Oops, We Did it Again, Uterus is Ocupado – Pregnancy Announcements

No, there is no #4! This post is talking about babies 1-3. I really, really fail at pregnancy announcements. There’s just something weird about it. “Hey, guess what we did 12 weeks ago.” (actually 10 but now’s not the time to talk about gestational age calculations & ovulation!) I see all these awesome announcement ideas on Pinterest and I’m like ehhh…at least I told you before I actually gave birth.

Our “TTC” journeys weren’t exactly short, so I had plenty of time to think about how I’d tell my husband & family when/if the time came. Our story isn’t really the kind to tell the grandkids, heh.

My other half & I were working opposite-ish schedules at the time & sometimes talked on the phone during the day. I am the oddball here in that I didn’t record my first pregnancy very well so I have no idea what day it was (around Memorial day) when I told my husband I was going to take a test that evening because I thought I might be pregnant. He told me later that he knew I was as soon as I said that because I had never said that before (nor since) but it was a shock to me, ha ha. Apparently I’d often mentioned that I planned to test, but never actually thought I was, nor shared that with him.

That evening he was home, in the half bath like men do (before smart phones, men spent hours in there reading magazines. Remember that?) while I went up to take the test. I was around 2 weeks past ovulation so I figured taking a test in the evening wasn’t a good idea but I wanted to do it anyway. I can’t help but stare at the test. I mean, really? Leave it and do something else for three whole minutes? Yeah right. Well I looked at that puppy and within 5 seconds I’m thinking “huh, why is the control line way over there?” and then the control line popped up. I was totally giddy, I had to sit down! I sat for a second with a total Cheshire Cat grin, then tore down the stairs, ripped the half bath door open, and shoved the plastic stick upon which I had just peed, in my poor husband’s face. Romantic, eh? 😉

When all this went down, we had just sold our house & were “renting back” from the new owners while we waited for our new home to be finished. I was 8 weeks pregnant when we moved and I was full of the crazies (by my 3rd pregnancy I realized I shouldn’t be allowed in public while pregnant) but we hadn’t told anyone yet. I flipped out and screamed at an automated system when I had to push eleventy-billion buttons to go through the nine circles of hades that are the phone company’s menus…only to be told “thank you for calling, the office is now closed, please call tomorrow. *click*”

Finally I was 12 weeks along, we’d had our first checkup and things looked good to spill the beans. The OB must have thought I was nuts at how in awe I was at that tiny bean on the ultrasound. It wasn’t “real” to me until then. At the same time it didn’t totally sink in until I was actually holding a baby. You know those “what was your first thought when you saw/held your baby” conversations? Mine was “HOLY OH EM EFFIN’G GEE I JUST HAD A BABY!” Ha.

Anyhoo, I scanned the ultrasound pic & ordered a coffee mug with the picture and “due date.” It was actually around my birthday that my parents came to visit & we took them out to a pizza place we’d found near our new house. I whipped out the mug (in a gift box) and they were confused, but finally opened it. I thought my mom’s cheeks would split open from all her smiling, she was so excited! My Dad was less than thrilled since we were still fairly young, had only been married 3 years and weren’t exactly swimming in money. Since my in-laws live out of state, my husband just called & told them. We had planned to go tell the great-grandparents-to-be in person, but on the night we went to visit, they got a phone call while we were there with some bad news and it didn’t feel appropriate to tell. We found out later that my in-laws told everyone right away but everyone kept it a secret from us, waiting for us to tell them (?)

4+ years later I was getting my daughter ready for her 2nd day of preschool and even though I’d taken a negative blue-dye test the week before, something compelled me to sneak into the bathroom & take a pink dye test. You’d think I’d learn by now but again, as I was eyeballing the thing I thought “hey, isn’t the control line awfully far to the…oh!” I was determined to tell my husband in a much more fun way this time! I tried to take a photo of the positive test and…the camera died, doh!! I put the positive test(s) (who can take just one?) in a bag, and stuffed it and the camera in my purse. I’d have just enough time to take the camera to Circuit City (yes, this was a while ago, LOL) to put it in for warranty repair before picking my daughter up from preschool. I walk out of the preschool after dropping her off and there was my husband! He worked about 20 minutes away at the time and thought we could have lunch together.

There goes my plan. How was I supposed to keep my mouth shut? I was holding onto the biggest secret ever. We decided to go to a coffee shop and were chatting and I let it slip out that the camera was broken. “What were you taking pictures of?” “Ohhhh….. THIS!” I made sure not to actually shove the pee covered sticks *IN* his face this time, and they WERE in a plastic bag, hee hee. So it’s different, right?

