How do you keep your pregnancy a secret?

Hi All,

I have just posted my pregnancy announcement - Hooray!!
I found out on Wednesday night - DH & I are now over the shock -
we were TTC but we just can't believe it :dance:
No one knows were were TTC except for the obvious people invloved :lol:

Just wondering if you ladies a little further along than I can give me some
ideas on how to avoid suspicion of my pregnancy. ie: not drinking & avoiding certain
foods. We want to announce after 12 weeks.

Many thanks
AnnaBelle
(p.s. If there is a post already on this could you kindly direct me to it)

Sorry Annabelle, Each pg that I had couldn't contain the excitement. Enjoy it.

I did a lot of not making eye contact when the topic of babies or pregnancy came up in conversation LOL! You can also nurse half a glass of something without actually drinking it while your DH surreptitiously finds softies for you. Ginger beer's a good one cos it helps with the nausea as well...!

PS Congratulations, what an exciting time :)

maybe say ... I feel like this today! Maybe see how that goes. I really don't know. I tried so hard. I told my mum and my sister at 5 wks, then dh couldn't hold it in any longer and told his parents at 10-11wks. The rest of my friends and family were told from 16wks onward.

good luck to you...If you have morning sickness, it'll be harder to keep a secret !!

congratulations!! how far along are you?
I haven't had to hide it too much, the only problem I'll have is after school holidays I'll be 13 weeks and probably sticking out a bit by then so when I take the kids to school people might ask or look at me funny :lol: good luck keeping your excitement down I look forward to hearing howing it goes :) congrats again!!

Congatulations! :)

No help on hiding it here I'm afraid - both times I was really sick by the sixth week and it was impossible to pretend I wasn't.
I'm also a pretty big social drinker (always have a beer at family getogethers etc) so the second I was off the beer it was like I had a "PREGNANT" neon sign above my head.

If you don't get sick though it would probably be alot easier to cover up I'd imagine.

Thank you everyone,

Your suggestions are terrific

Marydean - Good luck with your Sep Bubba - I love ginger beer so that is a good one!
sconeonamission - yes i totally agree it is so hard & I am afraid i might just blurt
it out - luckily my sis lives in another city so that helps (i think)
joraldyd - Thank you also & best of luck with your Jan bub.

It will be a special time for DH & I - just enjoying this little secret.
Bye for now
AnnaBelle;)

Congrats on your pregnancy!

What we did:
I ask DH in a restaurant if he wants to share a bottle of wine (group meal). He says no, he's driving, we'll stick to fruit juice.
I drove a lot more!
"My GP gave me some tablets and said to avoid alcohol." - the tablets were folic acid.
Nurse those drinks!
Drink unfermented grape juice in a wine glass.

Foods I am picky about anyway, but don't make a show of avoiding food, just pick something preg-friendly instead.

Great ideas Ryn. I'm afraid I'm no hope. Both times I was showing before I wanted to announce so just had to announce anyway. Second time I was still bfing as well so the amount I was eating was also a give away.

Congrats Annabelle. Enjoy having your little secret while you can.

I thoughtI was showing, and nice people who knew my tum was previously flat agreed I was showing at 12w, but there were people who didn't notice at 7-8m pg with me... so you don't need to tell because you're showiing and wearing clingy dresses, no-one save those who know can see the bump a lot of the time!

(At 7m someone asked at a party why I was talking to a retired midwife about babies and pregnancy, luckily not to me as I was clingy dresses ands bump-proud all the way!)

we told the grandparents and our sisters none of my friends realised we told everyone after the NTD scan

i think just dont make abog deal out of what you eat or drink, obviously if your a drinker then it may be hard but yeah nurse your drinks

Congratulations

Have you thought about just saying your on a health kick and just monitering what you eat at the moment. Like a detox or something. Then people wont question the different choices in food and drink.
Good luck

Oh I'm sorry to say I was lucky. I didn't tell anyone until after 13 weeks, and I could have gone longer.
I only got a little nautious and by 19 weeks you could still hardly tell I had a bubs.
I wasn't a big drinker either, and I'm a really picky eater, so now one really noticed. Plus I never went out of my way to tell anyone.

