They All Know!

Yesterday I told everyone at work I was pregnant.

I had been debating for weeks about how to do so. My options were: 1) Announce it at a staff meeting, when everyone was together. This option was the least appealing to me as I get all nervous and flustered when everyone is looking at me at once. 2) Send a mass email and let people come to me as they wish. Nah, I wanted immediate reactions. 3) Tell people as I saw them. This was what I did, and even if I had chosen choice 1 or choice 2, I think I wouldn't have been able to wait, not after hearing the heartbeat of our little lentil.

So, as I walked up to the school, two members of my specials team (the music and computer teachers) were standing outside ready to do the car-rider line. I pretty much immediately told them and they smiled. Then I walked 5 steps and told someone else. They squealed and hugged me. 5 more steps, and this process continued for nearly the whole day. It was wonderful to see so many people genuinely happy for me and excited that I was bringing a little baby into our school family.

I opted not to tell any students or parents until we come back in August. The school year's almost over (only 8 more teaching days!!!), and I'll be past the 20-week mark in August, making a little safer to tell everyone else. I just don't want every single person to know, and then something happen over the summer, just to have me come back to school and let all the little ones know that I am not in fact pregnant anymore. I don't think their little brains would be sensitive enough to what I'd be feeling at that moment. Chances are nothing's going to go wrong, but I want to err on the safe side, you know?

And a cool thing is, as I was telling certain people at the school, they hinted at how I'm due around the same time as someone else at the school - a totally new fact to me! But it's true - I have a preggo buddy! One of our 2nd grade teachers is pregnant with her 3rd, and is due just 13 days after me! How crazy would it be if I were late and she were early, having our babies around the same time?

All day yesterday felt like a dream: this is real now. Somehow, everyone knowing that I'm pregnant makes it more real. This isn't just a game I'm playing. And it was awesome having everyone giving me special looks, or hugs all day, or questions about when I'm going to tell them the sex so they can plan baby showers . . . I think people are really going to help me make this an incredible time in my life, and I'm thankful for that.