At 3 1/2 my daughter couldn’t read, so she happily cheesed for the picture above wearing the “big sister 2009” shirt. She had been asking for a brother/sister for MONTHS and had actually been telling people she was going to have a baby brother for quite some time. She even told our neighbors down the street at the house we were renting (yes, we’d sold another house and were building a third!) and my in-laws, leading to lots of eyeballing and us trying to explain that she was not telling some big secret, just a big story. We ended up telling our daughter on Halloween, by wrapping up a book “It’s Not the Stork” (affiliate link) and a baby rattle.

At first she was like “???” and then she was like:

Then our neighbors came over for trick or treating & she instantly told them. 😉

I made a really nice photo book for my parents, with photos of my daughter over the 3 1/2 years of her life. On the very last page we put that photo of her in the big sister shirt, along with a sonogram photo and “2.0 estimated release date” with the due date. It took a bit for that info to sink in, but they were excited! I can’t remember with the in-laws but I think my husband managed to call everyone in quick succession this time. (Hey guess what? We’re getting another tax deduction! Score!)

Fast forward about 2 1/2 years down the road and we’d been “trying” but weren’t expecting that particular month to be successful. Surprise surprise, I took a test for the heck of it and said “hey…why is the control line way over…oh.” Will I ever learn? OK, this time, telling my husband will not involve sticking pregnancy tests in his face! Since I am a rational person, I had to TAKE ALL TEH TESTS rather than believe just the one, so I packed up my 22 month old (my daughter was at school) & we went to Target to buy more. All the while my husband & I were texting back & forth so I could buy the right whatever fluid for the car, and go to the dealership to order whatever thingie to make the light on the dashboard stop going bing.

I grabbed the couple of newborn diapers I’d collected (won in giveaways etc.) and put them in a box with the tests, a note saying “we’ll need more of these” along with the EDD I’d calculated. I wrapped it up with tissue paper, then wrapped the box. I couldn’t wait for my husband to get home from work! It was like Christmas! Knowing my daughter would be all over a present, I pulled him aside to try to get him to open it quickly. He ripped the paper, opened the box, and grabbed the tissue paper…and note…and tests…out of the box. He was left peering into a box of newborn diapers he’d seen before. Um…okay? ARGH! He did eventually get the note & tests out of the balled up tissue paper & figured it out. Not quite what I had in mind, but I tried!

This time we went very low-tech, and at my 10 week checkup the midwife couldn’t hear the heartbeat with the doppler because my son was very displeased about his mama being looked at & screamed too loud to try. We wanted our kids to be the first to know & didn’t want to tell them until we were pretty sure things were OK. So, it was around 16-18 weeks before we told them. We’d been debating on how to do it but we were all playing one day & my daughter yet again brought up the idea of another baby. I said well gee, do you think Dad & I will be able to take care of 3 kids? Will we be able to take care of this new baby in December? She was thrilled. My son? *notimpressed* When he came home to a new baby he said ok can I go downstairs & play blocks now?

So by the time we even thought about telling anyone else, I was 20+ weeks and quickly moving from the “wow she got fat” to the “oh she’s pregnant” stage. It was all very awkward since I wanted my husband to tell his family, and I wanted to tell everyone soon so word didn’t get around & have people mad at us, yet it was getting pretty obvious to everyone. We finally had my daughter call but apparently no one could understand her & it had to be repeated many times. We did not tell anyone a due date, we just told the kids “after Thanksgiving and before Christmas” but she chose Dec. 7th as the day she thought the baby would be born. This was my “guess date” and also his birth day, but I wasn’t expecting him that day & wanted to avoid the “haven’t you had that baby yet” harassment. Well, since I wouldn’t tell a date, everyone latched on to the date she said, thinking we’d told her (we didn’t.) When my husband called his parents when he was born his dad said “oh it is the 7th today” as if he was a package scheduled to be delivered, LOL.

I actually enjoyed having my little secret for so long the 3rd time, and as much as I swear I wanted to tell every single stranger I saw at Target the day I bought the tests, I find it very weird to say “hey, I’m knocked up” to friends & family. I have no reason to think there will be a #4, but on the off chance there is, I’m thinking of just hiring a skywriter to get it all done at once and avoid all the awkward. Especially since after a boy & a girl everyone tells you you’re “done.” Then you have a third & they assume it was an accident. By the 4th you have to deal with the “don’t you have a TV?” type comments (or so I hear.)

So my skywriting would be something along the lines of “Yes we know what causes this, no we’re not trying for a baseball team, yes it’s wanted, no we don’t think we’re too old, yes we have a color TV, no we don’t have cable…” etc. 😉

How did you announce your pregnancy? Would you like to do something different?

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