So, let me begin by letting you all know why you should be glad that I didn't post during my first 16 weeks of pregnancy. I'll spare you the details of how I discovered that I was pregnant. To make a long story short, I showed up at work several days in a row feeling "under the weather" when my very observant friends suggested that perhaps it was time for me to pee on a stick (as they say). And I did and I can not say I expected to see what showed up, but there they were...those fateful and life-altering two lines. So what did I do? I can't lie and say that I didn't totally panic. I can't imagine any woman, whether caught completely unaware or been trying for years to conceive, would not tell you that one of the first emotions they felt was total shock. Luckily, as I've mentioned before, I do have an incredibly loving and supportive husband who took our little surprise so much better than I ever could have expected. It didn't take long for that total panic to actually start transforming into much happier dreams of our future family.
If I had been posting in the early months, it probably would have been a lot of complaining about how it took me three times as long to get ready for work in the morning because I could barely get out bed without running to the bathroom. I'm sure I would have mentioned that I woke up every morning at 4:30am completely famished, only to find that Timmy had left crackers on my nightstand to lull me back to sleep. And you would have heard aout the agony of keeping such big news a secret for the people you want to tell most!
There were days where it was absolute torture not being able to tell my mom about all of my new found aches and pains or gush about how I fell in love the first time we saw the baby doing flips or bouncing with hiccups on the ultrasound machine. But we had made a conscious decision to wait until we could assemble both of our families in one place (definitely not an easy feat) and tell everyone our big news.
It's a strange thing to tell your parents you're pregnant. I'm a grown woman and happily married, but it's easy to know why it was such a frightening prospect. I feel like I had been taking all necessary precautions to not have to go to my parents and tell them about my impending parenthood for all of my adult life. It was hard for me to imagine a positive reaction, but of course I completely underestimated both my family and my in-laws. I know it was certainly a shock when we finally let them discover the new member of the family (although my detective minded mother-in-law had been on to me since our last visit to their house months earlier...very little gets by her...I think it was my unusual refusal to drink excessively).
As hard as it was to wait so long to tell our families, I can't imagine having done it any other way. It was a wonderful joy to see all of their reactions and I really have to recommend our idea to any expectant parents wondering how to "break the news". We decided to buy a children's book for each member of the family. For our parents, we tried to pick books that we remember them reading to us while we were small. Then we mounted copies of our sonogram picture to cards that read "See You in September!" and attached them to the front covers of the books. We wrapped them and put each person's name on the outside of the package and used them as place cards for when the whole family sat down for dinner. I think they were all touched when they opened them (even my father who looked like he was on the verge of a coronary and continuing to check his pulse throughout dinner). For any of you who are even the slightest bit nervous about announcing your news, remember that although there may be shock, no one can't be thrilled about the arrival of a new baby. Enjoy this time as much as you can because it's a wonderful, amazing thing...we just couldn't be happier and we definitely can't wait for our Tazby!
Tomorrow I'll let you know our gender predictions for our big ultrasound on Monday!
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