My First Reaction & How We Told Everyone We’re Pregnant!

I am 14 weeks and 2 days today. So now that I am safely exiting my first trimester, I think it’s about time I share with you my reaction story, and how we told everyone. 

The day I found out I was pregnant was Wednesday, June 26th I woke up and decided, being 4 days late, that I would take a pregnancy test. The first thing I did was grab a cup and pee in there (yes I know TMI). Everything I’d read recommended doing the test with your first pee in the morning so that the HCG levels are high enough to have an accurate reading. I wanted the results to be as accurate as possible. So that’s just the awkward truth. Two months prior, I’d thought I was pregnant as my period was 5 days late. At that time it turned out that I wasn’t and I was devastated as this has been something we’d been hoping and praying for a while. 

Pregnancy brain is real, and it started early for this momma to be

Obviously this felt super awkward because well… when is peeing in a cup ever NOT awkward? So I saved that pee for a test, got dressed, and headed out the door for Target.

I locked the door and heard it slam behind me before I realized… I locked my keys inside… Pregnancy brain is real, and it started early for this momma to be. 

I called my husband, extremely grateful that he only works 5 minutes up the road, and had him come and let me back inside. He teased me and reminded me that in order to leave the house I need to take my keys with me. 

I remembered my keys this time, feeling silly, and went to Target, I bought a couple things, a new bathing suit, some reusable ziplock bags, and I made sure to get the 3 pack of pregnancy tests. I needed to be sure if it was true after all. 

I was terrified to go in and test

When I pulled back up in front of my house I was terrified to go in and test. With the false alarm just two months prior when I felt sure that I was pregnant only to find a negative test staring right at me. I was devastated because I truly did believe… I was pregnant. So here I am only 4 days late and I’m praying that it’s not a repeat of this day. 

I texted a friend of mine and asked her to pray with me.

I mustered up the courage to walk into the house and open the first wrapper for the “early response” pregnancy test. I dipped the test into the sample and replaced the cap. 

I couldn’t bear to watch it so I went into the other room and turned on worship music. The song that was playing was “Another in the Fire” by Hillsong United. I was praying for God to fill my womb as he knows the desire of my heart (which has always been to be a wife and mother) and I said to God, whatever the outcome, Lord, I will praise you anyway. 

As the song ended, I cautiously walked back into the bathroom to check the test. I saw one very clear line, and another faint line trying to show itself. The one line was so faint I remember screaming “IS THAT TWO LINES” I quickly ripped open the digital and the quick response tests, dipped them in the sample, and fell to my knees in worship! Tears streaming down my face, thanking the Lord for his blessings. The Hillsong album still playing in the background and I can barely breathe, tears steadily falling, and all I remember saying was “Thank you, Thank you” over and over.

God’s timing is SO perfect. 

On this exact day 2 years ago, Evan and I settled on our first home. We got the keys and had a special dinner on the floor and now, 2 years later I was to tell him that he’s going to be a daddy. 

I had to pull myself together because I had a lunch planned with my mom and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to tell her yet or not. My original plan was to share the news with Evan first. 

So, I got changed, threw some makeup on, and went to lunch with my mom, meanwhile harboring this crazy secret the entire time. Thankfully, to my surprise, she hadn’t brought up any questions revolving around the subject. She’s wanted to be a grandmother for such a long time and I hadn’t exactly been willing to share that we’d been trying. By the time lunch was ending I knew I wanted to tell her. 

I am a terrible secret keeper. 

So, I asked my mom to go to Target with me. I said I needed to get something for Evan and I wanted her to help me. Mind you, my mom is one of those few people on the planet who doesn’t love Target. Therefore, getting her to agree to take me there was huge for her. 

I casually walked my mother toward the baby department and said, “Mom, I need your help telling Evan something today,” to which she asked, “Are you really?” She got so excited and hugged me so hard. She is elated to finally be a grandma. She found the perfect onesie for me to tell Evan that said: “My first word will be Dada.” We grabbed a couple of cute things to throw into the box with the onesie: some pacifiers, and a little lovie, and grabbed a card that said “You’ll do great” on it.

Leading up to this day, I had been incredibly moody. I chalked it up to being really bad PMS, but admittedly, I had been kinda mean to my ever so patient husband. In my efforts to keep what was inside the gift a surprise, I told him I’d gotten him a little something for an “I’m sorry for being a jerk” present. 

The wait for him to come home from work this day felt like an eternity

When he came home, I was so excited for him to open his present that he called me out on acting weird. He opened the card first which I’d written on the inside “you’re going to be a dad”. He looked at me straight away and said, “I knew it!” He opened the gift and saw all three pregnancy tests and teased me on my need to be sure. His excitement made me so very happy for our next step.

We were so excited that we couldn’t wait to tell his mom too. We drove over to their house to play an impromptu game of scrabble. Totally random, but I wanted a way to tell his mom and sister. I took over set up, to which my sister-in-law, Ruth, thought I was cheating because I started rummaging through the letter bag for the right letters. She had no idea what she was about to learn. I started spelling out the words “I’m Pregnant” on the board. Evan’s mom was still upstairs getting changed so she didn’t see us setting up. Ruth, while I was spelling out the words, said “Really?” and was so happy and excited to be an Aunt. She hugged us both and we all sat around the table waiting for my mother-in-law, Carol to come down and read what was spelled out on the board.

Carol wasn’t feeling up for playing, it took us a while to get her to glance at the board. We were talking about our days, and truthfully I cannot remember the conversation much at all. Then, while she was mid-story, she stopped to look at the board and said “Who’s pregnant?! YOU!?” And started crying. She is overjoyed to be a grandma. 

I was 4 weeks and 2 days pregnant when I found out.

It took a little over a week for me to get the chance to tell my sister, Alyssa. I had ordered t-shirts for her and my sister-in-law that say “Best Aunt Ever” on them. I decided on my next day off of work was going to bring my sister some lunch at work, with a gift of something that made me think of her. She of course thought this was totally random because, well, this isn’t exactly a normal behavior for me. 

When my mom and I walked in to give her the gift, we were acting weird which she picked up on right away. I insisted she open the present right there and she pulled out the t-shirt, apprehensive of what it might say. When she finally read it she jumped out from behind the counter and squeezed me harder than I think she ever has. I guess she was pretty excited too. 

Over the next several weeks, anytime someone asked if we were planning on having babies anytime soon, I couldn’t keep the secret at all. Evan and I learned that we’re both pretty terrible secret keepers so we decided that if anyone asked, we’d be honest and upfront about it, but we would wait until we got our first sonogram to public announce on social media.

I had my ultrasound at 8 weeks and 2 days, and then exactly one week later we had our wonderful friends from Kemp Collective do a fun little announcement photoshoot for us. We were planning to announce during week 10, but Erin knew just how excited we were about these photos and to share this news that she finished editing the photos for us in record time. We were able to announce the following morning, at 9 weeks 3 days!

Most people like to wait until they are safely out of their first trimester for a number of reasons. And I totally understand wanting to do this. We sadly know too many friends who’ve suffered through miscarriage and this is the number one reason for wanting to keep the news to yourself. For us, we were just so excited and decided that it would be harder for us to have to keep a secret and go through tragedy alone than to announce and share our joy, even if something terrible were to happen in the future. We would be blessed with loved ones to share in our heartache as well.