09-7-2008 - How pregnant is pregnant?

My mood while writing this blog: Curious

At 18 weeks, I've only just now started sharing with people outside our nearest-and-dearest that we are pregnant. I don't "show" as such-- for some reason I never show with my pregnancies until I practically give birth.

So you know the drill: You mention to someone that you're pregnant, and the predictable and immediate follow-up question you get is, "Oh yeh? How far along are you?" (or its variant, "When are you due?") They're always excited.

In my case, it's the first week of December. And invariably the person you're speaking to says, "Ah, you're just starting then." And suddenly you're not so pregnant to them anymore. Excitement gone.

Just starting? Well, not really. I'm about halfway through. But because I don't show, I don't really get credit for being pregnant. For example, I lug a very large musical instrument for a living, oftentimes hauling it up flights of stairs when no ramp is available. And people who *know* I'm pregnant don't help because I "don't look pregnant enough to need help."

So the question is, at what point do people start treating you like you're pregnant? And is it because you're physically showing, or is it because you've reached a mystical number of weeks? Have you experienced people not taking your pregnancy seriously till a certain point, and what made the difference? How pregnant is pregnant?