You’re Pregnant! But when and how to announce?

It is both understandable and sensible that, until you’ve had your first scan and have had assurances from your medical team that all is well with you and your baby, you may want to keep the number of people who know about your pregnancy to just a very few.

Those early weeks are amazing, but fragile. I suffered a miscarriage at ten weeks and I had almost told the world my news at a party the day before. Something made me not divulge my news. Who knows what, but it’s something that once I was over my sudden loss, that I was grateful for not announcing that I was pregnant at ten weeks.

While over 50,000 Irish women give birth every year, it is estimated that a further 14,000 women miscarry spontaneously each year. This can be an immensely difficult time, both for women and their partners. Not to intentionally sound harsh, but people who know you’re pregnant may subsequently have to know you are no longer so. Therefore, until women are more confident that their pregnancy is viable, many choose to keep their pregnancy quiet until after the first trimester.
But everyone is different! When the time is right for you to tell the world your wonderful news, it’s an amazing tale to tell.

If you do decide to keep schtum, the hardest part is how awful the first trimester can be!  Often referred to as the ‘silent’ trimester due to the fact that so many of us keep our pregnancies quiet during this time. In theory, the first trimester of pregnancy should be one of the happiest and most exciting times in a woman’s life. But for many women it is, to quote Dickens, the best of times and the worst of times.

Pregnancy hormones, nausea, fatigue and the worry about miscarrying can conspire to turn this celebratory time into 12 weeks of purgatory. It not really fair, as it is a time when we all crave the support and understanding of those around us.
I felt sorry for the Duchess of Cambridge in September. Three years almost to the day after announcing her second pregnancy, Kensington Palace announced that Kate was expecting Royal Baby No. 3. “As with her previous two pregnancies, the Duchess is suffering from Hyperemesis gravidarum,” the announcement read.

And like her previous pregnancies, Kate and William were forced to make the announcement earlier than expected because she had to cancel an engagement due to the onset of the Hyperemesis gravidarum.

The tweets began. And then started the “EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT THE ROYAL BABY” articles, as well as the “WHEN IS KATE’S BABY DUE?” ones. The media ‘baby watch’ frenzy had started and the poor girl was probably only a few weeks pregnant. Many would argue that this is the price you pay for being in the public eye, but I’m sure she had just as many concerns about her news becoming public knowledge as the rest of us would, if she was not ready to tell.

When a woman is ready to spill the beans, there are so many new ways in today’s world in which they do! Announcing your big news can be one of the most meaningful, memorable, and just plain fun parts of pregnancy.

Some opt for telling family and close friends first and then little by little tell others as and when they meet them. That’s the more traditional way. Others, choose to make a bigger statement. Will we ever forgot Beyoncé’s Instagram pregnancy announcement earlier this year?

Social media is one sure fire way to let everyone know in just moments that you’ve a bun in the oven!  There seems to be a trend for announcing a pregnancy in cute, socially-sharable ways these days. Couples post photos of their feet next to tiny pairs of baby shoes, or share a photo of an actual bun in an actual oven, or put their older child in a shirt that says ‘Big Brother’ on it. Cue likes, comments, Facebook ‘wow’ faces, etc. It’s very cute when you see it pop up on your newsfeed and sure to make you hit the like button and send congratulations comments. It’s great news after all! A pregnancy is a big deal.

Couples these days are coming up with downright hilarious and creative ideas of pregnancy announcements. And with the help of social media to share these announcements, creative mums and dads to be are generating quite a buzz and taking pregnancy news to a whole new level! Be it videos or photos, there’s a new trend out there.

There are many ways to announce a pregnancy and no wrong way to go about it. Fun props, baby accessories and clever signs are all cute ways to announce a pregnancy, as is a simple phone call or announcing over tea and cake! Which will you choose? The traditional route or the social media one?