How did you tell your partner/family that you were pregnant??

So, after nearly 10 years of struggling to have a baby, including 2 miscarriages, multiple surgeries etc., we are on our way. We are planning our first session of SuperOvulation/IUI within the next 2 weeks. yippee

When this works, I want to be able to tell my husband in a special way that I’m pregnant.

If it works the first time, I should know by mid-to-late December if it took.

How did you share your big news?? Or, how were you told by your partner, sister, friend?

Share your stories, anecdotes. Help me make this memorable!

My husband was standing there next to me when I looked at the stick, so it wasn’t too exciting. But I always thought what I would want to do is buy a little baby t-shirt that says something like “I love my daddy” or some such, and wrap it up for him. But using non-baby-like wrapping paper, so he has no idea what’s inside.

And for the potential grandparents, maybe some hokey t-shirts or mugs that say “world’s greatest grandma/grandpa.”

Good luck! :slight_smile:

If your family is like mine, they’ll guess before you even get to tell them. Somehow, grandparents can sense these things.

My husband and I had been together for 10 years total, married for 5 when I got pregnant ( was 36). I called my Grandmother.

Me: Grandma, I have a confession.
Grandma:About time, what now?
Me: I’ve had sex.
Gma: Well, I kinda figured before now.
Me: I got pregnant, I swear it was the first time!

It happened to be around Mother’s Day so we got my mom a card intended for grandmoms. It took her a minute to comprehend.

To tell my husband about baby #1: bought a cloth rattle, wrote the estimated due date on the handle. Wrapped it and presented it as a gift after dinner.
To tell grandparents: Bought “I love my Grandparents!” picture frames, but where the picture would go wrote “This space to be filled 12/29/03.” Presented them as gifts.

To tell husband about #2: Went in bedroom, shook husband, said, “Guess what? I’m pregnant.” Okay, I guess the romance wasn’t there that time, but #2 was a surprise and with #1 we had been trying. So I was in a bit of shock with #2.

To tell family about baby#2: Got t-shirt from Cafe Press that said “Big Sister in Training” and had her wear it to visit family. That one honestly didn’t go as well - MIL didn’t want to act too happy about #2 in front of SIL as they had been trying also and she had hoped SIL would get pregnant first and was trying to spare her feelings. What it did was hurt my husband’s feelings (and mine, apparently). SIL was happy for us. My point here is that sometimes these things announcements can be like walking on eggshells, so know your audience.

I got to tell my wife that she was PG. After what seemed like months of temperature taking, calendar marking, a humiliating trip to the men’s rest room at the Landstuhl Hospital (you’re not 18 any more, son) and delivering vials of urine to the battalion surgeon, I got the call that the urine sample was positive and I got to tell her.

My husband was practically looking at the stick with me, so that one wasn’t very dramatic. But for our parents, we had some fun. We found out I was pregnant on Monday, December 18 last year, and were scheduled to fly down to visit my folks for Christmas on Thursday. We scheduled dinner with his parents (we live in the same city) for Wednesday night, and bought 4 bibs: 2 that said “I love Grandma” and 2 that said “I love Grandpa.” We wrapped them individually and gave them to the grandparents-to-be at the earliest possible moment. It was great – they were so excited (my son is the first grandchild on both sides) and it was a fun way to tell them.

I’m also lucky enough to still have my grandparents around, so we told them at Christmastime, too. We bought picture frames, and in them put a poem I’d found online – it’s a cute little “hold this place for a baby picture” thing, “from” the baby, and included the due date. We gave those to them at, again, the earliest possible moment, and it was great. They were also a convenient way to tell the rest of the family who were around for the holidays. My grandmother showed that thing off to everyone who walked in the door!

Anyway, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for your IUI – Christmas is a great time to share the news!

I told my husband he’d better enjoy his cigarette because it was going to be his last. Surprise! and I showed him the stick. I quit that day; PocoPocito is six months old now, and DH is finally down to one ciggie a day and only at work.

We bought each set of grandparents a card and a little wrist rattle. We just drove the hour and a half to each of their homes to give them their gifts. They were all shocked because neither set had ever expected us to have children. I think I was more surprised than anyone to find out that I was considered the anti-mom.

Thanks for all the input guys, great stories.

We probably SHOULD wait the 3 months before telling anyone, with my miscarriage history, but I doubt I’ll be able to. I have faith this time will work…it better after have 2 surgeries to remove a fibriod that was causing the miscarriages in the first place!!!

I’m thinking of telling my husband by buying some little booties, but we’ll see.

Meh. Assuming that your friends and family know about your miscarriage history (that it exists, I mean, not neccessarily the minute details), tell them when it suits you. Allow them to pray and support you during this time of hope and faith.

