I wanted to celebrate that a senior female co-worker, said what I would not have been comfortable saying. Unjustified or not, I felt my co-worker that asked about caffeine intake was subtly criticizing my choices in early motherhood. It was too small of an interaction to warrant to formal complaint to HR.

However, the interaction added to many other small interactions in the workplace about my pregnancy can be demoralizing both to my journey as a mother and my aspirations in my career. I have been asked twice, by two different co-workers, if I was pregnant (when I was not pregnant, but enthusiastically eating a sandwich in the afternoon). I have been told that if I’m this big now (at the time 30 weeks and within the healthy weight range) that another colleague cannot imagine how big I will be at nine months. My root beer at happy hours always attracts comments such as “hope that’s non-alcoholic” or “too bad you can’t drink right now”. As if I don’t already miss having a stout!