Thursday, September 16, 2010

How We Told Them....

This is part two in our very long pregnancy story, please read Part One HERE.

Tuesday, August 17th rolled around. It was the day before our departure for the Middle East. We had previously scheduled final Skype dates with both sets of parents and siblings, so we decided to keep them as to not arouse suspicion.

First up, were my in laws and brother in law. We chatted like normal and about 20 minutes in Ian held up my "What to Expect," book saying I got a new book. It took a minute to soak in. They read it out loud and then were kind of quiet for a little before getting all excited! My mother in law kicked her youngest out of the chair so she could sit closer and ask all sorts of questions. They are pretty excited!

Next up, were my parents. My momma had known all along that we were trying and that we were having issues, and just a handful of days prior I had told her that I didn't know what was going to happen. Which was true, it was the day or two before when we tested.

And about 30 seconds before we were going to tell them, there was a knock at our door. It was some friends of ours that we had made and one of our supervisors! They wanted to take us out to dinner on our last night. I freaked out a little bit because we had all of the pregnancy books out on the table and a few pieces of baby clothing. I shoved everything under a blanket and asked my parents if we could call them right back. Ha! I don't think I was the best host to our friends....I just couldn't wait to get back on and tell them! Sorry Joan, Tim, and Marsha!!

We told them the same way, with the "What to Expect," book. My momma cried almost instantly and my Dad got his wonderful smile on!

My parents were overjoyed and quickly set about figuring out their "Grandparent Names."
Next up, we told my sister.

In the same way.

Are you seeing a pattern here?

Heather was excited when I told her she was going to be an aunt!

Unfortunately, in the midst of all of the phone call chaos, I forgot to take her picture. Sorry sis!

Next up, was Ian's brother, my other brother in law, Sid. He had originally tried to skype in with his family on the first call, but three way wasn't allowing video, so that was a bust. He sat there and waited the entire time!

Way to go, Sid. He was so excited as well.


It was a little bittersweet telling everyone. You could see that they were excited, and then a wave of sadness and disappointment would wash over them as they realized that this precious little baby would be born in a foreign country, not surrounded by the family.

Telling friends was a different story altogether. Let's see, we waited three whole weeks before telling another soul. And when we did, it came out all in one big, fast, and furious blob.

My friend Courtney, who I skype with really regularly (ha, probably 2 times a week, if not more!) was told first, because I didn't know when I would talk with her next. She's been praying with me through alot of this and is probably the most open and candid in asking me how it was going.

Then, three days later I got to skype in (very early, I might add, thanks to the time difference, it was 4:30 am my time) to Girls Night! Four of my closest girl friends were there, and they are my childhood friends. We spent the hour or so rotating through one of them giving me an update, then me giving an update, then one of them, then me...etc. Finally, on my last "turn," I held up the book and waited. They read it out loud and were seriously confused until I said "I'm pregnant!!"

Of course they freaked out when I told them how long I had kept it from them. But a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do!

After that I gave my Momma and Mother-in-Law permission to tell family. I heard that my grandma and great aunt were super pleased, that my aunt cried and cried, and my uncle said something along the lines of "That's Great..." He's super mellow though, ha! I would have told them myself, but they aren't on skype yet (I bet they will be soon!) plus I knew my Momma would love to do it!

We told Ian's best friends John, Sam, and Tim, over the phone and Skype. Tim, is also super mellow so he wasn't super joyful, but Sam and John, for being men, were REALLY excited for us! It helped us get even more excited to know all of the great men that this baby will have in its life.

I FINALLY got ahold of Mrs. Angela, a close family friend after leaving a message saying "You never answer your phone the first time. I know you don't recognize this number, but it's me, so I'll call back in 10 minutes and you better pick up. I really need to talk to you!" When I called back, before she even said "Hi," she said "You're Pregnant!" haha.

I had to tell Mrs. Emily, another family friend, through email (boo,) because of phone issues, and my dear friend Raphaela had to find out through Facebook (hahahaha,) because she is a very hard person to get in touch with. Actually, the day I was going to get her to call me, she announced to the world that she was shutting down her facebook (my only form of communication with her since our move here,) and just like that I had no way to get in touch with her!

The next day, she got bored, re initiated her Facebook and saw that 2 of her friends had gotten engaged, 2 had started a relationship, and I had announced my pregnancy! Haha, what a sad day for her. She swears she'll never shut it down again.

The Facebook and Blogger response has been so encouraging during these strange days! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers!

Well, that's it for now. Part three will be on it's way tomorrow!

12 comments:

Jamie said...

How fun! I love y'alls families expressions :)

Jessica said...

Congratulations! As I've been reading your story I can see how amazing God truly is!

Ria @ Life as a Wife! said...

Exciting! I sent you an email if you have time to look at that too :) Bless you!! SUCH A HAPPY THING!

Ginger said...

oh I love the family reactions how exciting!!

Unknown said...

I love all the hype around telling everyone it must be so so so exciting! xxx

Sonya said...

That must have been so fun! It will be hard to have all of the family far away when baby comes but I'm sure you'll come up with a way for them to be closer! Isn't technology wonderful!

Jessica said...

Aww, what an exciting time!! What a crazy whirlwind your last days must have been before leaving!

Lauren said...

Oh how fun, I love hearing about how people share their special news! Glad Skype was able to give you the opportunity to tell most all your family face to face!

Brittany said...

SOOOO exciting! :)

I love this!

Kelley said...

I am so excited for you guys! Congrats and prayers for you all during this time, for a safe and healthy mama and baby!

Kelli said...

Your Uncle Kenton woke me up to tell me "Brittney is pregnant!". He NEVER wakes me up, so consider that a great reaction to the news!!

Anonymous said...

I love you dear Brittney :o)