¡Hola Bebé!

I always heard about pregnant women in the United States who had folks they did not even know come up to them asking (or not asking) to pat their stomachs.  I always thought, "How can someone think that is okay?" and "Don't people have any  boundaries?  I mean geesh...."  According to a friend of mine in the States, when men come up to her and touch her belly, she just reaches out and touches theirs in the same way and that pretty much ends that.

Well...wouldn't work here.

At 18 weeks I don't really even look all that pregnant most days, and I am still wearing my regular clothes (which were a little bit big after I lost some weight in my first few months), but that doesn't stop folks here from patting my belly and greeting Peanut with a rousing "¡Hola Bebé!".  Because I do not really show yet, so far these are all people I know, but I don't know whether it will stay that way or not.  I doubt I will cotton to having an ear to my belly (which I get now), but I may have to answer more questions like the one I got today - "That's the baby, right?  Or is that just your belly fat?"  Nice...

Surprisingly all this has not really bothered me.  Taken me off guard?  Yes.  But I think it is probably helping keep all this real for me.  Since the nausea has passed (thanks be to God) and the kicking hasn't really begun, sometimes I wonder myself if the pooch on my belly is really a baby or if it is just my belly fat.  The greetings are kind of nice in a way, and it is just what happens here.  I walk in a room and I get greeted twice.  I get a kiss on my cheek (regular greeting) with a simultaneous rub on my belly (special for Peanut).  And everyone asks how we are doing.

Funniest perhaps is Señor Antonio, the head of the organization ANDESCOL (Association of Displaced People of Colombia) in the Department of Atlántico (the state in which Barranquilla is located).  Every time he sees me he asks how Peanut and I are doing, but every time he says Richard he says, "Uh huh, and Richard, are you taking care of them?"  And God forbid if Richard isn't around when he comes by because that means the next time he is going to get it from Antonio - wanting to know where he was and why he was not helping out with Mamie and the bebé.

At any rate, we are blessed to have so many people concerned for us, and I am grateful that Peanut is bound to have a village and a half to take care of him/her.  In fact, I think I am clearer here than I would be anywhere that I am merely a steward of the Peanut, because he/she will belong to everyone here and just hang out in our house I think.  And actually, I'm good with that.