My husband and I have been trying to conceive for the last sixteen months, At the end of August, my OB/GYN prescribed me fertility meds. The side effects were rough, but the Clomid must have worked. I had a feeling that I should test, even though I was only one day late. My husband wasn't home, but I bet that our whole apartment building heard as I yelled with joy on seeing the word "pregnant" on the stick. I'm Christian, so I immediately dropped to my knees and started to give thanks to God, tears streaming down my face. After about a minute or two, I experienced a bout of "morning" sickness. I was hyperventilating and crying, but it was the best moment of my life. I called my husband to ask when he was coming home, but I accidentally video-called him. He saw that I was crying, and asked what was wrong. When I told him with a laugh that nothing was wrong, he guessed correctly that I took a positive test. I felt guilty because I had cuter ideas how to tell him -and meant to tell him in person- but it didn't make the news any less good. After taking another positive test, we told family, bosses, and close friends. Throughout the week, especially after my blood test confirmed the pregnancy, we began to tell some other people that we're expecting. We've been greeted with mostly positive responses from people. This last Saturday, we decided to make it public. It is still taboo to announce our pregnancy this early (we are guessing that we're around 5 weeks along), but we believed that it was right for us.
1) Our struggle with infertility was public
We told everyone a while ago that we were having difficulties getting pregnant. It helped explain to people why I was so sensitive to the topic and why we didn't have kids yet. We had many people praying for a baby, so it just seems to make sense that we update people. A few people who have been following our struggle cried when they heard the news.
2) In case anything does go wrong, we want people to understand and allow us to grieve
I don't want to think about it, but because of my PCOS, I have increased odds of miscarrying. A fear of losing the baby is why most people wait until the tail end of the first trimester to tell the good news. Some people go as far as to say that sharing the baby news early in the pregnancy will cause a miscarriage. First of all, that is completely false. I've had friends and family lose their babies even though they didn't make the news public yet. These people seem to have a harder time opening up about their grief because they don't know who to talk to about it. Losing my baby is a very scary chance, but I want to be able to have people to talk to about it if it happens. I understand why people want to wait until the end of the 1st trimester -when miscarriage odds decrease- to share the news. But for us, it was best to inform people early.
3) My "morning" sickness and fatigue are already noticeable
Fun fact: morning sickness can last all day! It doesn't really bother me that much, but I've been getting it fairly often. I've had to excuse myself from every class period at least once so far. It doesn't really hurt, but it is sort of distracting for my classmates. I've also gone from staying up most nights until 11 to getting sleepy around 8:30. I can already tell that it will affect my evening plans. But you know what? It's 100% worth it.
4) We are EXCITED!
This is an amazing part of our lives, and we are elated! I'm terrible about holding back good news. I'm the type of woman who gives Christmas presents weeks early because I'd otherwise spill the beans. A baby is one of the best gifts God has given us. As I'm bubbly with love and excitement, how can I not tell people?
I'm not saying that everyone should share their baby news early, but I did for these reasons. If you have ever been pregnant, when did you share the news?
