Discovering that you are expecting a baby is one of the most exciting moments to share in this life. I remember when I first discovered that I was pregnant; immediately, I was overwhelmed by a flood of feelings. I was so excited but also terrified! Immediately I began to think of how to share this amazing news with my husband and then later with our family and community.
For many, how they share the news that they are expecting is a huge milestone. The timing, manner, and audience you share with are big things to consider when planning how to announce your pregnancy.
With our oldest son, I kept the news to myself for the day, bought a special onesie to give my husband, and allowed him to unwrap it once we were alone at the end of the day. We both gazed at this tiny piece of clothing in awe, not believing a human would fit into them just a few months later. Once I went to the doctor and got a picture of this tiny baby, we framed it for our family to notice sitting on our mantle. It took some time for them to spot this new piece of decor, but once they did, they were overjoyed to hear our family was growing!
For each subsequent kiddo, we chose a different way to share our news. After our second son, I suffered a miscarriage, and when I got pregnant with our daughter shortly after losing my previous pregnancy, we decided to wait longer before we shared our good news. Our fourth little guy is joining our family through foster care that is now moving towards adoption. We plan to announce him as our legally adopted child after our special day in court. A party and photos will be our way of sharing our joy and gratitude with our community. Every child's story is unique, and therefore how you share your sweet news tends to be unique with each child you add to your family.
What Is a Pregnancy Announcement?
A pregnancy announcement is a special way to break the news you are expecting with your partner, family, and friends. These special moments can range from adorable photos posted on social media to share with your community, t-shirts, gifts, and even sweet letters sent to loved ones to share the news. There is no right or wrong way to announce a baby is coming. Just calling friends and family and telling them about your pregnancy is a perfectly acceptable way to make a pregnancy announcement.
When Should You Announce Your Pregnancy?
This is a very personal decision. There is no set time frame when it is best to share your news. Letting your community know early on in your pregnancy can be a good way to alert them that you may need some extra support as you trudge through the sickness and exhaustion that can accompany the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Letting them know can also be helpful if you do experience a miscarriage and feel it will be best if you have others to lean on if you suffer this unfortunate loss.
For others, waiting until the first trimester passes feels right. After the first 12 weeks, you are likely to start "showing" or, in other words, your tiny baby bump may start beginning to grow. Statistically, most miscarriages happen before the 12 weeks scan. Many couples feel more comfortable sharing their news once they feel more confident that the risk of miscarriage has diminished.
Many expectant couples have recently decided not to share their news, especially on social media, until they are halfway through their pregnancy and know the gender. Their announcement will share that they are expecting, along with the gender of their new son or daughter. The timing of how you share your news is a very personal decision. You may want to share pregnancy with others in a very open manner, or it may be a special season of life that you want to keep to yourselves for as long as you can.
Special Ways to Tell Your Spouse You're Pregnant
There are so many fun ways to share the news you're pregnant with your spouse! With our first son, I went out and bought the cutest onesie and wrapped it up for my husband as a gift with a special note about how excited I was that he was going to be a Dad! Our pregnancy was a bit of a surprise, as I got the news about 11 months after my first son was born. I immediately called my husband to tell him about my positive pregnancy test with a little bit of shock and terror in my voice! We were happy but not anticipating this second pregnancy to happen so quickly!
Some other fun ways to share the news is to set up a scavenger hunt for your husband and, in the end, have him find your positive pregnancy test. Present him with a cute pair of booties and the news that your hero's about to get a sidekick. Share the news on a letterboard and have a photographer capture his face when he turns around and reads this exciting message!
Tie a note to a helium balloon, making sure the note is at eye level, and use a pair of baby shoes to weigh the balloon down. Set the whole thing up, so he finds it as soon as he walks in the door. Another cute option is to get daddy and baby matching outfits. A card sharing the news with Dad is a sweet way to express your feelings about this huge life event. Be creative, spontaneous, and allow yourself the chance to process this big news together.
Unique Ways to Tell Your Family You're Pregnant
Sharing the news with friends and family often can be more of a community celebration. Most of the time, your loved ones are going to want to express their joy and love for you in this new season of life. Some fun ways to share the good news would include pregnancy announcement t-shirts for the family. With our second pregnancy, we dressed our oldest up in a "big brother" shirt to share the news with our family. Play a guessing game with the family. Have them guess what your big news is!
Have a pregnancy announcement cake made. If you know the gender, this can be a fun way to reveal the gender with your family through the color of the icing inside the cake. Plan a dinner with family, and over the big meal, make your special announcement! There is no doubt that lots of hugs and tears will follow. A really cute idea is to dress up your pup. If he is the ''baby'' of the family, he will make the perfect family member to share your special news.
Discovering you are pregnant is such a special moment! It's definitely okay to go a little big in how you present this news to the world. Your way of sharing your news is the right way. Keep it simple, share right away, keep it to yourself, go big, or just let people find out once the baby is born! Whatever feels right for you in this season of life is the way to go. All feelings in this moment are allowed. Excitement, fear, nerves, joy, and more! Parenthood is an amazing journey, and sharing your good news is just the start!
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/NataliaDeriabina
Amanda Idleman is a writer whose passion is to encourage others to live joyfully. She writes devotions for My Daily Bible Verse Devotional and Podcast, Crosswalk Couples Devotional, the Daily Devotional App, she has work published with Her View from Home, on the MOPS Blog, and is a regular contributor for Crosswalk.com. She has most recently published a devotional, Comfort: A 30 Day Devotional Exploring God's Heart of Love for Mommas. You can find out more about Amanda on her Facebook Page or follow her on Instagram.