How to reveal?

[blueorange94]

I'm 12 weeks along with our second, and we've yet to tell our families. My husband's family all lives nearby, and I've been getting glances at the belly from his mom already. My parents, however, live nearly 2000km away, so our interaction is generally via Skype or the odd text

Comments

[cathygurly]

I bought (and never had a chance to use because I was too excited lol) a mug with "I'm pregnant!" on the front. It went from black to the pregnancy announcement when hot water was added. Maybe you can do something like that via Skype?
Also, as for the coworker.... I wouldn't... It's her day, she's retiring, it's a focus on her not anyone else. I wouldn't do it.... Then it turns focus away from her to you, which isn't something I'd do.

[kelj99]

I mailed my mom a package with newborn diapers and a chicken soup for grandparents book and had them wait until I was on the phone for them to open it.

[mercurialness]

I revealed my 2nd by putting my son in a shirt that said "I'm the big brother". It was great. I'll never forget the look on MIL's face when it registered. She had originally just nodded because she thought I was just showing her a regular shirt I bought him. She did a double take and started crying.

I think that would work well over Skype! The majority of people who weren't immediate family found out from a picture of him in that shirt with my due date as the caption. Everyone thought it was a fun way of finding out. :)

[lil_cherub]

We did this too. That's how we announced to my in-laws and at daycare. I bought the shirt on cafe press.

[willsjoy]

I'm on my 3rd and they're both girls, so I put my second in her older sisters' "big sister" shirt. Of course, my oldest told my mom as soon as she walked in (she's 5) so it didn't work like I planned, but it was still cute. As for the retirement party, I agree with your husband. Very tacky. Don't do it.

[sassie_kat]

I second the Big Brother shirt - you can even customize it to be something like "Big Brother - debuting 11/22/33". For our second pregnancy we wrote Big Brother on my son's belly and had our parents/siblings "check out the rash" that appeared. His family got it right away. My mom is a nurse and when we got to her house, my dad just grabbed my son and brought him straight back to her. She laid him across her lap, pushed her glasses down on her nose and was really looking for a rash, completely ignoring the big blue writing on his belly. My dad finally got her to pull back so he could see and then they figured it out . . . we still laugh at how dense they were

[habzamaphone]

I must admit, I'm more of a "hi, by the way, I'm up the duff" kind of person myself. We didn't do big reveals for my son, and won't for belly baby. My parents already know and his parents will when we've had a scan.

I definitely wouldn't do a reveal at someone else's event. Although I'm sure they would be very happy for you, you don't want to steal the focus of their party away from them. My MIL has done this at my wedding, my son's 1st birthday and recently the joint 30th birthday party my husband and I hosted. It's not fun, and leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth.

[kimie_catclaw]

Yes, this. I just called my parents and in-laws when I found out (but they're both local, so they would have figured *something* was up pretty quickly).