When/How To Tell Family That You Are Pregnant

M.-
We did the I am the big brother t-shirt when we went to a family gathering and also set an extra place at the table, no one really got it until after we were all seated and they noticed the extra setting with "Baby plates, forks, cups".
Nothing to exciting but...
Tks T.

If you have everyone over for dinner then tell them you would like to say grace before you eat. When you do add in a thank you for the new baby at the end.

We have four kids and we had a unique way of sharing the news with our extended family each time.

The first time we had a King cake which you can find around Mardi Gras time. My husband had lived in New Orleans and everyone knew what a King cake was - it is baked with a little plastic baby inside. You can't see it until you start eating the cake. So we all had King cake one day for dessert and we kept asking, "Who has the baby?" No one ever said, but finally I said, "I have the baby." Someone said, "In your mouth?" and I said, well... I couldn't speak I was getting so emotional, I just pointed to my stomach and they figured it out!

For the second baby we put our first daughter in a t-shirt that said, "I'm the Big Sister." We waited until someone noticed what she was wearing. It took at least a few minutes.

For the third we handed out mini Three Musketeers candy bars. We didn't say anything, we just kept offering the candy bars. My sister-in-law figured it out right away!

For our fourth we took the Three Musketeers candy bars and taped a "third" of a Three Musketeers candy bar to it. So it was a Three Musketeers candy bar with an extra third on it, to make four. They figured it out right away since they had already seen the Three Musketeers trick once before. We have such great memories of telling them the news.

We waited until about 10 weeks with #2, #3, and #4. We waited 12 weeks for the first. We only told our kids when we were ready for the whole world to know because we couldn't expect them to keep a secret. HAVE FUN and congrats!!

Hi M. -

Congratulations!!!! (I'm currently 6wks along too) :) All of our friends and family already know. I know all the risks, and do think it is smart to wait, but my husband and I never can! Our kids know too :) I guess we can look at it like more people to pray for the baby!!

With our last baby, we had a family function to go to. I wore a shirt that said "knocked up" and my husband wore one that said "bullseye" - and we just waited for everyone to catch on. It was a huge hit, and did take 45min before people put it together :)
I hope you have a wonderful pregnancy!!

my daughter knew when i was pregnant! lol. they say that young children will know. i would wait until you are closer to 12 weeks to tell anyone. i know its exciting, but its really hard to explain a miscarriage to a child (heaven forbid that happens!) just in case. as far as how to break the news, ive always thought putting the sonogram picture in a card is cute. i think one of the most fun things though is when you find out what gender you are having, put a bunch of blue or pink confetti in a black balloon, blow it up, and let one of the kids pop it to find out! you could even do it with the whole family there.

My daughter and son-in-law told my husband and I that they were coming by the house because they had something to give us for our anniversary. When they came over, they handed each of us a gift bag. Inside were engraved picture frames that said, "Great Moms/Dads get promoted to Grandma/Grandpa" with a picture of the two of them in the frame. For the soon-to-be great grandpas, they had frames engraved saying something about being a great-grandpa. Since the new arrival would be my Dad's seventh great-grandchild, it didn't really sink in for a little bit because he was already a great-grandpa. And my father-in-law didn't catch on to the "great" part, he was thinking a "great" grandpa..it was a riot watching the two of them figure it out.
When my granddaughter was born, my Dad brought my daughter a bouquet of 7 carnations, a circle of 6 with a pink one in the middle for the new 7th great-grandchild. That could also be a cute way to announce your news----make up a bouquet according to the colors of the current grandkids or great-grandkids they have now, with a white/blue/pink one in the middle...and then see if they figure it out!
They told us the day after they found out....they couldn't keep it a secret!!! :)

I have four and wanted to wait to make an announcement until farther along, but my husband never could wait in his excitement. It'd be better to wait, but I never could keep him restrained! If you want to do it soon and take the risk, Labor Day is coming up. Can you have a BBQ and invite the family and announce it to all at the same time... maybe even decorate for the occasion with suggestions listed here. I have a sister that put the announcement on a stuffed rabbit that she hid at Easter and said to give to grandparents. Scavenger hunt??

Congratulations to you. I strongly urge you to wait until you're at least approaching the end of your first trimester.

Congrats! I know it's not very unique, but we bought a couple of pink and blue carnations for both mom's and put a card that simply said "Can't wait to meet you in (month), Grandma".

I told my kids right away that way they could be involved with all my appointments. I understand there are risks but I took my children to EVERY appointment. Even sonograms. When each of me 3 children got here, the older children were in the room as soon as I was cleaned up. When they handed the baby to me, my girls were in the bed with me so they were part of the experience. They are now 8, 6, and 4. They are the best of friends. They are very close. Good luck with all and congratulations on your pregnancy. Best wishes and may God bless you and your family!

When we found out we were expecting with our second one I made a I"m going to be a big brother shirt for my son to wear and asked my mom to come over for something and it didn't take her long to read his shirt and find out then I took a picture of him and made copies and sent them to all the extended family! Good luck S.

My daughter-in-law came up with 2 very cute ways to tell me she was expecting.

When she was expecting her second child, she dressed her son in a T-shirt that said "I'm a big brother" and brought him to church that way. At first I laughed thinking the shirt must be a hand-me-down from someone. I got out the words ".... but you're not a ....." and then it hit me ! Poor little guy looked at me like "what?" but we were all laughing by that point. It had sunk in !

