Naked Truth #64 Get ready for people to act weirdly, it comes with the pregnancy territory.
Most pregnant women can share stories about odd behavior—the stranger on a bus rubbing your belly, unsolicited advice on your meal. It’s as if your changing profile throws off others’ sense of boundaries, and this can be especially off-putting in the office. While men have mainly learned how to work with us breast-featuring creatures, our pregnant bellies can throw them for a loop. It’s an opportunity for breaking down boundaries, for better or worse, as your female status becomes impossible for them to ignore. Female bosses are trickier: The childless ones are usually very self-conscious and hide any negative reactions; the mothers expect your pregnancy to be just like theirs but are generally sympathetic.
I was Time Warner’s first pregnant divisional CEO, and no one quite knew how to react.
Jerry Levin’s reaction discomfited other people, but I loved it. I happened to be in New York for our mutual birthday, and dropped off an armful of flowers at his newish Rockefeller Center digs. He was out that day–at a Mets game with his son–but the next day his assistant tracked me down and asked me to drop by whenever I had a chance. Even though it was interrupting a closed-door meeting with several people I didn’t know, she ushered me in. Jerry said “I just wanted to rub your belly,” which he proceeded to do before showering me with Bugs Bunnies and other Time Warner tchotzkes for the baby and me. I was giddy with the feeling that I really could be a pregnant CEO. No problem.