touching the belly.

thedjinn88

Anyone else hate it when people touch and rub the bump? I have had 3 do it just today. My bump has recently "popped" out and so many friends feel they should rub it every time they see me. It's mainly fat people, my stomach that is lol ! They are rubbing too high to even get the baby lol rant over  

smboswell1

I actually enjoy it! It is a little strange, but the fact that they can tell I'm pregnant makes me happy!

mander82

My MIL is the only one that has done it. I allow her....but no one else.

thedjinn88

I'm plus size and I'm happy people can tell, but I guess I'm not one that likes being touched in general so not really a surprise for me not to like it pregnant. 

Cici3913

I don't mind when people I'm close with touch my belly....it's the random people I don't like to touch it!

wallygirl

I can't stand it! With DD no one besides my dad rubbed my belly without asking except one little old lady at walmart. DH kept staring at me waiting for me to say something but she was just a little old lady and I just didn't have the heart. However with this pregnancy 3 women at church have already rubbed the belly. I'm with OP right now it's mainly fat... get your hands off. No idea how to say it nicely though.

thedjinn88

I have no idea how to be nice about it!  It's my stomach, I know I have a baby growing in it and that truly is a beautiful thing but I just don't see any reason for someone tho rub my belly. If I offer for you to feel a kick okay but if your just rubbing cause I got a bump well I just can't stand it lol could just be me lol

aa98

I don't like it either.  I know that mostly they are very excited and that's their way of connecting with the LO, but let's face it, even when the LO is out in the world, you wouldn't just touch him/her, you would ask first.  Obviously I don't mind when DH touches it, but he is a little  hesitant as pre-preganacy I hated when he touched my belly, it made me self-conscious.  Now, I love it!

JamieK1882

I don't think mine is that obvious yet so I haven't had many people try. So far only MIL and one random girl at work who asked first. Didn't bother me though.

uncharted01

I don't like it. You didn't touch me before, why are you touching me now? It's one thing if someone asks you, but I'll never understand why people think it's acceptable to touch someone just because they're pregnant.

Maelara

I hate it. Even when it's family and friends. Hate it. DH and DD are the only ones I can handle touching my belly.

Dumbgurl04

I hate it!!!!  It feels so uncomfortable to me.  Sure my Mom and MIL are sad that I won't let them but I just find it awkard to have someone man handling my bump. 

Allyvaughan86

It really doesn't bother me! I'm not going to be like, here, come touch my belly, but if people do, it's not a big deal to me.

luvalways77

I would love if people looked at me and knew I was pregnant. Right now I just feel fat. I like my personal space, but I think just for the attention I wouldn't mind a few hands reaching for my bump and asking questions. It may or may never happen again

HappyToBeHere

I'm not a fan.  DH and I just had this conversation this morning, because I have "popped" a bit (noticeable to a few).  Yesterday, one of my coworkers said "looks like you're getting a belly!" and proceeded to, like, jiggle it .  It took everything in me to not admit out loud that it was likely more poop than baby.

My mom & DH are the only ones allowed right now otherwise.  

KMW08

Don't have this problem yet. I too am plus size, don't show and have managed not to gain any weight YAY!! Which I'm only 17w5d, but I can tell in some of my pants they're getting tighter--so I know my bump is growing.

I think because of being over weight I'll hate it when/if people try to touch. Dh and my mom will probably be the only peeps allowed to do this.

highbornhunter

No one has tried without asking yet.  I'm okay with friend and family doing it - and even most of them have had the courtesy to say "Is it okay?" before grabbing me.  

The first stranger who tries it without asking is going to pull back a stump.

MrsLillyG

I haven't had any strangers touch it yet! But tons of friends, acquaintances and family have.  There have been a few people that have touched it and then quickly took their hand away and said "oh sorry do you care, I know some people don't like it"  I don't really care.  But I think I will care when a stranger decides to touch me.

