Telling the Big News

After much discussion Thursday night, and after I had discussed it to death with family and friends, Ellis and I decided to go ahead and tell everyone that we are expecting a child - even though I am not done with the first trimester. I will not bore you with all the reasons, but a large part of the reason is that we bumped into someone we knew at our doctor's appointment. Last Wednesday, we went for our first ultrasound (which I'll post about next). Afterwards, we were sitting in the waiting room (the office calls it the "waiting womb") and while we are still beaming with excitment and marveling at the miracle - in walks a woman from church that we both know well. She was in for her 4 month check-up, and she sat down and said "do I know something no one else knows?" :) We took that as a sign that it was time for us to go ahead and let everyone know. I'll highlight some of the wonderful moments of telling people below:

First off, I must confess that I get SO NERVOUS when I tell people I am pregnant. I don't know why -- I just do. I think I've gotten a little better about it because of the "experience" I've had the last couple days, but I still get nervous!

So -- we let our parents know on Mother's Day. We gave our moms "grandmother's day" cards instead of mother's day cards. My mom figured it out right away before she opened the card. Ellis' mom took a minute because Ellis' sister has a child, Kate. She later confessed that she took a minute because she couldn't understand why we were giving her a mother's day card from Kate. But she burst into tears of excitement when she realized what we were telling her. It was a wonderful moment for all of us! :)

I let everyone at work know this past Friday and everyone was really great about it! I personally told the attorneys I work closely with on my team, my closest friends in the firm, and our managing partner. I am sure word will spread quickly next week to everyone else. My boss, Jamie, said some wonderful things to me - really made me feel good both about my place in the firm and my having a baby. Overall, I work for a wonderful firm and have a job that I know I should be thankful for every day. (Even if I do often daydream about quitting and opening up a bookstore or just cutting out early -- I mean it wouldn't be "work" if we loved it all the time, would it?)

As most of you know, Ellis is the Program Director of a Methodist church. We told everone at church this morning. I think all of them were more excited than just about anybody else! Ellis oversees the Child Care program at the church, among many other things - so I think the whole Child Care staff has been dying to hear that he was going to have a child. We had been constantly told by many in the church, "When are you going to have a baby?", (which I must admit, sometimes REALLY got on my nerves) - but so they were all ecstatic to learn that we were. This morning, at the end of the service, right before the benediction, our minister decided to announce to the ENTIRE congregation that we were expecting a baby. Lucky Ellis was back in the back of the church at the time - but I am in the choir so I am dead center facing the congregation when she made the announcement. I turned BRIGHT red of embarrassment when she told everyone. I was so nervous about it that, unfortunatley, I missed the reactions of everyone in the church. But everybody gave us a huge round of applause. We were greeted with so many hugs and congratulations after the service -- it makes me remember why I love the church community that we are a part of. They are so supportive and genuinely happy for us.