Giving up seat for Pregnant women

DellyBelly

diomed wrote: »

That cheered me up. I'm 64. :mad:

Didn't mean to offend. And fair play that you can use a computer at that age...

Salvation Tambourine

The_Captain wrote: »

When my wife was pregnant it was about 90% men who would offer seats, usually 30+.
There was one odd incident where a middle aged woman started loudly commenting that none of the strong young men would offer my wife a seat, while the woman was quite happily entrenched in her own seat!

I'd something similar once, both me and my friend were on the DART sitting with our backs to the standing area. For about ten minutes this woman was giving us daggers and tutting. Eventually she got up and said "Well if no one else is going to offer!" and asked a pregnant woman if she wanted a seat. I should have apologised for not having eyes on the back of my head that can see through chairs. The fact that she left it ten minutes before offering wrecked my head too.

I've offered my seat to elderly people a good few times and most of the time they laugh it off and say they're okay standing, maybe it's a pride thing.

Also, I think a lot of people (including myself) completely zone out when they're on a bus or train, listening to music/podcasts or reading that they're just not aware of anyone that might be pregnant/elderly standing on public transport.

Someone made the point about not knowing if someone sitting needs to or not, I had a really bad knee for a while and I didn't use crutches. I really needed a seat but I'm sure there were stages that people tutted at the young lad (I was about 21 at the time) taking up a seat on the train.

Baby Jane

seventeen sheep wrote: »

Funnily enough, as someone who suffered badly from morning sickness the first six months of my pregnancy, the early months were when I would have most appreciated a seat.

I'd have been perfectly happy and comfortable to stand on a bus/train at nine months pregnant (and I was still using public transport regularly up until then) ... but at say five months pregnant, while I had a bump, I didn't look uncomfortably large or "heavily" pregnant, but I would have been fighting nausea for the entire journey. It really helped to sit down and lean forward and close my eyes. I'd still end up getting sick anyways, but it made the difference between getting sick at the end of the journey but getting to work on time, other than having to get off at some random train station or bus stop along the way to get sick, and ending up very late for work. (It's no fun puking in train toilets - I did it countless times, but the sight of them just made me puke even more! Easier just to get off the train and use one of the plastic bags that I had to carry at all times.)

By the way, while my nausea was worse than most and lasted longer than it does for most, it was still well within what's considered normal in pregnancy.

So don't hesitate to offer a seat to someone because they only look a little bit pregnant rather than heavily pregnant. You just don't know what side-effects they're having, and a lot of the side-effects are worst in the early months.

Fair point. Bad morning sickness is supposed to be like a daily, lengthy hangover. I guess I might not know she's pregnant, but would hopefully see by the look of her that she's feeling dreadfully ill, particularly if she looks like she's about to barf!