Whimsical September

A Family + Lifestyle Blog

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How I Told Our Parents that I’m Pregnant

I don’t think our parents know this, but Jamie and I have been thinking up creative ways to tell our parents that I’m pregnant for as long as we’ve been married. Conversations including “That would be a hilarious way to tell my parents that we’re having a baby!” were spontaneous but embarrassingly frequent. We’ve always known that we’re blessed with two sets of parents who would be ecstatic by the news. They’re both going to be first-time grandparents. 🙂

 


All of our creative ways of breaking the baby news involved sharing it in person and both being present. This deployment was already throwing a kink in everything! Our plans were up in smoke since he is in the ‘stan. The morning after I told Jamie that he was going to be a dad, he immediately started hounding me with how and when we could share the news with the folks. Both of us always let excitement and anticipation get the best of us, so surprises are super hard to keep in this household! I wanted to wait until after I went to the doctor on Monday, but Jamie was literally dying for our parents to know… so was I!

How We Told Our Parents That I’m Pregnant

 

To make a long story short, we decided that Saturday would be the day (I found out on a Thursday, and waiting two days about killed us!). Jamie sent a text to his parents telling them that he wanted to skype with both of them around noon, and he figured out a way to do a three-way skype call so that I could be on camera as well. We agreed that Jamie would do all of the talking because I was seriously SO NERVOUS. I tried to video their reaction, but I did a TERRIBLE job! 

Jamie: So I have a question. We need to redecorate the office. What color do you think we should paint the walls?
MIL: *gasp* WHAT?
Jamie: Yeah, we’re going to need a nursery.

And Jamie’s mom totally looses it in the cutest way. 🙂 No tears or anything, but she and my FIL were smiling from ear to ear. She was in disbelief and just kept saying “This is the BEST news!”.

Jamie’s dad later said that as soon as he saw me pop up in a third window that he had a feeling something was up. 🙂 We disconnected skype since the connection was spotty, but we did a four-way call with my brother-in-law Brendon and enjoyed their squeals for about 20 minutes.

 

 

One set of parents down, one set to go! Next up was sharing the news with the Olsen fam! If you read my previous post, you know that my sister Jennifer already knew thanks to my big mouth after taking the pregnancy test. 🙂 Jamie and I had no idea how we were going to tell them, but I knew it had to be in person. After we hung up with the DeSpains I called my mom and told her a made up story about how I was feeling really down in the dumps coping with my first weekend without Jamie and that I was driving home for the night. My parents know that for the most part I handled my independence pretty well during his last deployment, so my mom hung up the phone upset that I was already having such a hard time with deployment #2. I made the 2.5 hour drive to Alabama that afternoon, and my parents and I immediately went out to dinner to “cheer me up” when I got there. I could hardly eat a bite because I was SO NERVOUS about what would happen later that night! We knew that sharing the news would involve skype, but Jamie wouldn’t be awake until 8:30 that night our time! Spending those hours waiting for him to wake up was KILLING me, but I hid my anxiousness by saying I was down and not feeling well. They totally bought it, but in hindsight they KNEW that wasn’t me!

 

 

Around 8, my dad put on the movie Pollyanna because their preacher had mentioned it during the previous week’s church sermon, so they got it on Netflix to watch! They had no idea that 30 minutes of that movie would be all they could focus on!

 

 

Jamie finally texted me around 8 to say that he was awake and to leave all of the talking to him! I kept asking me how he was going to tell them, but he kept saying that he had to go to work soon and to just trust him. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Okay.

 

 

We connected on skype, and I asked my parents to pause the movie and to stand behind the couch to talk to Jamie for a minute before I went upstairs. They were very excited to see his face, but I was just silent because I was SICK TO MY STOMACH. I knew their lives were moments from changing! How could I not be nervous? I always imagined being through the roof with excitement to tell them this news, but now I was literally in pain with nerves.

 

 

Jamie got right to sharing the news:

 

Jamie: “So I found out that I’ll actually be able to head home the beginning of November!”

 

Parents: “Oh my gosh! That is great!”

 

Jamie: “I can’t wait to see you guys soon after I get home.”
Parents: “Well we will definitely wait a while to see you because we want you and Erica to have as much quiet time as possible together.”

 

Jamie: “Well I think you’re going to want to see me sooner than later because we’re going to be having your first grandchild in November…”

 

 

End audible sentences. Bring on the gasps, “are you kidding?”s, laughter, then screams.

 

 

Jamie stayed on skype for about five more minutes as he watch my parents react with shock and excitement. Let me emphasize the shock!

 

 

The next hour included telling my aunt Lynn, my crazy grandma (who lives next door), and my brother David. All responded with reactions that filled my heart with joy.  My mom poured a big glass of celebratory wine and just laughed with disbelief while I shared the news with those three.  My dad gave me one big hug and enjoyed watching my mom and I go a little crazy.

 

 

Before driving home the next day, my mom gave me my first gift – the book that she devoured while pregnant with me. I’ve since devoured it as well. It was amazing to sit on my couch later that night reading the book that I knew she read while she was pregnant with me, her first baby. I actually teared up reading about the state the baby was in already at five weeks. Though she was only a fraction of an ounce at that point, she was already beginning to take shape, and that thought completely consumed me. Maybe those of you who have children can relate – I literally couldn’t believe mybaby was growing inside of me.

 

 

 

 

 

Glad I got this documented. 🙂I’ll never forget the weekend we changed our parents’ lives for the better. We love you guys!

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