I worked all the way through my pregnancy. That meant a lot of subway rides – changing lines, hoofing up/down stairs and through town to switch stations. All of that wasn’t too bad except for the fact that only a total of five people ever offered up their seat for me on a crowded subway. It bugged the shit out of me and I would come home and whine about it to my husband nonstop.

Like, my baby bump would literally be in front of someone who was seated but they either feigned ignorance or just didn’t give a F*

My co-worker who was pregnant as well experienced the same issue. At one point, she was so light-headed that she ended up just sitting on the floor of the subway because no one would get up.

My husband suggested I wear a button with a “baby on board” message. He gave people the benefit of the doubt. For one, it was the dead of winter and maybe no one could tell with my giant, heavy coat on. Or, they just weren’t aware because they were on their phone.

Seriously?

And then, the other day…in the dead of winter…

I didn’t realize the lady (who was singing badly out of tune to the music blasting from her headphones) standing in front of me was pregnant until it was my stop. When I finally looked up from my phone, an overwhelming feeling of shame washed over me. I was so oblivious.

I am sorry pregnant lady…

But, I just couldn’t tear myself away from all those baby Yoda memes – he is shooOOOOooOOoo cute!

Anyhow, I now take back my previous curses and gripes. And, I’ll make sure moving forward that I look up (at least once).

My husband was right. It’s harder to tell if a lady is pregnant in the winter months. And, it’s makes it ten times harder when you’re eyes are glued to the phone.

This comic appears in the December 6, 2019 issue of The Sampan Newspaper, the only bilingual Chinese-English newspaper in New England.