After you find out that amazing news that you’re going to be come a proud parent and you’ve had some time to get over the initial shock your attention turns to how on earth you’re going to keep this mega news from your nearest and dearest until you feel a bit more comfortable.
If you read around online the the general advice seems to be to wait until the around the 12 week mark. This seems largely born out (pun intended) of the worry of a miscarriage and then having to tell people a much more unhappy piece of news.
For Amy and I the decision was taken slightly out of our hands. We found out that Amy was pregnant at the four week point and just before I was about to head off on a three week business trip. We felt it was important to tell Amy’s mum so that there would be someone around to take care of her whilst I was away.
My advice on when to share your news is to do so when you feel comfortable. There is really no right or wrong time to tell people. If you feel you want to share the news early on then go for it. For those closest to you, you may want someone to talk to in the extremely sad event that you do have a miscarriage, so it might be ok to share the news early with a some selected people. You’ll also be full of questions and having someone to turn to for answers rather than just relying on Google is probably a good thing.
We also made a decision to keep the news off social media and delight in telling all our family and friends (as many as possible) in person or over the phone. It was really special to be able to tell everyone and a great chance to reconnect with people that I haven’t spoken to in a while.
Most importantly enjoy having this very special piece of news to tell people.