We told my wife's family about the pregnancy last night.
A few years ago, it was customary for us all to get together at her grandmother's house on Sundays to spend time and have dinner together. That tradition faded away, but we (my wife's sisters & their SO's and her nephew and us) do still meet over at her parents/grandparents houses on the majority of weekends.
We hadn't initially been planning to tell everyone last night. We were going to tell everyone on Christmas day when we knew we'd all be together. We had an announcement printed up in the form of a Christmas card and were going to tell everyone during our gift exchange. Even then would be a very early reveal at 5.5 weeks.
It gets complicated to hide it because her family notices her behavior changes. She stopped drinking coffee, she checks labels on the things that she eats, she avoids cigarette smoke (as much as she can while still seeing her family) and she has bouts of nausea and light-headedness. We've had so many questions already about these changes and they are hard to explain and harder to hide. People don't know not to smoke if they aren't aware. It seemed almost safer to tell people early. Also, if something (God forbid, I hate to even type it) did go wrong, we wouldn't want to have to face it alone. We think we'd want the support from our family. We don't plan to tell everyone, just close family.
For our announcement we put this picture:
A few years ago, it was customary for us all to get together at her grandmother's house on Sundays to spend time and have dinner together. That tradition faded away, but we (my wife's sisters & their SO's and her nephew and us) do still meet over at her parents/grandparents houses on the majority of weekends.
We hadn't initially been planning to tell everyone last night. We were going to tell everyone on Christmas day when we knew we'd all be together. We had an announcement printed up in the form of a Christmas card and were going to tell everyone during our gift exchange. Even then would be a very early reveal at 5.5 weeks.
It gets complicated to hide it because her family notices her behavior changes. She stopped drinking coffee, she checks labels on the things that she eats, she avoids cigarette smoke (as much as she can while still seeing her family) and she has bouts of nausea and light-headedness. We've had so many questions already about these changes and they are hard to explain and harder to hide. People don't know not to smoke if they aren't aware. It seemed almost safer to tell people early. Also, if something (God forbid, I hate to even type it) did go wrong, we wouldn't want to have to face it alone. We think we'd want the support from our family. We don't plan to tell everyone, just close family.
For our announcement we put this picture:
onto a Christmas card that said "The greatest joy we could ever receive is set to arrive in August '15, Merry Christmas from [Name], [Name], & Baby [Last Name].
We said last night that we'd just gotten them printed out & wanted to give everyone their card while we were there so that we wouldn't need to mail them. We passed one out per family and waited.
They re-read them a few times, before looking up. My sister-in-law, H, asked, smiling, "So what does that mean?", to which I replied "Well, what do you think it means?". My mother-in-law was shocked! She said "This better not be a joke! I will be so mad if it's a joke!" and upon reassurance that it wasn't she said "But how? I mean, which one of you is pregnant? Or are you adopting?". We told her my sweet wife was pregnant. She then said "But how?" prompting the explanation that she already knew, since we'd discussed it before. She spent the rest of the evening in a state of disbelief and happiness. She & H said that the biggest surprise of it all was that my dear wife was pregnant and not me, because they all expected that I would carry our kids. They were extremely congratulatory. They asked all the usual questions, how far along was the baby, what OB were we seeing, etc. It was nice.
My MIL then asked if we'd told the grandparents. We, of course said no. She said she wanted to see their reactions so we called and asked them to come over (they live right next door).
They came over and we gave them the card. Grandma couldn't read it without her glasses, so Pa read it over a few times, then read it to her. She still didn't understand. He read it again and said "A new arrival is coming". She still looked like she didn't understand. My brother-in-law, S, re-read & explained it to her. She said "Well how?" and then my MIL said it was through AI, and grandma said "Well I figured that, but which one?". We told her and the conversation moved forward. Pa came over and hugged us and said "Congratulations" before he left. Grandma never said anything else about it, which was the oddest part. She & my dear wife are incredibly close. She & I have even talked about my wife & I having kids. I suppose we expected a more happy reaction, and I think it hurt both of our feelings not to have it from her.
Overall, though, everyone was excited. H & S (SIL,BIL) both said congratulations and hugged us both before they left to take our nephew home for bed. That's a pretty big step considering our relationship lately. My sister-in-law A and her boyfriend stayed late and we and the parents all discussed the outlandish world of baby names! It was a sweet gesture. My MIL is now overprotective, and that's sweet. I guess we'll wait for another day to see the grandparent's true reaction. Overall, though, it went really well.
Tomorrow is the ultrasound! We should be able to see a heartbeat!
How did you all break the great news about your pregnancy? I'd love to hear stories!
We said last night that we'd just gotten them printed out & wanted to give everyone their card while we were there so that we wouldn't need to mail them. We passed one out per family and waited.
They re-read them a few times, before looking up. My sister-in-law, H, asked, smiling, "So what does that mean?", to which I replied "Well, what do you think it means?". My mother-in-law was shocked! She said "This better not be a joke! I will be so mad if it's a joke!" and upon reassurance that it wasn't she said "But how? I mean, which one of you is pregnant? Or are you adopting?". We told her my sweet wife was pregnant. She then said "But how?" prompting the explanation that she already knew, since we'd discussed it before. She spent the rest of the evening in a state of disbelief and happiness. She & H said that the biggest surprise of it all was that my dear wife was pregnant and not me, because they all expected that I would carry our kids. They were extremely congratulatory. They asked all the usual questions, how far along was the baby, what OB were we seeing, etc. It was nice.
My MIL then asked if we'd told the grandparents. We, of course said no. She said she wanted to see their reactions so we called and asked them to come over (they live right next door).
They came over and we gave them the card. Grandma couldn't read it without her glasses, so Pa read it over a few times, then read it to her. She still didn't understand. He read it again and said "A new arrival is coming". She still looked like she didn't understand. My brother-in-law, S, re-read & explained it to her. She said "Well how?" and then my MIL said it was through AI, and grandma said "Well I figured that, but which one?". We told her and the conversation moved forward. Pa came over and hugged us and said "Congratulations" before he left. Grandma never said anything else about it, which was the oddest part. She & my dear wife are incredibly close. She & I have even talked about my wife & I having kids. I suppose we expected a more happy reaction, and I think it hurt both of our feelings not to have it from her.
Overall, though, everyone was excited. H & S (SIL,BIL) both said congratulations and hugged us both before they left to take our nephew home for bed. That's a pretty big step considering our relationship lately. My sister-in-law A and her boyfriend stayed late and we and the parents all discussed the outlandish world of baby names! It was a sweet gesture. My MIL is now overprotective, and that's sweet. I guess we'll wait for another day to see the grandparent's true reaction. Overall, though, it went really well.
Tomorrow is the ultrasound! We should be able to see a heartbeat!
How did you all break the great news about your pregnancy? I'd love to hear stories!
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