Telling the families our baby news

Right from the start, we knew we wanted to tell our families our big news in person. We live far away from everyone, and opportunities to celebrate in person are few and far between. The good news? We knew we’d have our families together on back-to-back weekends. The bad news? Those weekends were not until weeks 15 and 16 of my pregnancy. Even though waiting that long was not ideal, and certainly not for everyone, we felt firmly that it was the right decision for us.

Especially since we’d waited so long, we wanted to make the announcements a little more special when they finally came, so we planned something different for each set. John’s family was up first! We were all gathered in New York City for Natalie and Joe’s baby shower, and went to brunch the next day with the whole Thomas clan. N+J opened a few more gifts, and one was ours. I ordered custom onesies from Zazzle with “Michigan 2016” for each of the three cousins in the sizes they’ll be next summer. We already have a family trip on the books, so it was a perfect opportunity on which to piggyback!

The reaction? TOTAL surprise. I think I could have knocked my brother-in-law over with a feather! Natalie and Joe provided great cover for us, I think, since everyone was focused on their impending arrival!

Next up was my family! Since my Dad’s birthday was later in the week, we wrapped up a package for him and handed it over once we were all gathered, saying it was something he’d want to enjoy for the rest of vacation. Inside was a faux North Carolina postcard that I’d made, and we taped our first ultrasound to the back.

The reaction? Not surprised at all! Actually, we were kind of like, do you guys understand what’s happening?! I’m not sure how they guessed, but they were nevertheless also excited :)

In addition to our families, we did share the news with a few dear couple friends in special ways. Nancy and Will were two of our most trusted confidantes as we walked together toward parenthood. When we went to visit Milly for the first time, we wrapped up half of a (cheesy) BFF necklace. It took them a few seconds to figure out what it meant, until I held up the other half!

Finally, we had to share the news with our friends Sam and Graham. Sweet Sam was one of my favorite people for the last year or so, because she asked us literally every time we got together when we were thinking of having kids. Some people might have found this annoying, but as I explained, I craved it. Earlier this year I did some graphic design work for them in trade for a photo session, and ever since, they’ve been urging us to redeem our half of the bargain. I, of course, had big plans for this session, but wasn’t about to say anything! When we were ready to tell them, I made up this little collection of some of their newborn images with a note at the bottom: are you free January 2016? :)

So keep an eye out for those beauties in a few months – grateful!

Since we had kept the news quiet for so long, it was definitely a little nervewracking, and kind of strange, to finally let the cat out of the bag. But, sharing the news with our loved ones in person and in special ways was totally worth it. And as a bonus (I guess?), it certainly has made the pregnancy zip along – seemingly right after the news became public, we reached the halfway mark, at twenty weeks!

I’m so curious: if you’ve ever shared the news about a pregnancy, when did you do it? I know twelve weeks is the standard, but I’ve heard of people shouting it from the rooftops at six weeks, and some not sharing until six months!