The Judgment of Strangers

People's reactions to pregnancy in general are somewhat shocking. I understood it more when I was six months pregnant at 22. Someone walked up to me in a grocery store checkout line and explained that my baby was a parasite that I should get rid of as soon as possible to be able to move on with my life. That seemed horrible and judgment-filled at the time, but I knew it was based on age and was from a total stranger. However, it's five years later, I'm visibly older and have a great career. Now I hear "You must feel miserable," "Feelin' fat?" "This is your last one, right?" "You could die, you know," and "Oh, it's another a boy? What a shame you didn't get a little girl," etc. from colleagues. Seriously? I'm pretty happy with the idea of having a healthy child at all. My first baby passed away and my now four-year-old son was born very early follwed by a long stay in the NICU; I'm happy to consider better odds this time. People just take it for granted that everyone gets pregnant easily with a healthy baby. I couldn't be happier at being pregnant, but I do not understand the negative feelings people bring up. I get "misery loves company," - style empathy, but what if I'm not miserable?  I think more than the number of children one has, having that at all seems controversial.