<p>I wouldnt think anything about it.
It’s her parasite, I’m sure they will come up with a more appropriate name once it’s born.
I’ve had miscarriages, & don’t find it offensive. </p>
<p>I called my youngest " Algy".
From Algy met a bear,
The bear was bulgy,
The bulgy was * Algy*.</p>
<p>I was a member of the board of CT NARAL in the 80s/90s, and never once did I ever hear a person refer to a fetus as a parasite.</p>
<p>If you Google it, you can find evidence of the Fetus=Parasite (or Not) debate going back at least to the 60s/70s.
In this case, though, I think the poster was just trying to be funny. I wouldn’t take offense. Pregnancy can be uncomfortable.</p>
<p>In my sort-of-nerdy/geeky family, we sometimes call babies “pink slugs.” I think it was coined by my sister the biologist before she had her own “pink slug,” but it stuck (her pink slug will be 21 in a month). When the girls were teens, “squishie” sort of took over as a term for babies and toddlers. They LOVED “squishies,” and one of them is currently studying elementary education. </p>
<p>“Parasite” sounds like something my sister would have said - perhaps a bit derisively or judgmentally when she was younger and couldn’t understand why anyone would want kids (and was trying to be “cool” no doubt), but more jokingly and lovingly after she had her own. I know when she was 3 weeks overdue in August with swollen ankles, she would certainly have agreed with the connotation as well as the biological ‘fact’. And I’m not sure “symbiote” is accurate, does the mother get any biological benefit from the presence of a fetus? I think symbiotes each contribute something that helps the other. Not sure whether a purely emotional benefit would count or not.</p>
<p>Sorry . . . symbiote wasn’t meant to be factual it was meant to be funny RE the idea of an alien taking over your body for whom you are the “host” during pregnancy. I guess you had to be there . . . ;)) </p>
<p>I agree with just lighten up. When I was pregnant with S, I was working out to some videos in which the leader called the baby “bug”. That sounds cuter than parasite, but I used the term “bug” after that. No big deal.
ETA - It’s very natural to be at least somewhat nervous, anxious especially with a first pregnancy. This could very well just be her own way of coping. Not maybe the best choice of words.</p>
<p>Don’t say anything. There was no intent to offend. They may not be words you would choose but they are within the bounds of reasonable self-expression.</p>
<p>It depends how she says it. If it is in a joking or everyday conversation tone, I wouldn’t worry about it. But I would be concerned if she feels resentful or hateful towards the child.</p>
<p>Well, social media in general is making me sad. People do not spend ANY time thinking / evaluating / assessing their own inner self, their surroundings, their city, country, world, they just spit out all kind of stupidity and others just absorb it. Very idiotic type of brain activity, reminds me of some kind of “collective” where everybody deprived themselves volunterily of their own self. I totally refuse to be part of it, I do not even carry my cell phone with me, it stays in my car for emergency events. Maybe that is a reason, why my kids call me and actually talk to me frequently, which I am very happy about. They are very aware that I will not look up anything on the Facebook, I have many better things to do. I already spend too much here, but it has been very positive, do not have regrets about this one. </p>
<p>Wasn’t the term parasite used in the movie “Juno”? I seem to recall the title character using that term, and she had a pretty self deprecating attitude about the baby. The entire movie was about the wellbeing and future for the baby. </p>
<p>I don’t think your niece means anything negative by it - you might just make her aware that it makes some people uncomfortable without making a big issue of it. That probably hasn’t crossed her mind.</p>
<p>A blog? It is one thing to jokingly say stuff, it is a totally different thing to put it in writing (which is often open to the readers’ interpretation and perception). When the “parasite” grows into a moody teen, s/he could find the blog and use that against her parents. Oy…</p>
<p>When I was pregnant with my first I used to say once in awhile that the baby was like a parasite. I was tired, I had to refrain from eating certain things and avoid others, my body and bodily needs changed - all by the baby controlling some of the things that I had to do or avoid.</p>
<p>A good parasite, to be sure. </p>
<p>We still call her “Bug” as a pet name.</p>
<p>SWEETBEET: I lost weight during both pregnancies and my arthritic symptoms all went away. I definitely benefited from the presence of a fetus and might have hired myself off as a surrogate just for those benefits, but who’d want to hire a surrogate that required c-sections? Well, maybe someone who wanted to guarantee no pointy-headed newborns…</p>
<p>I’m still not getting what calling still gender un-know, unnamed fetus “the parasite” in a tongue in cheek way has to do with miscarriages. Having had a fairly traumatic miscarriage and having a sister who had one and a cousin who had many I still see no connection. </p>
<p>I think the person meant it in an ironic and sardonic way, probably trying to show the mixed feelings a pregnant woman can have (my wife and I have a very strange relationship, when she was pregnant I listened to all the groans and moans, and didn’t do what a lot of husbands do, turn up the sound on the ballgame and go to the fridge for another beer <em>lol</em> (and folks, that was meant in a very funny way, making fun of stereotypes of the fathers when the mother is pregnant…). I don’t know if it is a great term, in part because blogs and other online writing are notorious for not being good about indicating sarcasm and such…</p>
<p>I think the term symbiont is actually pretty good a description, since in symbiosis both parties get something out of it, the baby the nurturing environment it needs to form and develop, and the mom gets out of it learning if she can survive those 9 months and especially all the ‘good advice’ people throw her way, she can survive anything <em>lol</em> (and a lot of other things, as well…)</p>
<p>Obviously she is joking, but TBH I don’t find it that funny and can’t really relate to the sentiment. I don’t care for the term “preggo” either. </p>
<p>DH and I used to call the kids monkeys… (“Ah, they are monkeys… but they are OUR monkeys”). IT was said in good hearted manner. It’s probably good this was before the time of blogs. </p>