Pregnancy, how others view it and how we deal with it ourselves

My pregnancy couldn't have been any better. Sure I had a bit of morning sickness (in the afternoon incidently!) for a few weeks at the start but that was it. The rest of the time I felt totally normal, apart from the fact that I was aware that there was something growing inside me! Maybe I'm lucky. I was prepared for the worst however. I'd heard stories of women turning against their husbands, very weird cravings, eg eating coal (!), huge mood swings, etc. I guess I'd got the impression that pregnancy is not a pleasant state to be in. How wrong that was for me. What really irritated me however was other people. I got a lot of different comments, some of which pissed me right off. Even complete strangers had their own comments in the form of passing glances, or more like glares. You see, I felt very good for the whole pregnancy, so I was out and about like everyone else. If I hadn't been made redundant, I probably would've still been working right up until they booked me in to be induced! But some people would stare at me and my big belly as if to say 'what the hell are you doing out of the house?'. The look that says 'you are a disgrace'. I should've used the 'mood swing' thing to my advantage and punched the individuals in question! LOL I smoked through my pregnancy too. Now don't get me wrong, it is not a great idea to do this, it can have serious implications for the health of your unborn baby. But I felt unable to quit. I also think that if I had quit, it would've had a negative effect on the baby too. I would've been stressed and she would've felt that. So I cut down as much as I could and ended up only smoking about 5 a day from more than 20. Pretty good I thought. Obviously not good enough according to Mr and Mrs PERFECT stranger out there. Not that I give 2 flying f**ks what people think of me, but it did kinda dig a little under my skin. People with opinionated eyes should shut them! This leads me to the other side of the coin: pregnant women using their pregnancy as an excuse. Oh I can't walk, I'm pregnant. No I can't read, I'm pregnant. That kind of crap. It irritated me when someone offered to carry my suitcase up the stairs for me!! I know they were only trying to be nice but I retorted that I was pregnant not dying! I did apologise later though! I had one person who would not let me do anything by myself. He would open car doors for me, getting out the driver's side and running round when dropping me off somewhere, jumping up to get me an extra sugar for my tea in a restaurant and generally insisting that he do everything for me. It was a nice thought so I didn't verbally attack the poor guy, but if my husband had treated me the same for my pregnancy I would've been pulling my hair out! You see I believe that pregnancy is completely natural and normal and it is NOT a disease or illness. You do indeed have to listen to what your body tells you and, yes, it is nice to be helped when you obviously need it, but being mothered or using pregnancy as an excuse to be a lazy bugger is just not on in my book. I also believe that part of pregnancy is all in the mind. If you are positive and carry on as normal (or at least try to), you will have a great pregnancy like I did. If you view your pregnancy as an illness, that is exactly what you will end up being: ill. Just my thoughts! :)