My round belly

So the snow has started to fall here. One big storm a couple of nights ago, and everything looks like winter again. I'm ok with winter for a few months, but by March I'm pretty tired of snow on the ground. Summer is my season - I love the warmth and the sun. I even love the heat of those humid Valley days. For some reason, I'm always cold, especially in the winter, so I'm glad that pregnancy has made my body temperature just about normal! So is my husband, J, who gets bed-warming duties when the temperature drops below 0°C.

I feel like my belly is lovely and round, but now at 36 weeks of pregnancy or so, I have gained about 25 pounds. Sounds reasonable and within recommended guidelines, you might say, but the way that my shape has changed means that my belly looks small. There are several explanations for it (long torso, weight gain in other areas, very dense baby, etc.), but I always get comments like "wow - you're so small!" For some reason, it bugs me. Probably because women who have not yet been pregnant often follow up that comment with "I'm going to be such a whale when I'm pregnant!"

Why is there such competition between women? It might not seem like a very competitive thing to say, but there's often the underlying sentiment of suffering making you a better woman. If you didn't have to struggle through enormous weight loss postpartum, then you didn't have the "true" pregnancy experience. My response to such comments is usually along the lines of "well, everyone's body reacts differently. You never know!" I feel like there's a touch of jealousy there, and instead of being proud of my shape and how good I feel, I feel a bit guilty for not gaining weight in a way that makes me look huuuuge.

But if that's been my only problem so far in my pregnancy, that makes me very happy. I love my shape! My belly feels taut and round and low, and it makes my husband smile every time he sees me in profile. I feel healthy and strong and beautiful, and J reminds me of that every day. I love being pregnant and I look forward to meeting the person growing in my belly.