Who Knew?

I am here in Anaheim, Ca for my big event. We expected to top out at 350, but have over 500 people! That is a good problem to have. But it is a very MALE event [not a lot of women are interested in Process Automation, apparently.] At the event I have one female Process Engineer, one female industry reporter, and myself. So I figured that there would be a lot of people either ignoring the fact that I have a volleyball under my shirt, or a few comments or congratulations. Maybe even a few, "Can I get the door or carry that for you"'s.

What I did not expect to get was:
A pregnancy and belly update on every spouse that is presently pregnant.
Birth stories from at least 25 different men. Everything from c-sections, traumatic births, tears, placenta stories, you name it!
Fertility treatment updates and what they have been trying.
Advice on treating pregnancy complaints- like my obviously swollen feet.*
A few truly fascinating adoption stories. [My favorite being about a 5 year old little boy that was just adopted from Liberia. The dad in question is one of my Customer Advisory Board members and it is an inspiring story!]

So many of these conversations started out like girlfriends chatting over coffee. From a bunch of male engineers. Something that just wouldn't normally compute. Admittedly, it was a bit awkward for me, and I wonder what the wives would really think about some of these details being shared in the hallway outside of a session on maximizing plant efficiency.

Apparently bellies bring out the girlfriend in even the crustiest of guy.** Who knew?

*Remember my complaint about shoes? It became a moot point. Since my feet have been swelling, I am just wearing my comfy Oakley sandals (mine are black), which aren't exactly what you would call dressy or professional, but comfort has won out.

** There is one breed of men that seem to be immune. Teamsters. The ones that won't let me plug or unplug any of the show computers. But once they are unplugged, won't touch them because of liability... and walked next to me while I lugged 4 computers and thought it was ridiculous when I asked if they would open a door for me since my hands were full.