My bellybutton obsession

I have a bellybutton obsession. It isn't creepy or anything; I'm obsessed with my own, not with somebody else's.

I am not a fan of "outie" bellybuttons. I've never liked them. Most people have "innies"; to me, an outie is a mistake that the doctor made when the cord was cut. When you see girls with crop-top t-shirts, they're always girls with innies. When you see someone showing off a belly ring, it's always someone with an innie (can you even pierce an outie?). Innies are cute; they collect lint like a bellybutton is supposed to, and you can hide or show off an innie as you feel is appropriate. An outie is going to show regardless of almost any t-shirt that you wear. It's hard to hide an outie.

Pregnant women are notorious for their outies. It isn't their fault; as the baby gets bigger, it puts pressure on all the internal organs and structures, and stretches the skin on the abdomen. For many pregnant women, this results at some point in the pregnancy with the outie making its appearance. For small, thin women, the preggers outie may show up early, maybe even as early as 4-5 months. For bigger women, who have some fat padding in their abdomens, the preggers outie may not show up until later in the pregnancy. But the outie is definitely associated with pregnancy, and is expected. In much of the literature, one can find references to the outie bellybutton as being like the internal thermometer that comes with a frozen turkey or roast, the kind that pops out when the meat is the correct temperature on the inside. For many pregnant women, then the bellybutton pops, the kid is done.

I've been lucky. I'm all the way at 38 weeks now, could deliver any moment, and my bellybutton has yet to pop. But it's distressingly close. It's hanging on by a thread, so to speak. If I'm laying down on my side, there's more room available, and my bellybutton retreats to a much better depth. But when I'm upright and the baby, who has dropped considerably in these late weeks, is putting pressure on my lower abdomen, my bellybutton is hardly a concave spot on my stomach. It's almost flat. I've joked that if it gets any closer to being an outie, I'm going to take a grape and a bandaid and make sure that it doesn't. I don't think I'd go that far, but I definitely don't want an outie. Not that I'm even showing my bellybutton off for any reason; I just don't want one. God and the doctor graced me with an innie, and that's how I want it to stay. But I don't know how much longer it can hang on...