Personal Space? What's That?

So, yesterday I made a foray to the mall to collect party goodies for the upcoming 3 year old madness that will be happening this Sunday and to shop for the perfect present for said 3 year old. All was good, the shopping was fruitful and hubs agrees that I've chosen a suitably brightly coloured and exciting present befitting a 3 year old.
While my focus was on a 3 year old, everyone else's focus was on someone who has still about 30 days before making her debut.
The first shop I went into, an elderly lady said hello and began asking me questions such as "how much longer have you got to go?" and "do you know what you're having?" I just thought she was a lonely elderly lady. I was wrong. In each shop I visited, someone managed to comment on my belly. "When are you due?" or "How much longer?" were the most common questions and I think my answer of 4+ weeks to go surprised many. The other comments tended to be "Wow, you're big!" or "I bet you'll be happy when it's over." One lady shared with me how a week ago she'd delivered a little boy 7 weeks early and was just out doing some shopping to finish the nursery before they let him out of the hospital.
People have also begun to imagine it's appropriate to rub my stomach. I am not a Buddha and I will not bring you good luck. Up until very recently, the only people who had been brave enough to touch or rub my stomach are my husband, my husband's daughter, my MIL (although hers have been quite tentative little touches) and one of my friends before she went back to Canada and the belly was barely a bump. One of the ladies who questioned my due date yesterday, reached out and gave my stomach a bit of a stroke which shocked me - she was a complete stranger. And I was left feeling somewhat akward when a very nice lady who runs one of the venues where I teach first aid classes put one hand on either side of my bump and rubbed up and down while cooing something to the baby (at least she was not a stranger). I'm not quite sure of how to respond to these things...if I wasn't pregnant, there's no way you'd be so familiar and rub my stomach, so what's changed? Do pregnant women, once they reach a certain stage, lose their right to privacy and personal space?

The Final Countdown

That's what they call it when you get into single digits. And here I am at 31 weeks pregnant. 9 weeks to go.
For me the final countdown is having everyone remark how big I am or questioning whether I'm going to give birth during CPR demonstrations; it's having to wear wrist braces to bed and sleep with my arms straight while laying on my left side; it's more frequent meltdowns; it's continued obsessions with food and shopping; it's antenatal classes where I feel anti-social; and it's fear and self-doubt.
On the plus side, it also means there is a party coming up. A baby shower. I was thinking of just planning and doing it all myself but my friend, Bianca - who is also expecting, offered to help me plan and execute it. I love planning parties and I've seen, and blogged about, some pretty cool baby shower ideas. I don't know if we'll go for an all out theme but we're planning a meeting next weekend to talk about it and do a bit of brainstorming. The other thing that makes it so amazing that Bianca has stepped up to do this, is that she will be on holiday the week before the date we've set for the shower. Thanks again, Bianca, it's going to be so much fun :)

I'm not one to pass up a party

Any reason for a party seems like a good one to me. 3 year old's birthday, I'm there; celebrating a promotion, there too; baby shower - bring it on! Not that I'm hoping to host my own baby shower or anything, but I've been checking out ideas on the web for putting one together. There are tons of websites with squillions of ideas to use at baby showers.
The very best themed shower I've seen online was blogged about by Kendra at MyInsanity. Her sister was acutally the hostess of the party, but Kendra helped think up the theme and design some of the decorations and invitations. The theme was "She's about to POP!" and included things like POPcorn, sodaPOP, POPart, etc. Take a look here at "the coolest baby shower ever".
If my friends and family don't go to such an extreme and amazing effort, I hope they at least take a look for some creative ideas online. Good places to start:
Coolest Baby Shower Ideas
NZ Girl's Guide to the Perfect Baby Shower
Martha's Alphabet Baby Shower
Martha's Noah's Ark Baby Shower
Martha's Spa Shower for Baby