I carried a watermelon

The idea of designing a set of pregnancy pins first came to me when, you guessed it, I was pregnant. I was working full-time in an office job in town for the majority of my pregnancy, only starting my maternity leave at around 38 weeks. So I experienced what it was like to regularly commute as a pregnant and then heavily pregnant woman. ‘I carried a watermelon.’ The big surprise for me was how few people on public transport seemed to notice.

Day in, day out, I would jump on a busy tram and more often than not, I was left standing for the entire duration of my 30-40 minute journey, with no offer of a seat. Even when I started purposely getting on at the correct zone for priority seating, every other seated commuter would fail to acknowledge me. Most days, I didn’t let it faze me as I was feeling strong, healthy and aside from the odd nose-bleed (who knew that was a thing?!) pretty on-top of my condition. But some days, I felt knackered and frustrated and wondered how other women who were suffering worst symptoms of pregnancy, such as nausea or joint swelling, would cope with the same scenario. It was one of the first times in my life when I was actually eligible for some sort of advantage, some bonus that should have been available to me.

You’re ultimately relying on the kindness of strangers and unfortunately, it’s not always available. Then I reasoned, it was not so much the kindness of strangers that was required so much as the awareness. We all do it; when you get on a tram or bus, particularly at rush hour, it’s busy, you just want to get from A to B and mind your own business, I get it. 

It slowly became apparent that no one even realised that I was pregnant. Even in my later stages of pregnancy, I stayed relatively slim with a small bump that was often hidden under my coat, fastened at the bust-line. Most people must have thought I was just a bit overweight, I don’t know. I remember really arching my back sometimes to emphasise my bump as much as possible, but to no avail. In fact, throughout my entire pregnancy, there were only two single instances I can recall when a stranger kindly gave up their seat to me, the second of which was so close to my due date that I got a bit emotional. This poor young student looked a bit concerned as I thanked him profusely for his kindness, with tears in my eyes. 

The other issue is, people may suspect you’re pregnant but because they’re unsure, they don’t dare offer their seat in case - shock, horror - you’re not actually expecting and then they’ve committed one of the most awful social faux-pas of all time! It became obvious to me that some sort of confirmation, a badge (or I don’t know, a bloody post-it note stuck to my forehead) was required and so I started shopping around for pregnancy pins. I was then really disappointed with the lack of options available and so decided to design my own, responding to the challenges I had faced. 

April 2023