What can I say, I really love post-its. We sent this to my Mommy to remind her that she'll be making pancakes for me this time next year. Kidding Mom!Finding out we are pregnant has been the single most exciting thing to happen to the two of us since getting engaged, but we actually had to think about this announcement and how/when/who to tell. At first it was just ours to share, only we knew that there is this little person growing inside of me, and we could look at each other and know that we had this awesome secret between us. The thing is though, I hate secrets. I hate surprises. I love blabbing about things, especially exciting things. This whole intimate husband and wife secret thing was not going to last. I love you my dear husband, but I got a mouth on me, and he knows that.
The obvious first person for me to tell was my Mommy, the woman who carried and birthed me and has been my closest confidant for 28 (then, now 29) years. So I called her and we chatted and, since she was driving, I waited until she was close enough to home that I knew she could get herself out of a ditch in case she got too excited and I told her the words she had been waiting to hear "we're going to have a baby, I'm pregnant Mommy!". She was (and is) thrilled, of course, and was probably the easiest person to tell since she knows everything in my life, including my menstrual cycle and sex life (just kidding, Matty...kind of). My Mom has been waiting to be a Grandma since approximately 5:02pm on 09/12/10 and I was so glad to finally get to tell her the good news. I also love that after all the congrats and tears she said the most awesome (and true) part: "wow, that was quick". Awww yeah. I was in Reno for my first period after stopping birth control, which also happened to be my last...yep, we took care of business in a very timely manner. Mom knew we meant business, but none of us had any idea my body would be so cooperative. Go Team O'Shea! Matty is totally blushing at this point so I have to stop, sorry.
After we told Mom we decided we would go ahead and tell the Sarge and Sheila and Megan and then stop until we had at least gotten ourselves to the doctor to completely verify that I peed on the stick right. The doctor didn't want to see me until I was two months along, which might as well have been like telling me not to open my Christmas presents until President's Day, so we waited, and waited some more, and then I got way too inpatient and decided that since we told our family, we needed to tell our close friends, which are as good as family (and sometimes better) but that we would try and tell people in person so that it would be more intimate and personal...and I wanted to see the looks on their faces, because I am an incredibly sentimental sap.
We had this great plan that we were going to tell everyone while we were taking their picture, so we tried it out with Kendra first.
This is us at the Bleacher Bar before the Dropkick Murphy's show at House of Blues. She was more surprised when I ordered water than when Matty snapped us with the good news.We decided we would tell the rest of the close friends when they came over for St. Patty's Day pre-parade brunch, which ended up being a way for Matty to flex his humor muscle. For instance
Matty: knock knock
Unsuspecting friend: Who's there?
Matty: Stef's pregnant!
Surprised/confused friend: Wait, for reals?
Insert hugs and high fives here
Here is the gang enjoying some libations and Matty's baby bean-spilling jokes. Suad even came from DC just to hear the news :)
Look at that proud papa, drunk with love...and coffee with Baileys...and corned beef hash.Matty: Want to hear a joke?
Ashley: *Looking at me for back-up* Um, sure (Matty jokes are the best because he usually starts laughing before he gets to the punchline and its kind of adorable) Three guys walk into a bar, the fourth one says "Stef's pregnant!"
Ashley: *Again, looking at me for back-up*
Me: No really, I am knocked up!
Insert hugs and high fives here
Ashely took this picture after we told her our awesome news via Matty's joke. Then she sent us the cutest onesies ever. Love that girl.And from that point we spread it around, delicately at first, as I was still waiting to tell my work out of some fear that my boss would not take it as awesome as everyone else. Sometimes I still get PTSD from my last job where I think that any good news that I have is going to be crushed and deflated and made into an inconvenience, but then I am reminded that I work for an awesome organization full of wonderful and caring people who actually care about my happiness at work and outside. I knew it was the right thing to tell my boss before I told my co-workers, which was by far the hardest thing because I love my co-workers and consider them to be true, blue friends in addition to the people I spend 8.5 hours a day with and I hated keeping it from them. But, I told my boss, I told my co-workers, and now everyone at work is super excited for a CWS baby! It is fun to have everyone on bump watch and to have the support of other great moms and dads here, and to not get weird looks when I inhale my food at lunch and then eyeball someone's string cheese.
So now I am telling everyone that will listen, and making my friends feel my tummy and how hard it is because it's a baby and not just too much beer in there and wearing shirts that rock my bump and it is awesome. I love being pregnant and I love how excited everyone is for me and Matty and butterball and I cannot wait to bring a baby into our world filled with the most wonderful, supportive and loving babysitters, er friends, in the world.
XoXo,
Mama O'Shea
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