Respect Pregnant Women!!!

This is her second pregnancy...

In fact, an unplanned and unexpected one.
She was happy anyway, and her family was somewhat convinced about this new addition to the family.
Yet, no one congratulated her. No one made any effort to make her life easy by any means because of her pregnancy.
Instead, she had to hear a lot of advises and comments on how her life is gonna be changed for ever, and how she is expected to lose herself literally to become a best mom.

She is not at all bothered about raising 2 kids. But these conditions from her near and dear ones definitely confused her.
For a moment, she resented her carelessness.... and for sure, she is not excited about this second baby.

As usual, she went to her office the next day. She could not withhold this news from others like she did for her first pregnancy.
She felt heavy in her heart and needed solace from like minded people.
Kamala, her colleague cum best friend identified her puzzled mind; hence came for assistance. \
She revealed the news to Kamala... and in the next few minutes, the whole office came forward to congratulate her.
Some old female colleagues said it would be much easier to raise two kids together and shared their first hand experience.
The younger ones were excited to know the gender and someone even started to browse for names.
The male colleagues murmured something in fun, and the whole lot were laughing for that.

She felt really easy while she left office in the eve.

Her house remained the same. Her husband came late, and expected a hot coffee as usual. Her older kid, who was just 1.5 yrs old almost glued to her, and refused to leave her since the time she entered her home.
Her FIL loudly expressed his eagerness to eat puris tonight, while MIL argued with him about eating something healthy.
Finally they both agreed to eat chapatis, but this time her MIL bluntly asked her to make them soft..soft..

In fact, her in laws are not the bad type. They are harmless... But they are just in laws!!!
Her husband did not bothered to ask whether she is OK?
For a moment, she thought her family might have forgotten the fact that she is pregnant now.

She managed to do all the chores for the night, fed the kid, put him to sleep and helped her MIL to clean the kitchen finally.
She can't force this old woman to work more than this, because she knows her MIL is already tired looking after her first born toddler throughout the day.

She has shared this good news with her parents too. They are happy. She knows that they will come around, and share some native based foods like last time. But that's all... No one bothered to ask about her comforts beyond that.

She started her next day as usual... Woke up early, cooked for the whole family, fed the kid, packed the food and as usual went to work by bus.
She felt tired already, and the 30mins bus ride made her extremely tired coupled with her morning sickness.

She was exhausted, and felt unfit for the office work today.
Usually she was the most vibrant and talented staff member in the team. For a moment, she felt like quitting.
As usual she was slightly late to work. For her bad, the lift was getting very delayed too.
So she chose to climb the stair case despite of feeling too tired.
Her cabin was located in the 3rd floor. It has a common AC though. but she felt sweating and smelly today.

When she got there, her cabin remained locked. Usually the office assistant would open the cabins to allow the cleaners before the staff get there.
For her surprise, her table was not to be seen and someone else was using her chair.

Her hormone filled mind could not think anything logical by that time other than imagining the worst.
For a moment she cursed herself for getting pregnant... more so, she felt pity for sharing this news with others.
Her financial commitments, EMIs and everything came before her eyes, as she thought she is fired from the work.

She rushed to her boss, and she was almost in tears when he signaled her to sit while chatting with someone in phone.
She could not bear the long wait; thus came out impatiently and wept.

Since her mind was elsewhere, she could not pay attention to what her office assistant was saying. But she automatically turned towards her directions.

She was dumbfounded to see a single office room in the ground floor, nicely decorated with baby stuff. Her name board in the door confirmed the rest.
A new comfortable chair, a little cushioned stool underneath the table, and an attached bathroom to the office was given to her.
Her boss, after that long TP conversation came there to congratulate her once again and asked whether everything is comfortable?
Of course he reminded her about the upcoming meeting and the reports needed to be presented before that - as usual.
Regardless of all her physical conditions, she felt vibrant and goal oriented in no time.

Women deserve respect, care, and comfort while they are pregnant. Even though pregnancy is not a disease, it is a condition that requires loads of comforts.

Respect pregnant woman...

 

Happening right now....

 

@creativemumma this is lovely... This pictures everything written in the latter part...
I hope my sis's boss is definitely inspired by this short film...
It needs great heart and courage to implement something like this in real life.

PS: This happened at my sis's office today.... and when she narrated everything to me enthusiastically, I felt like writing here.

I am sharing this short film to my sister right now...
This clip is great, yet unfamiliar in Sri Lanka...

 

That's really sad...

But my thread focuses more about how we treat pregnant women at home, specially when it is the second time around.
Of course the comforts at work matters, because it is more or less our second home.

Most of the time, I see some decent comforts given to the pregnant women at work. In contrast to what you have mentioned, I've always received support and comforts from my female bosses and colleagues in this matter.
They do understand the pain, and discomfort very well. Specially after the maternity break, I received ample support from my female boss when I needed time to adjust my feeding routine and mastitis. I wouldn't have felt comfortable to discuss these discomforts if my boss was a male.

Even in the public buss, I see women get up and give seats to the fellow pregnant women than men doing this. I personally noticed a few men (in different occasions) pretended to sleep or stare something else as if they did not see the pregnant woman standing beside them, while women stand up and give up their seats.

But beyond all this, the comforts a pregnant woman gets at home is more important.
They will definitely become strong and well equipped with knowledge and experience the second time around. Instead of appreciating, many household take these strong women for granted.

They are expected to do the chores at home, and be the primary child care support despite of being pregnant. This is indeed an added stress, if the woman is working outside.

It would be great if MIL or husband or someone living with them could pay a little attention on these pregnant women's comfort. Because pregnancy is not easy.