The next time, she sent me a series of photos in my email of the boys holding signs in front of them. Each sign had part of a poem she had written (sort of like the old Burma Shave signs). The poem was all about what great grandparents we are and that we had 3 grandchildren, but would soon have FOUR ! It was a unique and fun way to find out.

She is always so clever.

We also played a guessing game of sorts whenever she found out the sex of each child. She would ask for a DVD copy of the sonogram and bring it to my house after her appointment. She and my son would sit on the couch grinning as I tried to guess the sex of the baby before the tech typed it on the screen.

So there are a couple of good ideas for you.
Have fun with it !!!

please, please wait until after 12 weeks to share with your children.

As for a unique way, for our last child I bought a bouquet of balloons....I knew we were having a boy so I used blue. But using pink & blue would also work. Have fun.

Hi M.,

Congratulations on your pregnancy!
Will you be getting an early ultrasound, at 7 weeks or so? If so, that will give you a good idea if things are on track and you can be more comfortable telling people if you really don't want to wait until 12 weeks. Otherwise, waiting until you hear a heartbeat at the doc's office might be a good idea (I can't remember how many weeks that was).

We mc twice before having our daughter, so we didn't tell anyone we were pregnant with her until 17 weeks. We just mc'd again, so I'm sure we'll wait a long time if we get pregnant again. I felt sick in the first trimester with my daughter and felt fine for each of the pregnancies I lost. Feeling bad is a usually a pretty good indication things are going ok, although feeling good is not necessarily a bad sign, just might suggest you be more cautious.

I've known some people to tell everyone before the pee dried on the stick. Some people would want everyone to know if they had a miscarriage...they would want that support. Others, like me, are more private. But keep in mind that if you do share your news and then do mc, until everyone knows of your loss, you may be running into people for a while that don't know and are asking you how you're feeling with the pregnancy, etc. and you'll have to tell people over and over which may make things more difficult for you.
Good luck with everything. I really liked everyone's fun ideas for telling people you're pregnant. :)
C.

Congratulations!!!!
With our first child we had both sets of parents over for dinner. Then we gave them a gift: a wrapped baby wipe box with a small baby bottle filled with pepper-mints & a grand-parent to be card.
with our second child we gace each of the mothers a multi photo holder with a photo of our son in a shirt that said 'Bid Brother'.
I really don't remember how we told them about our third child.
We told everyone as soon as we found out. We figured that if something would happen it would be easier than telling them after a misscarriage.
The same went for our lodest son, we told him when we found out.

God bless!

Hi M., i told my husband by having my mom wrap up a baby doll with the pee test in one hand of the baby and a paper from the birthline center saying results were possitive in the other hand. I waited until our anniversary to tell him. It was great. Good luck

We waited until we were 16 weeks to tell everyone. But the way we told our parents for our third child was like a candy gram/mastercard commercial. Took a picture of each child and glued it next to each piece of candy with this saying....One SweetTart .25 X a lifetime, One Double Bubble .15 X a lifetime, adding a Three Musketeer...priceless.

Good Morning M., COngratulations on soon to be new little angel. We invited both of our mom's and Dad's over for Mother's day when I was preggers with our 1st.
Gave our Mom's corsages with a handmade card that said. You are dads wife, our Moms, a woman of character and love.
Save up on the love and hugs cause in Oct you'll add another title, that of Grandmother!!!!!!

Have fun with it there are alot of things you can do.
God Bless you with a easy pregnancy and smooth delivery.
K. Nana of 5

When I was pregnant with my second child I bought my daughter a shirt that said I am the big sister. I took her picture in the shirt and emailed it to all of my siblings and step siblings as well as my parents and my husband's aunt and uncle. I put in the first line of the email not to look at the picture untill they got me on the phone, sot that I could hear their response. However I mailed a picture to my inlaws because they do not own a computer. It took my step mom to see the picture and then to tell my dad, who I was on the phone with, to read the shirt. It still took him a few minutes to figure out what I was trying to tell him but my step mom figured it out right away. I had fun with it. My daughter who was 3 at the time did not understand until I started showing.
Have fun with it no matter what you choose.

We always told our parents at about six weeks and swore them to secrecy (they obliged). We told the "rest of the world" at 12 weeks (including the baby's siblings). I have several friends who have lost babies and it is a terrible loss for the parent to cope with without unnecessarily burdening the children. Therefore, we felt it best to announce the arrival of a sibling after we were fairly certain that the pregnancy would be viable.
Often, a pregnancy test can come up positive and the pregnancy may not be a healthy developing fetus. The body will often reject a nonhealthy fetus by 12 weeks; therefore, we felt it best to wait in case the worst case scenario reared its ugly head.
We were fortunate (all of our babies survived), but like I mentioned earlier, many of my close friends have suffered miscarriages. Do what you feel is best for you and what brings you the most joy and security. Make certain that if you do tell early, that you have a strong support system if a miscarriage occurs.
Congratulations and I wish the very best. May you have a healthy joy-filled pregnancy and the arrival of a healthy new addition to your family!
K.

I don't have much advise about when to tell your family or children about the pregnancy but I have a cute idea to share for how to tell them. A friend of mine was told she was going to be a grandmother for the first time by receiving a Build-A-Bear baby bear that had one blue bow and one pink bow and a pacifier. I don't know if this would be an idea for telling your parents but it could really be cute for telling your kids. You could get one for each child and surprise them. They could open the box and you could say it is a gift from the new baby to tell them that they are going to be big brother/sister. This way they will feel part of the whole thing and have something tangible to have and relate to.

No matter what you do, just have fun and enjoy your pregnancy. The news of a new baby is exciting enough, no matter how it is told!