I told my boss about the alien within (as I have come to call my baby) at just about 3 months...not because I was totally showing, but because there are enough nosy older women around that I just knew someone would have a hunch and mention it to him before I got the chance, and I wanted him to get the news from the proverbial horse's mouth. So once the secret was out, it started. "when you get back..." "we won't worry about it until after the baby..." about various work projects, many of which I was pretty excited to get started. I let my boss know that I was in fact pregnant, not infirm, and we could make pretty good headway in six months, but alas nothing has moved.
Today, I had a prominent woman, with children, in a position of power, ask me when I would be back from maternity leave, in the middle of a meeting. I immediately expressed that this had not yet been determined and I did not want to discuss it, only to have my boss count out 3 months on his fingers and give her a date. I shut it down, but am still stewing about it. What made her think that was the right time to ask, and why push when I expressed my discomfort? We won't even get into the fact that my boss answered for me.
What is it about pregnancy that makes your mind and body public territory. Is it just that 50% of the population can't understand what its like? or that women who have been pregnant feel that have been there so its comfortable ground? Whatever it is, it sucks.
That said, while I am "pregnant, not infirm" I do spend almost all my time thinking about it, and I am feeling pretty physically awful because of it...should I just let go and take the easy way out for the next 5 months? Or do I keep pushing to prove there is a little Marissa Mayer in all of us?
