Six months down, three to go

This pregnancy has not slowed me down with those factors I imagined to be the most complicated for expectant mothers; since I haven't been sick or craving pickles and peanut butter.

Instead it has been unexpected little factors: The fatigue has been an adjustment and the lack of brain capacity - though I have been stumped as to the cause of this since it isn't illness which was my previously imagined rationale. The fact my arms, previously the size of sticks and a key feature which identified me as part of the Ghandian race, didn't fit comfortably in most of my sleeves whether on shirts, or coats.

Last week I attended a wedding of a former student (along with 600 other guests) and bemoaned the fact I had to be cute in a culture where women spend hundreds of dollars and hours getting ready to parade before each other.

"You know I'm pregnant right?" I said to one of the few women at the wedding who I wasn't sure did know.

"Yeah I figured," she said, but what she really meant was, thank God, because I wasn't going to ask if you were letting yourself go.

That's the strange part about being in this in-between stage; you aren't large enough for people to assume and yet you're bigger than your previous self. It's a bummer on deciding what to wear to major events that could be recorded for posterity.

This week I will be in a room with two major heads of state for a function related to work; a good friend had a similar dilemma when she presented the turkey to be pardoned by the president at the White House in her eight month with her third child.

Needless to say, your opinion of how big or small I am varies based on ethnicity or kindness if the books are to be believed. Most of the Arabs and white people I know have been very complimentary about how 'small' I am for how far along I am. And then a Skype conversation with my sister during which she asked me if I was expecting twins, along with a morning when I tore my favorite shirt while getting dressed, deflated any sense of pride.

This is what pregnancy does and apparently it's good preparation for the challenges of delivery and motherhood where there is very little privacy or grace.