Perks of Pregnancy

So it's been a while since I've written because ... you're not going to believe this ... I'm not worrying as much.

There goes my blog title, right?

As my sweet and very wise friend Liz once mentioned over dinner one night, it seems that something happens to you, biologically, when you start feeling your babe have little dance parties on the inside. As Liz (who works in publishing but is practically a doctor, I think) put it: feeling those movements bonds you to your baby on a very basic level and takes you out of your own anxiety-ridden head and more into maternal mode.

And go figure, she was right. Now, that doesn't mean that when my little boogey-down babe has a less active day I don't totally freak out and fear the absolute worst. That's still very much a part of the repertoire. But luckily enough, soon after she scares me by taking a disco nap, the dancing starts up again and I am truly, physically reassured.

So today, on a totally different note, I'll share three little perks of being 30 weeks pregnant ...

1. The Unexpected Compliment
At Pinkberry the other night, where I was picking up dinner (hey, it was GREEK yogurt and there was fruit involved), I was digging through my change purse when the cashier told me that I looked really pretty. Befuddled as to why she'd get so personal with me—this is NYC after all, and people don't typically do that kind of thing—I looked up to see her making the universal gesture for "pregnant" over her belly. She meant that I looked pretty while pregnant. It was such a sweet, unexpected compliment and had me waddling home a little taller.

2. Seats on the Subway
This is a real thing, folks, and not an urban legend. I get offered seats at least 75% of the time these days, and people seem truly happy to hop up and let me rest my aching everything.

3. Free Brownies?
Guy at Pret scanned my sandwich and my mini brownie and told me the latter was "on the house," glancing surreptitiously at my belly. Not loving the extra attention paid to my body by strangers these days (I thought I was self-conscious before ...) but you simply cannot argue with a free brownie.