I've had friends that have constantly dropped hints deliberate or not, but I will say if you have any friends that while they don't go crazy with the chitter chatter, yet they seem to know you really well (ie really observant person) they will know, and probably already do.
One person I noticed because she was drinking juice instead of coke, and specifically asked for her steak to be well cooked.

I'm not a big wine drinker anyway - so people weren't too surprised when I declined that. The ginger beer idea is a good one!!! As for food, I just hid crackers etc. in my desk & nibbled all day to control the nausea.

The biggest problem for me was my growing belly - but I just made the most of the empire cut tops that are in fashion at the moment & wore coats when I was in front of the parents etc. at school.

I am 16 weeks and still havent told anyone. My best friend knows but even my other kids don' know yet. I had a miscarriage earlier in the year so wanted to wait until at least 12 weeks. After that it just became easier to hold off. I'm thinking now of waiting 'til I've had the 20 week scan & just showing off the pic. I'm also starting to pop out so soon it won't be an option. Usually I'm very sick so can't hide it from anyone but this time the sickness wasn't as bad & I manage to hide it.

It is nice to know something like that & know it is your secret lol.

Kim

it was easier for us as all our family are 1300km away (we could have given birth and surprised them lol). however i did have friends vist when i was 5 weeks and i would go to the bar (on my own) and order mocktails - they never suspected.
And i didnt really show until 25 ish weeks so that made it easier.
Work was harder as i did early starts and was often off colour the first trimester and a few people suspected but i denied until we had our 12 week scan.!

Hi All,

Thanks for all your helpful suggestions. I am sure to get throught
the first 12 weeks thanks to all my bellybelly friends.
So far so good no MS yet - but it is early days yet - right!!
Thanks too for all your kind wishes.;)
AnnaBelle

Hi AnnaBelle,

This is my fourth pregnancy and my tummy just popped right out at about 6 weeks. I have also had to resort to maternity clothes as everything else is too tight and uncomfortable. People just started asking when i was due and i hadnt even told them.
I didnt tell anyone with my first and i found that really hard after i misscarried because no one knew why i was so sad.

Best of luck
treelo

Congratualtions!

Could always suggest that you're on a detox following some particularly heavy drinking sessions!

Being partial to the odd glass myself this was also an issue for me. I've tried Tonic water with a slice of lemon in a shorts glass (passing it off as Gin and Tonic) and another good one has been keeping a non-alcoholic champers in the fridge for when friends pop over (tastes nothing like champage but rather sparking grape juice but it's not unpleasant - you'll just need to give your friend the proper stuff!)

Good luck!

Sara.

Hi there,

Thanks again for your excellent suggestions:clap:
Sara you are very clever indeed.

Thank you so much
AnnaBelle

Hi Annabelle,
I'm having the same dilemna as you. I'm seven weeks. One of my girlfriends said to say I was on antibiotics when a drink was on and we're kind of trying to avoid social gatherings where we can. We were DH's parents and FIL said, "You'll have to stay for dinner and we can have a few reds together." He knows we were doing IVF and just wants to confirm his suspicions. We managed to get out of that one.
I would like to get to 12 weeks but I think it will before then because I'll have to let work know. My job isn't really safe and I do 12 hr shifts so I think it will be out of my hands.

Hi Janies80,

Congratulations on your pregnancy - that is so very exciting - it will be a special baby!!
Yes it is really hard keeping mum on this (excuse the pun) - there have been heaps of really great suggestions so i am going to do my best to try some out.
All the very best to you.
AnnaBelle:D

Just wanted to add my congratulations to you AnnaBelle. This pregnancy we have not told anybody yet (13wks) and I am back to work tomorrow after 3wks holiday so hoping nobody will notice the tummy growth!!

You could try getting soft drinks and if anyone asks just say it is vodka and lemonade or bacardi and coke for example. )That's what i did last time and it kept the questions at bay.

Also start wearing baggy clothes now rather than wait until you need them - then if anyone says anything you can just flatten your clothes and say 'no everything is the same'. People will get used to the baggy clothes then before they are necessary.

Good luck - just remember enjoy yourself it is a happy and special time for both you and DH/DP.

Thanks Tess,

I have loved your suggestions - Ta

Take care
AnnaBelle:D

No good hiding it here! I was so sick that everyone guessed!

I didn't tell anyone until 20 weeks and re the drinking just said "I can't, I've got a really bad hangover."