This time around, I wracked my brain to think of a way to tell Jacob about our coming baby. It seems it gets more difficult to do it well each time. I finally came up with something just a short time before leaving to go out to dinner – just the two of us. I decided to come up with a little saying to print up, laminate, and have the waitress put into a surprise dessert! I managed to accomplish this while Jacob was in the shower getting ready, but he came out while I was laminating and walked right past the laminator that I quick hid under a jacket. Luckily he didn’t notice the hot smell it puts off :)
I was very nervous and embarrassed about arranging it with the waitress, but it went great, except for the fact that I was a babbling mess when she brought it to the table! The best part is, it resulted in a free dessert! We have joked about using it at every restaurant in town, but that just seemed too deceptive :)
We didn’t think to get a picture, but this is what the little sign said:
Soon we’ll welcome
baby number three.
Will it be a he or a she?
Red hair, brown hair,
which will it be?
Either way (s)he’ll be
a part of you and me!
Then there is Josiah. We weren’t going to tell him until well into the pregnancy so as to decrease his wait, but then we didn’t have a babysitter when we had to go in for a precautionary ultrasound, so we told him around 7 weeks right before going into the doctor. At first he didn’t seem to get it and paid no mind, even after seeing the picture (but not the actual ultrasound). But the next week he got to see the doctor actually perform the ultrasound and he put 2 and 2 together that that baby with a heartbeat was actually in me and he was all about it after that! Elijah just goes with the flow, completely oblivious for now.
As for family, we got that first ultrasound just days before Easter, so I decided to make little Easter baskets with candy and cards that had pictures of the ultrasound and a little saying about Easter and spring being about new life and growth and that our family would be experiencing both, then we delivered them personally throughout our Easter celebrations. It was nerve wracking…I don’t do well with big announcements…but it was fun to anticipate this little one.
And then there was my boss. I tried for weeks to tell him personally, but the timing never worked out since sometimes our paths just don’t cross. I finally called him because I was getting tired of sucking my growing gut in, word was getting out, and I didn’t want him to hear through the grapevine. He was GREAT about it and the first word out of his mouth was WAHOO! and he said there was no reason to be nervous to tell him that. What a relief! My previous two experiences were not so positive, so I’m thankful for that.
It’s funny that this 3rd time around we made no attempt to hid it until the end of that first trimester. I think it was just a natural decision since, as I said, I seem to be growing big much earlier. Also, with two healthy pregnancies behind me, it seems a little less scary, though the worries are still present. Between Jacob and I and a certain little four year old, though, this baby is heavily prayed for!
