As soon as you become pregnant, the world and its mother will suddenly start to look at you differently... and have a sudden urge to touch your bump (sometimes without even asking).
However, while many of us shudder at the mere thoughts of someone they don't know trying to rub their belly, the below story posted on Reddit's Baby Bumps will make you think twice about WHY they are doing it.
In a bid to make the bump rubbing that so many of us fear a little more positive, a user who goes by the name Futuremom posted the below story.
A stranger asked to touch my stomach today... from BabyBumps
"A stranger asked to touch my stomach today... and I said yes, and it was really nice. She was so happy, and she told me children are miracles, and it kind of made me tear up," the mum-to-be wrote.
"Just wanted to contribute this positive story, 'cause I feel like everyone is always complaining about unwanted belly rubs.
"To be fair, she didn't just rub my belly. She asked first. If she hadn't of asked first, it would have been WAY weirder and might not have been nice at all."
OK, the fact that the lady asked first makes this story a lot easier to digest but still, what she said about babies being miracles... well, we welled us also.
However, it wasn't this story that made us bawl, nice and all as it is.
It was the one posted by user LadyPenyee that has us reaching for the tissues.
In response to Futuremom's wonderful post, LadyPenyee told her story in the comment section.
"Before I had my baby and I was still at work, a patient asked to touch my belly and I happily let her," she explained.
"She had been trying to have a baby for years and was having IVF.
"She was getting the fertilised eggs implanted the next day and felt that if she was able to rub my very pregnant belly and feel my baby move it would give her enough good luck to make her eggs stick.
"I don't know how things turned out for her but it was a bittersweet moment."
Such a wonderful and bittersweet story. Hopefully, the stranger's dreams of becoming a mum came true.
