My bigger bubble

The other day, out of habit, I tried to button my pants after I was done in the bathroom. My belly laughed at me. "Whoa!" it said, "good luck with that." My bubble is getting bigger, and I fear soon to be invaded on a regular basis. I've heard other mothers say that when they were pregnant, people would come up to them and touch their stomach. People they knew or just random people, including any old strangers and creeps alike. For whatever reason, there is no restraint for some people to invade others' space and put their hands on a pregnant stomach. Now seriously. Do I come up to you and touch your stomach? Absolutely not. Baby or no baby, that kind of intrusion at least requires permission, if not special favors in return. For those of you who know me well, you know that I don't have a particularly large space "bubble," but unless it's my mother or husband, I do not like others to be touching me. In fact, if I am in line at the movies, or while shopping, or whatever, and people are crowding me, I will take up a stance in which my hands are on my hips with my elbows out, I am putting all my weight on one leg, and the other is sticking out into whatever space my elbows aren't covering. And then I will casually rotate if need be. Therefore by bubble remains in tact and the most I have to touch people is with my elbows. Which, after a while, is quite effective because not many people like elbows sticking into them. Except for the most desperate ones, in which case I make it a point to rotate a little faster so they not only get touched by my elbow, they get actively hit by it.

This will soon be a major problem. How can I possibly make my elbows or any other part of my body stick out past the baby that is pushing my stomach out to ungainly sizes? It's impossible. In fact, it's really not even that big (in comparison to the jumbo proportions it will quickly acquire) and someone already touched it. Touched my belly. Just reached right in and put their hand on it. Without permission! Only Justin has those rights. And maybe my mother. No other exceptions! Seriously! Like I said before, do I touch any part of your body, for any reason other than to give you CPR or pick a hair off your shirt, let alone your STOMACH ?! No way!

Then stopit.

It's happened once and I'm only 5 months. What's going to happen when I'm 7 1/2 or 8 and I can't even get my arms out there to brush away their hand? Oh dear. I sense that this is a battle that isn't even close to over.

Plus, where have those hands been? Do I want them anywhere near me? Likely not. Yuck. Go wash your hands while I go wash my belly.