Becoming a father part VII: Telling everybody
One of the best things about getting pregnant is when you get to tell everybody. My wife wasn't crazy about the idea of telling everyone. She is a much more private person than I am. Besides you don't want to tell everyone before the pregnancy is well-established. The last thing you want to do is tell people, then have a miscarriage and have to catch well-meaning friends before they ask how it's going. But for me, I wanted to SHARE THE GOOD NEWS!!!!!
My parents were planning a visit to St. Louis a few or so after we would be well-established. We called my wife's mother and arranged to go out for a dinner. We got to the restaurant and ordered our food. Over appetizers and under another conversation between my father and my wife's mother, I told my parents that I wasn't going to be coming home for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. My mother gave me the big frown and asked why.
"Because I don't think the little one will be up to travelling by then."
Big pause. "Bob, hold on a sec. Can you say that again?"
"Because I don't think the little one will be up to travelling by then."
And then I broke out the ultrasounds. There were some happy tears and hugs. I could tell that my parents were as happy as they could be. My brother and his wife had announced the impending arrival of their first grandchild a couple of months earlier and now number two was not going to be far off.
Every year I have a big birthday party for myself, a Thanksgiving-style dinner in the middle of February. Last year it was delayed because of my father-in-law's funeral. So we decided to announce our good news at ThankDoyle Delayed. We invited my wife's family and the usual crowd of thirty-plus. Our house was filled to the bursting point. At one point I got all of my wife's family together and we made our announcement. Everyone was happy for us, especially now that they knew how long we had been trying. After congratulations all around I took my wife out to the deck where most of my friends had gathered. I went to the middle of the group and shouted "I love this pregnant woman!!!!" I guess it wasn't the most subtle of approaches but it was, in the end, effective. The next couple of days we burned up the phone lines calling friends who were out of town to relay the good news. I usually don't like to talk on the phone, but there are exceptions.
Our secret was out.
My parents were planning a visit to St. Louis a few or so after we would be well-established. We called my wife's mother and arranged to go out for a dinner. We got to the restaurant and ordered our food. Over appetizers and under another conversation between my father and my wife's mother, I told my parents that I wasn't going to be coming home for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. My mother gave me the big frown and asked why.
"Because I don't think the little one will be up to travelling by then."
Big pause. "Bob, hold on a sec. Can you say that again?"
"Because I don't think the little one will be up to travelling by then."
And then I broke out the ultrasounds. There were some happy tears and hugs. I could tell that my parents were as happy as they could be. My brother and his wife had announced the impending arrival of their first grandchild a couple of months earlier and now number two was not going to be far off.
Every year I have a big birthday party for myself, a Thanksgiving-style dinner in the middle of February. Last year it was delayed because of my father-in-law's funeral. So we decided to announce our good news at ThankDoyle Delayed. We invited my wife's family and the usual crowd of thirty-plus. Our house was filled to the bursting point. At one point I got all of my wife's family together and we made our announcement. Everyone was happy for us, especially now that they knew how long we had been trying. After congratulations all around I took my wife out to the deck where most of my friends had gathered. I went to the middle of the group and shouted "I love this pregnant woman!!!!" I guess it wasn't the most subtle of approaches but it was, in the end, effective. The next couple of days we burned up the phone lines calling friends who were out of town to relay the good news. I usually don't like to talk on the phone, but there are exceptions.
Our secret was out.
Labels: Baby, Fatherhood
posted by mypetrock at 7:27 AM
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