The bump is making me bump into things, and it’s not easy to, um, stomach. After all, I’ve lived almost 28 years with the same — more or less — spacial reference in my abdominal area. I am noticing, though, that I am forgetting about the protruding basketball-like belly that’s making me much more 3 dimensional than I’m used to, and such routine things like washing dishes at the kitchen sink or opening doors to enter a room are no easy feat. Baby Girl must get poked a lot by the counter or the doorknob — oops! Sorry! — and I need to expand my movement bubble to accommodate her growing home.

That belly also serves as a wonderfully convenient shelf for anything from iPhones to water bottles to crumbs from each meal. Its protrusion into the atmosphere can be handy (“Gotta get something out of my purse but don’t want to set my keys down. Here, I’ll put them on this baby bump shelf!”), but it can also be expensive:

Dry Cleaner Lady: You’re here AGAIN?
Alison: YES! Every time I eat, I somehow spill/flick/drip/splatter/rub this nasty, messy, once-was-delicious oil-based sauce all over my brand new expensive Pea in the Pod maternity shirt! Any way you can get it out?
Dry Clean Lady: [Gives me the finger]

All those bibs I’m collecting? Yeah, it is ME who needs them.

As annoying as it sometimes is, the belly is also a life saver. People are just SO. MUCH. NICER to pregnant women! It really amazes me. If I drop something, someone else picks it up! (This is good; diminishes old lady grunts from bending over). If I enter a crowded room, someone offers a seat! (I rarely take it. It hurts my back to sit too long anyway). If I am in line for the potty, other ladies let me go ahead! (This wasn’t appreciated until recently when my daughter decided it would be awesome to use my bladder as a trampoline). Basically, most normal people with a soul are kind to pregnant women and I do thank them for this.

But why only pregnant gals? While I’m happy to oblige, I’ve definitely learned that people are friendlier when there’s a bump involved, but shouldn’t humankind be this pleasant all the time? After experiencing these nice interactions, it will be rather disappointing to go back to flat normal belly. And after having insight into the potential that strangers have in the nice category, I will be sad to know that they don’t carry over the same kindness and politeness for unpregnant people. I noticed this similar phenomenon when we adopted Princeton. Whether out for walks in the neighborhood or shlepping him to lunch at the outdoor mall, people always stop to schmooze and exchange pleasantries because of the dog. If we didn’t have that cute little ragamuffin mutt, I doubt they’d make eye contact, let alone say hello or salute with a head nod. Dogs and pregnant ladies. Hmmm.

I guess the silver lining is that even when the bump is less… bumpy… this mama kangaroo is going to have a baby outside the pouch in 3 months and babies have the same positive effect on people, too. And while it’s currently nice to be saved by the belly, my new mom wish is for everyone to just be nice all the time.