Should I get rid of this sweater--does it make me look pregnant?
I'm sorry to sound like a broken record, but I keep getting stupid comments about me being pregnant. This time one of my coworkers thought it would be hilarious to tell another coworker I was pregnant so coworker B came up and congratulated me and said he heard I was expecting. Then Coworker A came and told Coworker C (in front of me), "Did you hear what evil person B did? He was saying that Dr. N was preg...." I angrily told him to stop and that it wasn't funny. But the stupid thing is that then I cried because I was so upset and angry at him. I'm so embarrassed that I cried at work. It stings because one of the doctors is actually pregnant--not me! I am so sick and tired of these comments. It's not just him, my patients ask me this at least once or twice a month. One of my other coworkers asked me this (not in a joking way, he was serious). Even my own 4 year old patted my tummy recently and said "Is there anyone in there?" (ETA: I'm not mad at anyone except for coworker A, because he did it on purpose to make fun of me--he is known for playing practical jokes on all the staff, but they are sometimes a bit inappropriate or offensive).
I'm not overweight or obese, I have a normal BMI. Yes I have a tummy, I had three babies so I don't have a perfect bikini body. I don't have much time to exercise because I'm so busy with kids and work. When I'm on call, I'm often working until midnight and last week I was up till 3 am one night because of emergency procedures.
I am trying to eat better and exercise when I can, but short of getting plastic surgery (which I don't want to do because of potential risks of complications, since I have kids, who ironically are the source of my issue), how can I get these comments to stop? It's really wearing me down and making me feel bad about myself. It doesn't seem to matter whether I wear loose baggy clothes or fitted clothes (it's way worse when my clothes are fitted). I don't want to starve myself or spend all my free time at the gym (I try to do exercise videos at home after the kids are in bed, but lately I've been having to catch up on my charting at night). When I'm done with work, I'd rather spend two or three hours with my kids before they go to bed instead of staying late to go to the gym. Sorry to unload, but I am so demoralized and need a shoulder to cry on!