The Sorority of the Gravid

   If you watch two motorcycles pass one another, you'll almost always witness The Motorcycle Wave. Motorcycle etiquette dictates that if you see another biker in the oncoming lane, you give the low, cool motorcycle wave. To withhold the wave seems to be a pretty big faux pas reserved for newbies and assholes. Since I have no bike experience myself, I can only speculate that the wave is a gesture of solidarity with other riders who could be smashed to hell at any moment by the odd inattentive driver.

  The wave popped into my head today when I passed another pregnant lady, and we gave each other The Preggo Head-nod. I haven't been showing long enought to have picked up on all of the subtitlties of preggo etiquette, but I did notice at the very beginning that there is a sense of comradery between all gravid females, not just those who are currently expecting.

   Now that I'm showing enough that it can't just be written off for a beer affinity, I'm discovering that there is a sisterhood among moms-to-be that drives them to acknowledge one another even if they are complete strangers. There doesn't yet seem to be a standardized gesture of solidarity, but some acknowledgement must be made. You can do the nod, smile sympathetically, ask when they are due or if they know what they're having (if you're brave enough), or say "How 'bout them stretch marks?" 

   Something else I've noticed is that preggos are everywhere! We all notice one another too. Most of us aren't huge enough to be obvious and thus escape the notice of  men and nonparas, but we see each other. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, it was like my eyes were suddenly opened to the fact that I was surrounded by them. Now that my belly's put me on their radar, I'm working on my baby-bump fist-bump.