son has my dads last name) he didn’t say much but then told my grandma he didn’t want my son to have his name since my son is a quarter black! I couldn’t believe it!!!!!!!
I ran into my high school volleyball coach at a dinner in our small town. I hadn’t seen him for probably 8 years. We talked about the normal for pregnancy questions: due date, boy/girl, is this your first, etc. There was a slight lull in the conversation so he says, “Well, you look great! You haven’t gotten fat so that’s wonderful!”
I wasn’t sure what to say so I just said, “I count my blessings where I can.”
After replying ” Yes, I am having twins” to a total stranger, she began to tell me a story of how her friend had had twins and that one died when they were 5. The other twin never recovered from the loss and has been in out of therapy and jail his whole life cause” twins are weird that way” OMG! Thanks for the story.
My daughter was born at 24 weeks. I’m in labor, bleeding–we’re driving to the hospital–I asked my husband if he was worried and he said “I think you’re over-reacting.” She was born 4 hours later.
When I announced my MIL asked, “When did you get off birth control, did he know?”
I find this statement annoying as a pregnant woman and former English teacher: “You have a bootiedo… Your belly sticks out more than your bootie do.” lol
I find it annoying as a human!!
When we told me fil and his wife, her response was- thank goodness you are pregnant because you look like you have gained so much weight.
I am only 4’11” tall, so when I was pregnant with my son I looked like I was carrying 3 babies in there. I literally had no room for the baby, so my stomach stuck way out. I was about 6 months along and my husband and I were walking through the store. I had a lady ask me if I was trying to make myself go into labor. Then at about 7 months, I was at a wedding and there were a bunch of women badgering me about how I was carrying twins and that the 3 sonograms I had were wrong.
One of the worst things that happened to me, wasn’t what someone said but their facial expressions. My MIL took me out to lunch and when I stood up to leave, a whole table of people did a gaping, mouth wide open, double take at me. For the most part I didn’t have a problem with people’s comments but some just struck a nerve with me.
This didn’t happen while I was pregnant but just recently (my son is 5). A cashier (that I didn’t even know) asked me first thing if we were going to have any more kids. Little does she know that yes, we want more but we have fertility issues and have been trying for nearly 2 years now (it took 2 years with our son). Ugh.