When do you start....

[Einen]

parking in the "expectant mother" parking spots?

The only store around here that has one is Whole Foods (and Babys R Us but I rarely go there). I've parked there once because the parking lot was very full and other spots were hard to find. In general though I feel like I should wait until I'm bigger.

[sanguine_speed]

I generally don't unless I'm in enough discomfort that I also need a wheelchair to get through the store. I figure, if I can't walk the parking lot, how am I going to shop the store? I think those spots should be reserved for people with children; those are the people who really need them the most for safety reasons. Of course, if you want to use them you are entitled to do so whenever you want to. I like the ones that say either pregnant women or families with children. I do find too that people will self-patrol the spots, and call you out if you don't "look" pregnant. I had that happen when I used one of the spots once when I was 7 months last time. I flashed the guy my belly and shouted "SEVEN MONTHS!". Even then, I used it primarily because I had another child with me.

[daceysmomma]

Oh, girl, if any stores around here had them, I would use them! I was never this short of breath with DD's pregnancy. Okay - maybe in the last weeks. But already - I can hardly breathe! And so when I have D in tow, I *need* a front-row spot! LOL. As is, I just have to park wherever the fates would have me park, like the rest of the masses.

[Funny Face]

Depends on how wiped out I am that day...
I think the real reason they designated those spots for expecting moms isn't because their sympathetic to your fatigue.... they just don't want moms with pregnancy brain wandering through the parking lot in a daze and getting hit by a car
We can be a real liability!

[flapjack]

we don't have expectant mom spots here. We have parent/child spots, which include the heavily pregnant. They're brilliant, though, because it really minimises the likelihood of my 6yo squishing himself in traffic whilst I strap his sister in.