How did you tell people???

[mummato1]

Hi,

I am pretty new to this site, and I am 12 weeks PG next week.

I am freaking out out telling everyone... We have already told those close to us, ie parents, very close friends and that was fine.. But for some reason I am really stressing about letting everyone else know.

I think is a variety of issues.. especially the different reactions we will get. But also having to tell people if something goes wrong. I was so excited at the start, and it was hard not to tell people but now it seems to be the other way around!

Please tell me I am not the only one to feel sooooo nervous and anxious about making these calls

[Maruschke]

We told our family that we wanted to show them a slideshow of photos from a recent holiday (our family does this a lot). The last photo was the 12 week ultrasound! They had no idea and it was a wonderful surprise.

[mummato1]

Oh forgot to mention that I have made up an christmas e-card to email out to all my friends.. but its actually pressing send and emailing them that seems to be the problem!!

[satya]

No don't email it - unless they are people you almost never see. It's much more fun to see people's reactions.

For people at my work I would put an ulstrasound pic from my NT scan on the desk & wait for the "what's this" reaction then say "that's my baby". Most of them were very surprised & happy for me and I just loved seeing their reactions.

[sloane]

you're definitely not the only one to feel like that - i am exactly the same!

so far we have told DP's mum & i told one friend - and that was only because she asked a direct question about whether we wanted to have kids at some point!

i felt like i could tell anyone early on but now it seems like a much bigger deal! we have the NT scan this afternoon & we are waiting to see the results before we tell anyone. i'm hoping that we will have happy news to share with my parents, DP's dad & friends by this evening! we're planning to tell most other people in person but just whenever we happen to see them - although i'm not sure exactly how!

i think part of the reservation comes from getting excited at the results of the HPT & the BT...but then waiting another 7-8 weeks before anything happens. at the moment, i'm not sure if our little one is even hanging in there okay!

i think the pic from the scan is a fab way to share the news though

[mummato1]

thats good to know Sloane, that I am not the only one.

Oh the e-card is mainly for the friends that are overseas/ interstate, or that I dont see to often! I am planning on calling the rest of the family members. I am just so damn nervous!!

Because 12 weeks falls on xmas, I wont be having my scan until 13 weeks..(they couldnt book me in until then) so I dont have a scan or anything like that to show either..

[JellyBean]

DH and I were overseas working and campervanning around Europe when we found out we had a bub on the way. We weren't due to fly home until I was 6 months along, so we decided to take advantage of this oppurtunity to surprise our families at the airport. It was SO hard keeping it a secret at times- but worth every effort. The airport arrival was like a scene from Days of Our Lives- when my Mum saw my belly she broke down into tears of joy- and shock! She simply couldn't get over the fact that she would be a Grandmother and she only had to wait 3 months!!!
But, hey- I was nervous about telling people we were living with in the UK incase something went wrong. I also thought that as we were travelling to some obscure places and flying, I was exposing my baby to increased risks in that regard. It made more sense to us to wait until we had actually arrived safely on Australian soil to make our news public.
I think it is wonderful news to recieve in person- but of course you cannot do that for everyone- at least just immediate family. I found we didn't need to actually tell that many people- the news just spread like wild fire!!

Goodluck- I'm sure your baby is just fine.

X

[Pandora]

we told our families very early on, as i had a threatened m/c with DS so wanted to have the support if I needed it.

I told 1 of my bosses at work early as it was affecting my work for a while, and told my team leader after my 12 week scan.

I havent told anyone else at work yet I am waiting for them to notice my stomach getting bigger

Some freinds I sent an email with a pic of our 12 weeks scan photo.

[Miss E]

I've just reached 12 weeks this week and I completely understand where you are coming from. After so long trying to hide it, it seems so strange to tell people and also really hard to bring up in the conversation.

We'd already told most of our parents and closest friends, so are now waiting till Christmas lunch to announce it to the rest of the family (make a nice addition to the toast I think). But so far I have only told three or four people I work with, and each of them have told me it's been the worst kept secret ever. I figured that a few people were on to my not drinking, but apparently my boobs and my expanding hips (which I hadn't even noticed) gave it way weeks ago

[Brunette01]

Well I told close family (mum, dad, siblings and really close cousins) in person by kinda just dropping it into the conversation. Same with close friends... As I was only home for about a week between uni and coming to australia I only bothered telling people that made an effort to say goodbye, everyone else just found out through the grape vine! Maybe you should make a big deal out of telling them though.. nobody believed me at all when I told them! I think they still didnt until I emailled pics of the 19 week scan (didnt have a dating scan) and nobody saw my blooming tummy!

[Kirst11]

DD1 we just made the phone calls and told everyone. Nothing too obscure.

For DD2 we told everyone at Christmas. DH's side of the family had 6 grandkids and my 2 SILs were pg. With the 6 kids going mental with presents my BIL made the comment "Imagine what it's going to be like next year with 8?" and very calmly and quietly I said "9". I've never seen a grown man who wasn't the father react like he did. It was cool. And great to just slip it in like that.
My side was similar(ish). Only 2 grandkids and my dad said "Thank God there's only 2", and I said "there'll be 3 next year". He screamed, shocking everyone and yelled at mum....."Ask your daughter what she just told me!?!?!"

I think that it's nice to just drop it into conversation and see the reaction.

[Visitor3]

We did something I read on a similar thread to this one. I wrote Christmas cards to everyone and delivered them personally. So we went out visiting everyone for the day and gave them thier cards which had all the ususal "Wishing you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year" and then we included a photo of ourselves and at the bottom wrote " Packet of Christmas Cards -$9.95, Camera - $400, Realising there are actually 3 people in this photo - PRICELESS !! People freaked ! It was absolutely brilliant !