MmmPopcorn

I'm not showing yet even though I'm almost 20 weeks, but I did have a coworker touch my belly when she found out I was pregnant. It didn't bother me at the time, but I imagine she caught me on a good day. If a stranger were to try and touch me, I would probably reflexively punch him/her without realizing what I'm doing. I'm grateful that I'm not showing yet.

TeeJ526

I've only had one person ask if they could touch my bump. It was friend so I didn't mind. That being said, if random co-workers or other just walked up to me and started touching my bump, I will probably flip out on them.

meeshybee

I hate it. I'm not a touchy/feely person to begin with and even more so when pregnant. It hasn't happened yet with this pregnancy, but with previous ones it happened a lot.

With my last one I had a random stranger ask if he could rub my belly. I wasn't sure if he was serious (because I had never seen him before in my life!) so I just kinda laughed it off and said, "Sorry, I'm not a Buddha."

He said, "You're mean." and walked away.

HappyToBeHere

meeshybee said:

He said, "You're mean." and walked away.

This made me lol - "you're mean"?!  How about ... "oh..yeah maybe this situation does make me look like a big creep".  Also, I can generally envision women strangers asking/feeling, but men?  Never thought about that one!

BkBaby118

I haven't had more than a few people do it (and all are moms already), and no one asked in advance, so it came as a bit of a shock at first. But I don't mind it. I'm 20 weeks now, so I'll probably just be getting more of it for the rest of the pregnancy as more people, and strangers, begin to notice. I might not be as cool about it if a stranger did it though! Especially if a guy did it... that might be weird.

Sunflowermommy33

I like it too. It makes me happy that others are happy about baby. I don't even mind strangers. It's sweet

jlove253

I know that people are just trying to connect with baby so I generally don't mind my loved ones doing it. I really liked when I was pregnant with dd and family could feel her moving. Strangers and acquaintances though, that makes me uncomfortable. I had a classmate last time ask if she could touch my belly and I said yes. Then, with increasing vigor, every week I saw her she would come and MASSAGE my belly. That was super uncomfortable. I had given her permission to touch, not rub all over. And I was going to keep seeing her for the best year and a half so I didn't know how to tell her to stop without risking it being really awkward for the rest of our program. Glad that's over.

turtles7

I don't mind now that I'm showing from friends, family and co- workers but before, yeah it bothered me because they were touching my fats. Strangers haven't approached me yet so I'm not sure how I would feel.

absolutelymaybe

I thought I would hate it more than I do. I mean, if a stranger does it then that's not cool, but I went to a BBQ at DH's family's house yesterday and their bump touches didn't bother me at all. Of course, they asked if they could touch it first so that was nice.

I don't get the appeal, still. I have no urge to touch other pregnant women's bellies.

jessa1228

The only people who have touched my bump are 2 close friends of mine, and it bothered me a little because I don't really like being touched. The one friend, a guy, grabbed way too high so that was awkward. I know I won't be able to hide my disgust if some rando touches it.

shan24

The first person (quite literally) to touch the bump other than SO was a coworker.  That was weird and a little out of the blue.  I didn't say anything because I was so surprised.

Other than that, my sister has touched it and my cousin's wife did after asked if she could - her daughter had just given birth and was VERY against anyone touching her belly, so I think she felt like she missed out on something.  I don't mind if people I know ask first.  Strangers and acquaintances, not so much.

runningmama14

My mom awkwardly rubbed my belly and then just left her hand there for way too long. That was several weeks ago before I really even had a bump. It drove me crazy. I just wanted to smack her hand.

jmichlik

So far only my mom and sister have done this, and each only once very briefly so I tolerated it. My coworkers comment on my belly all the time but none have tried to touch it and it's been pretty obvious for awhile now so hopefully they never will.

Also OMG @meeshybee you had me cracking up, I almost half hope some stranger asks me so I can steal your response!

JSwinford

I hate this so much.  Unless you put it there, or created me or my DH, hands off.  I don't know why people think it's ok to walk up to me and put their hands on my bump.  If I think you have a cute butt, I'm not going to walk up and touch it.  Boundaries, strangers and co-workers, boundaries.  At least ask before touching.  (I might be a little cranky today ....)