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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Adventures in Pregnanct: Mamma Bear Instinct Kicking In

I have always been a pretty cautious and protective person. Safety minded if you will. Wanting to prevent people (myself included) from being hurt when at all possible. (Maybe it comes from years of being a lifeguard?) But, I have been noticing lately that my "Momma Bear Instinct" has really been kicking in. Sometimes in a big, crazy, uncontrollable pregnancy hormone kind of way!

So, I thought I would share about it! 

Background info: I drive about 40 minutes to work. On a stretch of road that has many stoplights, and is mostly 35 mph speed limit. Remember how I am 'safety minded', well that characteristic very much translates into my driving. I always try to leave ample room between my car and the car in front of me. Driving on icy roads in MN when I was growing up gave me a healthy respect for stopping distance. I like to leave myself plenty of room to stop if the car in front of me suddenly stops.  And tailgaters drive me crazy. Like, big time crazy!

Example of Momma Bear Reaction: Yesterday, while driving to work in normal Chicago suburb traffic, I had a tailgater on back bumper. Almost literally on my bumper, because this girl was driving SO close behind me. I was in the right hand lane, keeping up with the flow of traffic, just a little ways behind the next car, with tons of cars in front of that car too...friends, no one was going to be going anywhere - any faster - any time soon. But this girl behind me must have thought she could push us all to go faster, and would not back off, or move over into the left lane to go around me (not that that would have helped because the left lane was moving at the same speed as the right lane at that particular moment). 

Seriously afraid she was going to hit me, I pumped my breaks a little to flash my break lights. 

She didn't back off. 

After a few blocks more I turned on my flashers. 

She didn't back off. 

At this point the left lane was clear for her to move over. But she didn't. So I moved over to let her go in front of me. And after a few blocks of her not speeding up any in the right lane, she moved into the left lane, behind me, and continued the tailgating. Well, the back and forth between the right and left lane continued for a while longer, all the while this girl is inches away from hitting my back bumper....AND I AM FUMING! 

I wasn't worried about myself, or the car, or the money it costs when a car accident happens. All I could think about was "what if she rear ends me?", "what if the baby gets hurt from the accident", "how DARE she endanger my baby with her crazy driving!" All I could think about was protecting my sweet little girl from this crazy driver (and some day teaching my sweet little girl NEVER to tailgate someone!).

Well, crazy driver girl did not hit me. And I eventually maneuvered my car to be behind hers...and watched as she tailgated the next person in the line of traffic. But my anger over someone potentially hurting my baby stayed with me for most of the day...even now, I keep thinking about how I could have signaled her to back off (with out using the obvious crude hand gestures some people resort to).

So, other Momma Bears out there...

Do any of you have any tips on dealing with crazy drivers? Or calming yourself down when your slightly crazy Momma Bear self is showing?

And because no post is complete, here is a picture of me and my Momma Bear at the wonderful shower my family threw for us in MN this past weekend! 

4 comments:

  1. Things like that drive me crazy! But I always try to tell myself maybe there was a reason... like she had to get to the hospital for someone, or had a really important interview. It sometimes helps my anger... but not always :)

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  2. Oh... look at your baby bump!!! :)
    I hate stupid drivers. I have a finger that says so! (kidding... kinda)

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  3. Oh, tailgaters drive me INSANE!!! It is so, so dangerous and I can imagine how it angered you and especially with your precious cargo. Time is nearing and what fun lies ahead!

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  4. Perhaps it's time to put a "Baby on Board" sticker in your rear window = )
    Next time, just slow down sooo much that the driver has to go around you!

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