Swimming with the belly

This past Saturday night, we went to an engagement party for some friends and it was a luau. They said to bring your swimsuits and be prepared to drink. No drinking for me, so I tried on my pregnancy bikini before I left the house and adjusted things so it would fit better. I was just brilliant to buy a bikini that could be expanded at the hips and bust. BRILLIANT!! It's not a string bikini, but it has strings attached.

We get to this wonderful house with a beautiful pool out back for the party and I find two other pregnant women there. They're both due at Thanksgiving, so I'm a bit bigger than they are. I ask them if they plan on swimming and they say no. I ask why and they don't really have a reason. I tell them that I've realized that when I'm submerged, there's less strain on my body to hold up my belly and everything feels better and lighter. So any time there's a pool, lake or ocean nearby, I'm going to be in it! No response. Ok, whatever. One of these women asked me later if I was planning on delivering naturally and I said enthusiastically, "oh, h*** no. I'm getting an epidural as soon as I can." She looked at me like I was from Mars. Hmmm. Suddenly, the snack table was calling me from a great distance. Maybe she's from Mars and I'm the normal one.

As the party progresses, it unfortunately starts to rain a little. Just enough to be annoying. My husband and one of the guys reason that if we're going to be wet, let's wear our clothes that were meant to be wet and get wetter. There was no thunder, so hubby, me and friend change clothes and jump in the hot tub. (The hot tub was set at 98 degrees which is perfectly fine for pregnant women by the way. My doctor had said no hotter than 103 in a hot tub or hot bath.)

When I first came out of the bathroom in my swim suit, I knew I would get comments about my big pregnant belly sticking out for everyone to see. I wasn't expecting any negative comments and I didn't get any negative comments. For the most part, the comments were along the lines of, "oh how cute!!" and strangers obviously having to refrain from patting my belly. I wasn't concerned about the dimples on my butt. I think that when you're pregnant, you're entitled to dimples on your butt. And fat rolls anywhere else. And you're especially entitled to be weird shaped after the baby is born too! Everyone's reaction to me in a bikini was positive except for one man, who seemed to be unnerved by any of the three pregnant women present. His eyes got big as saucers when he would stare at any of the three pregnant bellies. Some people are just like that.

I had a great time in the hot tub, then pool, then hot tub again. Eventually, there were 5 of us swimming out of maybe 40 people, and I was the only woman who swam. Which I found odd. I asked my hubby later why he thought none of the women swam and his suggestion was that they were self conscious about being in a swim suit. There were a whole lot of hot women there. And no women who would have been terrifying in a swim suit. It just seemed odd to me that no other women swam. I was very glad I had my dry clothes to change back into though. It stopped raining pretty soon and everyone was more comfortable milling around, not under a big sun umbrella. The party continued downtown later and probably went to the wee hours of the morning. I was delighted to not be obligated to that and I was home by 10:30, which is really pretty late for me lately. Fun evening!