So I'm feeling guilty about an encounter I had today and wondering if this is a sign that it's time to work on some of my habits.

I'm walking down the street and I see two women approaching me, walking the opposite direction.  One has a bulge in her belly, seems like she's pregnant --- but she's 100 yards away or so, I couldn't completely tell.  I want to see it because it looks hot.  She's kind of got a nerdy look --- I was really curious to see more.

The thing is I was wearing sunglasses so I figure there's no worries about her noticing my looking at her bump and she's straight ahead of me so it's not like it's weird to be looking in that direction.  

However, when she got close, I could have sworn she was fiddling with her jacket to try to get it to cover her belly.  I didn't end up getting a good look anyway because I think there was glare from the sun shining through the trees or something.

Later, as I'm walking home, I run into her a second time.  I had to change my route a bit --- I crossed the street and turned towards where she was so that we would pass each other head-on again.  That's the thing: I think she was trying to cover herself up with her jacket this second time around as well.

Yeah, so I'm wondering if she might have noticed me checking out her belly and didn't like it, was trying to cover up so I wouldn't see it, etc. or if I'm just being paranoid?  Usually my attitude is it's not really hurting anybody and as long as I'm pretty discrete about it, it's not worth thinking about --- but this one feels bad and is making me wonder.  

At the same time, it could be I just don't understand.  There was a woman a few weeks ago that had a pretty big belly jutting out of a sweater and she also seemed like she was trying to cover up with her sweater a bit as my girlfriend and I approached.  That time I was again wearing sunglasses and I didn't think she noticed my interest.  I don't feel ashamed about that encounter, my impression was I did fine.  Maybe some women feel insecure showing so much belly and will try to cover up if they're wearing a sweater or jacket when strangers show up and I just don't realize it?  With the pandemic, a lot of the time you're walking around with no one around so you can let it all hang out, but then when other people show up you adjust your clothes a bit?  I'm not claiming it's plausible since lots of women seem to have no problem wearing skimpy clothes while pregnant.

What do people think?  I'm not a kid anymore and definitely starting to reflect on this.  More than a year ago ago I definitely got a look from a pregnant woman who could clearly see I was checking her out.  I think I cared less then, but I'm married now, working on a career... when it felt like no one noticed or I was just an anonymous kid, that was one thing, but that's changing.  Plus, I think about taking my wife to lamaze classes in the not-too-distant future and how will I even be able to control myself then?  (By "control," I just mean not staring/not making an ass of myself.  If we lived on a hippie commune where pregnant women thought it was harmless, cute, or even sexy for me to be almost physically unable to hide my interest in them, that would be one thing; but I have been worried for years by the direction our society is going when it comes to men and our desires and this is a pretty inconvenient issue to have from that point of view.)

Anyway, I liked the comments on this blog post...  (The post itself, less interesting.)

He is thinking far too much into this. It is not that complicated. Covering up is an instinct driven behavior women have because they are very much aware of their bodies and how attractive they are to the opposite sex. I’ve seen women cover there breasts, reach behind their backs and tug at the bottoms of their tops to try and cover their butts. A protruding pregnant belly is an attention getter for sure and it is no surprise that a pregnant woman would attempt to hide it. There is nothing he is doing wrong and he shouldn’t feel like it is his  fault. There is no law against eye groping and it is something we as men enjoy because we can.

The only thing I would suggest is if he is out with his wife he needs to pretend other women don’t exist.

Are you 100% sure she was pregnant? If not, you're probably overanalyzing the situation and may be misreading her actions.
Your best bet is to just not ogle or gawk at women when in public, or if you do, do it discretely.

From what you have described... even though I know you feel like that woman was reacting to you consciously and directly, it doesn't sound like she was. I think it's okay for you to relax.

I'll just echo what everyone else has said, though: do be mindful of ogling in public. Looking around isn't a crime, but clearly it can make people uncomfortable, and we don't want to cause that.