Breaking the Big News: Sharing Your Pregnancy

Telling loved ones you're pregnant can be one of the most thrilling parts of pregnancy. As the following stories show, how and when mothers-to-be share the news varies as much as their personalities. Some confide in family and friends immediately after a positive pregnancy test, while others wait until the more traditional three-month mark. One common theme? The immediate support of loved ones as this new stage of life begins.

Sharing News Early

Sometimes disclosing the big news before the end of the first trimester makes the most sense. New mom and chemistry teacher Julie Saxton of Kent, Connecticut, "wanted to tell as many people as possible at exactly the same time so no feelings were hurt," she says.

To do so, she and her husband shared their pregnancy with everyone around the table at Thanksgiving, when Saxton was about 10 weeks along with Linnea, now seven months old. They called family members who weren't there right afterward. This was the first baby for any of the four grandparents-to-be, so the holiday was a perfect occasion to bring everyone together for the announcement.

"There was no way we could have waited until after the holiday meal," Saxton says, "because my morning sickness was so bad, I couldn't be in the same room as that turkey!"

Wait a Little While

Delight Satter and her husband waited until the second trimester to tell everyone they were having a baby, except for one person—their Inupiat elder, an Alaska Native.

We told her a few weeks before the end of the first trimester, says Satter, an Umpqua from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. "The Elder began traditional prayers for the baby and us right away."