They Want to Know if You're Pregnant?

As many of you know, I work with a group of teenagers 12-17 years old, many of them with severe mental health concerns. The plan was to not announce to them, but to wait until they said something to me. Apparently, this did not take as long as I was thinking. Last Tuesday at dinner time, I left to use the restroom and when I came out I noticed that at least 5 of my teenagers were sitting together at a dinner table staring at me. We had just finished a great group and were all in upbeat moods, so I laughed and started a staring contest with them. One of my co-workers let me know that they had pulled her aside to ask her if I was pregnant. She shook her head and stated that she was not able to answer the question and that they would need to ask me. Instead of asking me, they acted like typical teenagers and pulled each other aside to whisper and gossip. I sat back down at my dinner table and could tell that something was going on. They pulled aside one of our new boys and asked him to ask me, he shook his head no and said "I'm not asking her." So they tried again, pulling another one of our newer kids aside. He took the bait and walked right over to me. And when I say over, I mean over. He stood just a few inches away from my face. I could hear in the background whispers of "no, not like that" or "what are you doing?" Got to love my teenagers, too chicken to ask me, but still bold enough to critique the person who is asking me. A few of them got up and hid behind one of our dividers, poking their heads over the divider to watch. My boy finally said in a nonchalant tone of voice, "they want to know if you're pregnant." I looked at him and said, "oh, yup." So he looked over and in the same tone of voice said, "she said she's pregnant." After that came laughter, smiles, and the inevitable "awwww." Then the barrage of questions. I asked them how they knew and one of my kids told me that she was thinking I was pregnant for the last week as she thought she saw a baby bump, but didn't want to be rude if she was wrong. Coming from a kid who typically has no filter, this is impressive. I teased them for allowing the boy to take the fall if I said no. Apparently, they had this whole thing figured out. At first they suggested that one of our newer, bolder girls ask me, but she said she would have to live with it the longest if they were wrong. Then they suggested that one of my kids on my caseload ask as she is preparing to discharge in a few weeks, but she said no, so they went for the kid that could care less. I have to hand it to my kids, for kids with severe mental illness, they handled this one beautifully and with style!