Awaiting the anticipation

From about 20 minutes after the result of our positive pregnancy test, the questions arose: When are we going to tell our parents? How are we going to tell them? They are going to be overjoyed, but what will they say? How surprised will they be? We thought about jumping in the car that very night to spill the beans, but because it was getting late and we didn’t want to alarm either set, we decided against it. My dad’s and Jeff’s mom’s birthdays happened to be right around the corner; my dad’s is on July 6th and Jeff’s mom’s is on July 11th. Could we wait to tell them until those occasions came? It was agonizing, but we decided to give it our best shots and wait so we could make the occasions even more special.

Waiting was especially difficult since my mom is my very best friend and not only did I make the decision to keep the pregnancy news from her until my dad’s birthday (just shy of one week after we found out, which was almost impossible in itself), I also decided not to even share the news with her that we were trying to get pregnant. This was painful and even excruciating at times, but I really wanted the news to be a complete surprise. I wanted all four of our parents to only know the delight of pregnancy news, and to be sheltered from any sad or stressful news of unsuccessful attempts (if that is what the future held for us). I didn’t entirely expect that it would take so long for the news we wanted to share to come, but that is how it went and the more difficult keeping the secret got as the months went by. I wanted so badly the support, advice and guidance of our moms (and dads too) throughout that time, but I was still holding out for giving them the grand finale.

A big sigh of relief and after nine months, the wait was over! My mom, dad, brother and nephew were coming over for my dad’s birthday celebration at our house on Sunday (Sunday, July 6th). Finally we could give my family the news that we had been yearning to share so much sooner. These days went by as slow as the flow of molasses, and now the time had come!

We worried if Jeff’s parents would be OK with my parents knowing a few days prior to them, but because we really wanted to share the news in a special way, we reassured ourselves that it would be worth the wait. We hoped it would make celebrating Tricia’s birthday even better and that finding out that day would be extra fun for her and Jeff’s dad. Well that plan changed when my mother-in-law tempted me with coming over to join her for pineapple martinis on one of the nights prior to her birthday (fresh pineapple juice and all and as I salivated over the thought, all I could think about was how I could get myself out of this predicament!). She knew I could not refuse such an offer, and I did not know how to put her off until her celebration at our house on Friday (Friday, July 11th), so I accepted her invitation and Jeff and I decided that we would go over there together on Monday (Today! Monday, July 7th), the night after we shared the news with my parents. This was actually ideal for us since we wondered how we could possibly wait until Friday anyway!

The anxiety of keeping this from our parents for even a week has been driving us mad! Insane! We have been going out of our minds with anticipation and excitement! One down, one to go---and both sets of parents will know our big news once the evening concludes. More on the subject is to follow…