Let me just explain myself.
I’m Italian and yesterday I was in a meeting and the expression “dolce attesa” popped out, it means something like “sweet waiting” . I thought it’s a preety strange expression to say pregnant.
Does your countries use some expression as an alternative to pregnant as we do in Italy?
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In Polish a rather old fashioned way to say it would be “przy nadzieji” which means something like “with hope”.
Sie hat nen Braten in der Röhre (slightly outdated though), meaning „She’s got a roast in the oven“.
“Up the duff” as in, “yer wan she was up the duff”
I don’t even know where it comes from, but it’s the Dublin slang
“Swallowed the baloon” or “Did you already fill her oven with bread?”.
I suppose “in blijde verwachting”: in happy expectation. Can’t think of any other expressions at the moment.
In Norwegian it’s common to use “har bolle i ovnen” which means has bun in the oven, or “smelt på tjukka” which is a bit more jovial and vulgar meaning literally been smashed to become fat or knocked up as the more polite Englishmen would probably say. Expecting a little one is more commonly used today, which is certainly also the best option I’ll say.
In French we have “avoir un polichinelle dans le tiroir” (*to have a Pulcinella in one’s drawer*, after the Commedia dell’arte character). Not really used jokingly I feel like, it’s mostly pejorative.
In Spain it’s truly *embarrassing*. “Preñada” (pregnant) is used for animals, and when used towards a woman it has grotesque connotations, despite being the common term in the past.
Today the formal term is “embarazada” (akin to embarrased!), which has rendered the original meaning of term embarrassment (as in English) practically obsolete, in favor of words like “avergonzado” (ashamed), except when talking about an emotion, never people (“embarazoso”= embarrasing situation).
There are several terms for the period, as “expectante” (expecting), “gestación” (pregnancy, clinical official term), “gravidez” (*in state of* gravitation), or simply “en estado” (in state).
Everything pretty uncompelling.
Contrary, giving birth has become more beautiful. “Parir” (birthing / give birth) is the common term used now for animals (mammals), and ‘not very polite’ when used towards women. The proper term nowadays would be “dar a luz” (bring to light / give to the light), as it was commonly supposed to refer to a Christian child (what else would you be back in the day), in the same manner the New Testament tells how Mary gave birth to the light of the World (Lux Mundi).