I do think it makes sense to not make a big deal about being pregnant early on, so if something does go wrong you don’t have to track everyone down to let them know what’s going on. (There’s just something weird about knowing that someone is two weeks pregnant–not even close to the point of having missed a period. And then, two weeks later, she lost the baby. For the best, really, it was not a planned pregnancy or good timing for an unplanned one. And she’s since gone on to have a successful pregnancy at a better time.)

But you think the problem has been fixed, and you are feeling good about the likelihood that soon you will have a baby of your own, so I vote for go ahead, allow your friends and family the priviledge of sharing some of your emotions.

(Note: Never been pregnant. Little brother told us his wife was pregnant by calling and inviting my parents to visit in the month of baby’s due date and be called Grandma and Grandpa).

My brother was at work (he’s a construction foreman).

He got a phone call from The Wife, who was at work too (at the hospital, she’s a doc). “Hi honey?”

“No way!”

“B-b-but that can’t be!”
…!!!11!!
“Oh, WOW!”

The guys he’d been speaking with said “congratulations! :D” When he asked what were they talking about, they claimed both of them had the same attack of The Stupid when their own firstborns were In The Mail.

(FTR, they’d decided to try for a baby just the month before)
By the time my mother believed she was really, truly pregnant with me, we were over 4 months along :stuck_out_tongue: There were relatives and even casual acquaintances who’d known before she even suspected it… she’d been told repeatedly that she was sterile. When Middlebro was in the oven (I was 5), they didn’t tell me until they were 5 months along, because she’d had several miscarriages both before and after me. I was informed of Lilbro’s upcoming arrival as soon as the stick turned blue, by number 3 Mom had already realized that her old ObGyn was an ass.

I’d been told I had a 1% chance of having kids without science to help. And we’d told my parents that, so they weren’t expecting Grandkids. So when I found out I was preggo at last, we were delighted.

It was Father’s Day. Mom and Dad were camping a couple sites away from where The Bog and I were camped. We walked down and gave Mom a little book called “In Praise of Grandmothers” with quotes and things from people like Erma Bombeck. She looked at it, said thanks, and put it down. We gave Poppa a card that said, “Happy Father’s Day… And next year it’ll be Grandfather’s Day!” He started, “Ooo! Ooo! Karen! (mom’s name) Did you see this!!!” She read the card and it took her a couple of minutes to get why he was so excited! Then she was flipping out. I told her to look at the little book again and she was embarassed to have missed it.

Good times!

Oh… And both times I found out I was preggo, one friend of mine was visiting! She visits very rarely, so this was a huge coincidence. I told her I should rent her out to friends who are hoping for kids!

We gave my parents a copy of Billy Crystal’s book I Already Know I Love You, about a grandfather anticipating the birth of his daughter’s child. It is simply and beautifully written. I get teary even thinking about it.

Another good one is I Loved You Before You Were Born, by Anne Bowen. This one’s from the grandmother’s perspective.

We gave the inlaws a set of sleepers with Spiderman on them (my husband collects Spiderman memorabilia) and told them they’d have someone to dress them in about 8 months from then.

I posted a blow-by-blow of the whole IVF process on my blog. It protected me from having 10 phone calls in the evening after every appointment from people wanting to know how it went. I was lucky enough to have good news, but if it had been bad, I wouldn’t have had to answer questions if I didn’t want to.

(FYI, we did three IUIs with no luck. Unexplained secondary infertility. Feel free to PM me if you want more details.)

Well, my wife was laying in bed, and she noticed her heart beating very hard. It was also skipping beats more often than normal (she throws PVC’s regularly). After a doctor’s visit and a recommendation that she go see a specialist, she was attempting to make an appointment. She was late, but chalked it up to the stress of worrying about the heart thing. After about a week, I had started bugging her to take a test just to be sure. She finally cracked. We waited until the next morning and she was getting ready for work. She didn’t think much of the test, took it and laid it on the sink. After about 45 seconds, as she was climbing in the shower, I told her, “I think you need to look at this.” It told us “Pregnant.” I asked her if it was mine (in a joking manner only, of course) and she smacked me. We found out mid-November.

We could have told family that day, but it was so near the holidays and our families (mine specifically) have issues with a lot. Two days before New Year’s, she called her dad crying and he guessed what it was. He reacted very well. Her parents were both excited.

I waited even longer, until late January or early February. I wanted to tell my mom in person and I didn’t see her for a while. I went to an Art Garfunkel show with her and decided to tell her afterward (she was buying my ticket, after all…). I told her in the car and she actually said, “Art Garfunkel wouldn’t have gotten his girlfriend pregnant.” We fought and didn’t talk for a few weeks, but she came around. Now we’re living in her house for a while until we find a place of our own back here. Kind of funny.

My father never said a word about it until my wife was in the delivery room. He drove up and bought me a coffee. We sat and talked, then he drove my mom home and came back up and stayed until the baby was born and we were heading up to the room for the parents and he had to head off to some place or another.

Brendon Small