Today at the market, I was contemplating the choices of "acceptable margarines" that I must learn to use because of DH's insanely high cholesterol.  A young man walks up from behind me and the following exchange  (basically; I have forgotten some of the details in my rage) ensues:

Man:  I don't mean to alarm you ...
Me:  (looks around, wonders who he is talking to, realizes it's me, wonders if I dropped my cell phone or something)
Man: I don't mean to alarm you but ... Twins?
Me: What?
Man:  Are you having twins?  You're really, you know, BIG.
Me:  (totally stunned) No, I'm just about full term.
Man:  Because my sister had a baby, and she was big.  And you know, you are really, really BIG.
Me: Ah.  (I turn back to the butter, completely stunned that this is happening)
Man: blah, blah, blah ... You're SO BIG ... blah, blah, blah ... So, you know, good luck with everything, the baby, and all.

I was absolutely shocked speechless.  It was so unbelievable to me that this person was actually saying this to me, that I just didn't know how to respond.  I finally came around enough to start muttering to myself about how this would never, ever happen to someone who wasn't pregnant, and what makes people think this is okay, etc.  The jerk was still in the aisle and probably overheard me.

I quickly called my best friend to rant before I became the crazy lady screaming at herself in the dairy aisle.  Telling her what had happened, I decided to start looking for the guy.  I was going to give him a piece of my mind, for the sake of pregnant women everywhere.  Of course, I couldn't find him.  Which really makes me angry; at myself, for not keeping my wits enough to respond right then.  

And not that anyone needs to justify their body type ever, but to shed a little light on the visual:  I am 35 weeks pregnant, measuring right at 35 weeks, carrying kind of high.  I weighed 154 lbs before I got pregnant, and now weigh 189.  I'm 5' 7".  From the front, I am enormously pregnant, from the back, you can't really tell.  I am, as they say "all belly".  All in all, I'm a pretty average looking 9 months pregnant woman.

The reason I bring up those stats is to ask you all, is it simply that Americans have no concept of what a pregnant woman is supposed to look like?  Really?  Have we gotten that out of touch?  And why do people take such license with pregnant women?  Would these people walk up to an obese person and say "I don't mean to alarm you, but you are really, really super fat.  Like, you might have a heart attack any minute." Would they walk up to someone with a deformity and start touching them (luckily, the guy didn't try to rub my belly, or I would have decked him)?  Or are people just rude and crass?

Either way, next time, I won't be stunned speechless.