Oh the Horror

Post written Oct. 31.

It’s Halloween and even before nightfall I’ve already experienced something quite tragic. Horrific even.

My pants no longer fit.

Oh sure if I wanted to squeeze into them, I could button them, but then the pockets bulge and it just looks like a popped can of biscuits around my midsection. Not exactly work-appropriate.

I’m a little concerned about buying maternity clothes already. I’m just 10 weeks this week and even though I haven’t gained much on the scale, I can totally tell in all of my clothes and it’s making me even more insecure about my body than usual. Just two more weeks and I can finally tell work. In the meantime, I’ll just hole up in my office as much as possible. It looks like I’ll need to head out this weekend to start looking for maternity clothes. And considering how much I hate clothes shopping, this is sure to be an unpleasant experience.

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Telling our Friends

Post written Oct. 26.

The evening following our u/s appointment, we had dinner plans with a couples friend of ours – Jen & Aaron. Over the last few years we’ve really spent a lot of time getting to know these two (we went on vacation together to Hawaii in ’09) and were there to see them go through the joy of bringing their first-born son into this world in 2010. They were one of the few and only people we ever told that we were seriously thinking about (and planning) to have a baby. I even borrowed Jen’s “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” book over the summer so I could read up.  So we knew early on that they’d be one of the first to know, once we were ready to start telling people. And once again, the timing just seemed right. Aaron had the week off so for dinner, he had whipped up a Thanksgiving-style meal with a stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, rolls – all the things a perfect Thanksgiving meal calls for. I love all of those foods – especially stuffing – so I was pleased as punch for him to be making such a spread. Plus, I knew I’d be able to eat it! My taste buds have been extremely picky lately. And since Thanksgiving is when we plan to tell our extended family and friends the good news, it just seemed so fitting that we’d be dining Thanksgiving style when we tell them our good news.

As soon as we walked in, the table was set and Aaron was getting drinks while Jen was putting their little boy in his high chair. We commented on the theme for tonight’s dinner and I said, “Well, it’s really fitting, especially for us since we’ve got something special to be thankful for!” Jen is pretty quick on the draw and immediately picked up what I was laying down. “Are you?” she asked. I nodded yes and then hugs and congrats all around! I showed her our little snapshot from the day’s u/s and got into all the details about how far along, how I told the hubby, how we told our parents, and what our plans are for telling everyone else. It was definitely baby-mania the rest of the night but when you’re expecting, there can never be too much talk about the baby. Such a fun night and a great way to end our day of excitement.

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Telling the Sisters

Post written Oct. 26.

We debated on when to actually tell hubby’s sisters the good news. With seven kids between them, we’re really lagging in the baby-making department, comparatively speaking. We knew they’d be excited and it’s unfortunate that we live so far from them that we couldn’t do it in person. We thought about telling them at Christmas but that was just too long to wait. I’d be about 18 weeks at that point. So our idea was to text them a picture of the ultrasound, whenever that would happen. We knew we’d be doing some sort of ultrasound at our first appointment, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up by expecting a photo opportunity with it. I was pleasantly surprised when the nurse gave us a little print out to take home with us. I spent the rest of my day running errands like shopping for our upcoming Halloween party and getting a much-needed haircut. That evening we were scheduled to have dinner with one of our couples friends and decided that the timing was right to tell them. They already knew we were trying (or rather, not preventing) and our rule of thumb was if we’d tell certain people about a miscarriage, then we may as well tell them about a pregnancy, no matter how early/risky it still is. And with that in mind, we knew we should go ahead and spill the beans to his sisters. As we were walking out the door to meet up with our friends, the hubs sent a photo text to both sisters of our u/s pic with the message “joining the club.” Within 30 seconds, they both texted back:

Oldest sister: HOLY SHIT!!

Middle sister: Are you joking? Because I just peed myself.

Each text was quickly followed by a phone call and thank goodness for three-way because the hubs was able to merge the calls and hear both sisters squealing with excitement at once. It was exactly the reaction we had hoped for and they couldn’t believe that his parents already knew and had been able to keep it a secret for weeks now. Personally I was surprised by that as well, considering that when we told his parents the news, my FIL fully admitted at not being able to keep a secret! (He was also pretty disappointed that he wasn’t there to witness the girls finding out the news. Everyone loves a good surprise!)

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