How to Announce Pregnancy

You may be early on in your pregnancy, but when is it the right time to announce? How do you do it? Do you need to tell your boss? These were all questions that I had flooding through my head almost every minute of the day for 10 weeks. I found out I was pregnant about 2 weeks in, and until we had our first doctor’s appointment we kept it quiet except our close families. The ever-awkward conversation of telling your boss or announcing to friends is why I put together this post on how to announce pregnancy.

There are lots of ways to do announce pregnancy, from just telling people, a cute social media post, or throwing a party. I’m going to list a few different options here for people with different ideas for this.

1. Telling your family/close friends in person

You most likely want to tell your family separate from the rest of the world that they are going to be welcoming one of the newest generation. If you are in the same city or will be, it’s great to do in person. You can do a few different things from making a nice dinner at home and giving them cookies shaped in the letters of baby. You could bring a ‘present’ that relates to their new title of aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa, brother, sister, or etc. Even something as elaborate as getting a cake made with the sonogram photo on it or something that says surprise, baby brewing. 

Whether it be food, gifts, or even showing them a picture at dinner, there are so many fun ways to tell your family! Make it fun and if in doubt, hit up Pinterest for more ideas.

2. Telling your boss and employer

This one was the biggest stressor for me when we found out we were expecting. What were they going to say? Would they treat me differently? Would they not want to promote me because I would be using my maternity leave? The thoughts kept crossing my head, when in fact, everyone was really supportive and seemed genuinely happy for us. Let the thoughts of self-doubt and negativity out of your head to relieve some of the anxiety. Now how and when you tell them is totally up to you, but I wanted to make sure they were aware prior to putting anything on social media since several of my co-workers were friends on social media.

We waited until we were about at the 3 month mark being that was the time that they say the risks of anything bad happening to your pregnancy are reduced. That said, I didn’t really have morning sickness and it was fairly easy to hide the fact that I was pregnant, other than the fact that I was hungry all the time. Anyway, here are a few examples of ways to tell your boss.

• Set up a meeting in person. Let them know you want to check-in and then when you are one on one, drop the news. It’s best if your boss finds out before the whole office.
• Schedule a call. Like me, if your boss is in another location you may not have the ability to do an in person meeting. I held a Skype call and we discussed over the phone. I still told him prior to the whole office finding out.
• Bring in a cake or treats that are blue and pink. Once you tell your boss, you may be excited to break the news to your office. What is more fun than some baby colored cupcakes or cookies. 
• Tell them as you are comfortable. You may not care to tell them and that’s okay. They’ll find out when the bump starts to show. You can always confirm if someone asks but you don’t have to share unless you want to.
• Announce in a meeting. If you have joint meetings or any group opportunities, it may be a good chance to let the group know together.

3. Announcing on Social Media

This one is probably the most elaborate since there are SO many fun ways to announce over the internet, if you want to. I know plenty of people that don’t announce their pregnancy, or go simple as a photo of the ultrasound or pregnancy test. Others go all out and do photoshoots with fireworks or balloons and pets. 

• Post a photo of your ultrasound photo with a ______’s are super excited to welcome baby _____ coming XX month of 20XX. You can also do this with a pregnancy test.
• Go get some baby clothes (shoes, a onesie, baby toys) and take some pictures. The two of you can hold the each side of a onesie, put some baby shoes by your shoes and take a picture. 
• Put some baby items by your fur baby and take some pictures. We did a cute one with our feet, the dogs feet, and baby shoes on the ground. 
• Go funny – find a ‘speed bump ahead’ sign and stand next to it. Take a picture pointing at your belly.
• Get some balloons inflated that spell baby and take some pictures of them.
• Pinterest for so many more ideas.

One thing to keep in mind during this time is not to stress out. This is an incredibly exciting time in life and it’s best to try and stay positive and enjoy the times versus getting stressed out. And worst case, you don’t do anything extravagant, but just simply tell people you’re expecting.

Having a baby is the biggest blessing. If you are just feeling awful from morning sickness or just not really into planning a big announcement, that’s totally okay. Do what works best for you! As I say with moms and babies, you know your baby best, so do what you think is right, the same goes for pregnancy. I hope this post gave you some ideas on how to announce your pregnancy as well as helped you stress less!

Related Posts

Baby Registry Must Haves
Morning Sickness Management

I’d love to hear how you announced your pregnancy in the comments below.

-Cassie 🙂