Breaking the news... (a looong one)

Nov. 15, 08 Ben & Shandell find out they are expecting at 6am...can't go back to sleep!
Later that evening we tell my parents & siblings (they're 16 & 18 so still living at home)...
They (along with the rest of the world had no idea we had been trying to conceive)

Shan:Hey mom guess what we found out today
Mom: You're pregnant? (no seriousness in her voice at all)
Shan: yeah!
Mom: wait...really?
Shan: Yeah
Dad::oblivious to the real world while playing xbox

My siblings also didn't think I was serious for a few minutes.When I got my dad's attention, his response was "You're kidding" and when I told him I was serious a grin slowly spread across his face.

Later my mom said it wasn't that she didn't believe me, but she was about to get teary eyed and didn't want to if I was joking :)

Nov. 16, 08 - Told Ben's parents.

Ben: So Shan and I have been talking and we won't be able to go with you to Disneyworld in June

FIL: uh...why?

Ben: Because she'll be 8 months pregnant by then!!

Both his parents stand up in excitement at this point...

FIL: sounds like you've been doing more than talking!

We then called Ben's siblings who both live out of town. They were also thrilled. This is going to be the first grand child and great-grandchild on both sides of the family.

Nov. 17, 08

We went in for a quick appointment with my general practitioner to confirm the pregnancy- since our at home test was so faint and there's nothing like having a Dr. confirm the news!

I ended up telling my boss that afternoon because she's 8 weeks ahead of me and I couldn't wait to share the excitement with her. She was thrilled!

Nov. 20, 08

Ben and I had lunch with our best friends on the same day...in different cities. I was able to meet up with Linds while I was in Portland for work. I told her as soon as the waiter had left to get our drinks and she prayed for us over lunch.
Ben didn't tell John til they were almost done with lunch, John's a newly wed and had casually brought up their timeline for having kids and Ben's response was "I'm gonna have kids..." and John was a little confused, so Ben repeated it and John caught on and asked if I was pregnant.

Thanksgiving 2008

We hadn't told anyone else we were expecting because we wanted to be able to tell our extended families in person on Thanksgiving. We were going to be seeing both sides that day.

In the morning we were at Ben's parents' place and once everyone (about 10 people) arrived Ben made the announcement. His uncle had been hinting at it all day, so while they were happy for us it didn't come as much of a surprise.

In the late afternoon we went to my grandma's house where about 30 were gathered. Most of my family live in the same area and so all of our gatherings are rather large.

Ben had decided to make the announcement after Grandpa prayed over the meal. Ben stood up and said something about how crowded it was to get everyone around the table but that it was going to be more crowded next year... my aunt leans over and asks if we're buying a house (what?!) and I shake my head and am holding back tears and look over at my mom who is doing the same. Everyone cheered except my Gram who said "what?" and Ben goes "you're going to be a great-grandma" and she sighed with a smile and was also holding back the tears.

The rest of the evening went much better and my gram insisted I come sit with her so we could chat about baby.

After Thanksgiving we broke the news to the rest of our family & friends over the phone. It felt much like the night we got engaged when we called everyone to make the announcement.

December 1, 08
I made the announcement to my co-workers during staff meeting. We do "highs and lows" of the week at each meeting and my boss made sure I was last. My low was that I've been feeling sick lately, but my high was getting to tell them that I'm pregnant! Everyone was surprised and thrilled. After the rest of campus (Ben and I work at a small private University) found out there was a lot of talk about there being "something in the water" in our office.