The perks of pregnancy

Living on the Kelvin Peninsula, about a fifteen minute drive from town, I probably only go into central Queenstown about once a week, but whenever I do, I am sure to make a stop at the sweet shop. I can't help myself. Every day can be made a little better with a taste of fudge.

I think the guy in there knows me now. In fact, I'm sure he does. The other day he asked, "when is that baby coming anyway?" in a slightly accusatory tone. But despite the fact that my taste-testing never seems to lead to purchasing (I think I've sampled every flavour now, but I should probably go back and make sure), there is something I've noticed: While the average shopper (or freeloader) is offered just a small slice of their chosen flavour to taste, the sweet staff tend to make my slivers more like chunks. Some for me, some for my baby. And he does like to kick after we visit, so I think he's already as much of a fan as I am.

I managed to make it out on New Year's Eve for a few hours to see the fireworks downtown and watch my friends get drunk. I was home by 1.30, tired but kinda proud that I made it past midnight.

At one of the bars I suffered through (a loud bar minus booze equals boredom) there was an ungainly long line of drunk girls waiting for the bathroom. I wasn't desperate, in fact the decision to take a bathroom break was brought on more by the need to leave the table where my friends were discussing some apparently ingenious plan to install touch-sensitive urinal games in bathrooms (copyrighted, by the way) than it was out of necessity. Saying that, a pregnant girl pretty much always needs to pee.

Anyway, I walked up to join the end of the queue, and just like that, it parted like the Red Sea and I was ushered to the front by many friendly female faces who all coaxed in turn that I just must go ahead of them. Was my need greater? No. Did I take the opportunity to skip the line? Yes.

Does this kind of preferential treatment continue after the birth of a baby? I know parents with kids are given priority on airplanes, but it seems like that is more an issue of getting them organised quickly so they don't hold up the rest of the punters. Do the mothers out there feel as though they get the raw end of the deal once their kids are born, or does the world accommodate little ones pretty well? I would be interested to find out.

One thing I do know: Post-baby, I'm probably going to be making a wide berth of the sweet store in order to avoid a tanty. And that will probably be a good thing for both of us.