Why we waited to annouce our 4th pregnancy.

Everyone has their opinion as to when to announce their pregnancy. Some people tell everyone as soon as possible while others wait until their growing bump gives them away. I tend to fall into the early announcement camp. I like to have support from my friends and family with any of the possible symptoms, challenges or complications. But with this pregnancy, our 4th pregnancy, I was very hesitant to share our big news.

I’m 12 weeks pregnant (almost past the 1st trimester) and we just made the news public. In the past we’ve shared the news right away (around 6weeks) but this time we waited. There are three reason why we kept the news to ourselves for so long.

1. The Kids – The kids are very sensitive to life changes but aren’t really old enough to understand the complexity of the situation. I know there are circumstances that can’t always be predicted or avoided but I want to protect them from hurt or confusion if something were to happen early on in pregnancy. Also, they are horrible at keeping secrets so they were the last to know.

2. Other People’s Opinion – I don’t really care too much about what other people think but snide comments sting and are generally unwelcome. There’s something about having more than 2 children that open you up to comments from others about why you would choose to have a “large” family. I was actually really surprised that we didn’t get too many comments like, “Haven’t you figured out what causes it yet?”although I really shouldn’t be surprised because we have awesome friends and family. But part of me avoided telling people because I didn’t want the comments.

And in case you were wondering….
No. we aren’t trying for a girl.
Yes, we know what causes it.
No, It wasn’t planned by us but God has a plan that’s bigger than ours.
And we’ll work out the details as they come along.

3. I Wasn’t Ready – I think the main reason I waited to announce this pregnancy was I just wasn’t ready. It was very much a surprise (I actually had an appointment scheduled to get an IUD when we got pregnant) and it took me awhile for it to really sink it. I had to accept this new reality, freak out a little bit and figure out the details on my own before I was ready to talk about it to anyone else.

Now the cat is out of the bag I feel pretty excited about baby 4. But unlike my other pregnancies I have nothing planned out nor do I plan to do much preparation. I won’t be reading any birth books or taking any birth classes. I put off my 1st prenatal appointment until 11weeks because I know the drill and unless something seems unusual there isn’t too much I can do until this baby decides to come out (which will probably be around 41-42 weeks).

When did you announce your pregnancy(ies)?