X chromosone for sale

I had lunch today with my friend, Karen, who's a fourth year associate at a larger firm in town. She also happens to be 7 months pregnant, but looks as if she was due yesterday. I was amazed by some of the stories that she told me about the reactions of other attorneys to her pregnancy. The one that I found to be the most memorable was her description of a conversation that occurred as she was walking out of a judge's chambers.

A few weeks ago, she was covering a pre-trial conference for one of the partners in an outlying county. The conference had occurred in the judges's chambers with two other attorneys (both men) and the judge (also of the masculine persuasion), none of whom she'd met before. After the conference she, the two attorneys and the judge were walking out of the judge's chambers when the following conversation ensued (right in front of the other attorneys):

Judge: So, Ms. X, you're pregnant.

Karen: Um, yes.

Judge: When are you due?

Karen: March 11.

Judge: So, you're taking maternity leave?

Karen: Yep.

Judge: When are you coming back?

Karen: Um...mid-June.

Judge: So, you're taking three months leave, are you? Now that's got to be inconvenient for your firm.

Karen: (long pause, then sweet smile) Oh, they won't even miss me, judge. I don't do that much around there anyway.

Makes me want trade in one of my "x" chromosones.