I did it! I told my co-workers!

I did it! I told my co-workers that I'm pregnant yesterday! It wasn't quite how I had planned it, but it worked. And now I've got a different secret to keep for a while.

First, let me give a little background on this. Last Sunday, I posted about being nervous as to how I was going to tell my co-workers. So, I asked two women who have been pregnant at my work how they told everyone their news. The first one is my former team leader and she said she told everyone during a team meeting. The other lady said that she made some comment about being extremely tired during a coffee break and one of the other girls said "You must be pregnant", to which she replied, "Why, yes I am". And from there the word spread. So she didn't really "officially" tell anyone, it just sort of got out.

And now back to yesterday at work. Earlier in the day, my former team leader started chatting with me (via a chat program) asking if I told everyone earlier in the week during our coffee break where I had baked something and shared it with everyone. I told her I hadn't said anything yet and that I had baked just because. She then asked when I planned on telling everyone, how it would make holiday planning easier for everyone if they knew and so on. She didn't want it to seem like she was rushing or pushing me, but just that she was curious. I told her I wanted to tell and that I probably should tell, but that I was still unsure of how to go about it.

During this chat with the former team leader, I started chatting (verbally & via the chat program) with the one co-worker in my team that did know I was pregnant, as he sits right next to me. Often times we chat half via the chat program and half verbally, quite interesting to listen to I'm sure. I told him what our former team leader was saying and that I just didn't know what or how to say I'm pregnant to the team. He told me the summer holiday thing was a good idea and that I could casually mention during lunch or a coffee break when the topic of summer holidays came up (or try to steer conversation towards that) about my extended summer "holiday" plans. At one point the guy said something (funny, I think) and tears started welling up in my eyes and I started crying and laughing. I tried telling him I had no idea where these tears came from and they were completely unfounded! He said he knew where they came from and that they were founded. LOL

Anyway, from these two conversations, I now had it mostly figured out how I was going to tell people. I liked the idea of summer holidays and it being able to be brought up during a regular conversation. And most likely not everyone would be there at once, so I wouldn't have to face the entire peanut gallery at once. What is really weird (to me) about this whole situation is that normally I don't have issues speaking up and saying what's on my mind, especially when it is around a group of people I know. This whole "announcing" thing and bringing all of the attention focused solely on me, is just a bit too strange. So, it was now just time to wait for the opportunity to strike.

Then our team meeting happened (during the time most people take their afternoon coffee break). We've recently gotten 4 new people to our team and the EK thought it would be nice if we could go around the room introducing ourselves with our name, how long we've worked there and which units we handle. Someone jokingly said it was sort of like AA meeting, except instead of how long they had been clean, someone said hold old they are. We all had a laugh and people started introducing themselves stating their names, how old they are and their units. For the first few introductions, others would say "You don't need to say your age if you don't want to", but people kept saying it. So finally my turn came, half way around the circle and I said: "My name is Heather, I'm 35 years old and I previously handled this, but now I'm doing this". And this next part is where it gets a bit fuzzy, as I just got totally nervous and blurted out weird stuff. I continued, "And while everyone is sharing a little bit about themselves, I just wanted to say that I'll be taking an long summer holiday this year because... *gulp* ...I'm pregnant". It felt like minutes, but I'm sure it was only seconds while everyone processed what I said and then started saying congrats and clapping. I honestly don't remember exactly what happened because I was in my own world of embarrassment and burning cheeks. It was then the girl's turn next to me.

Again, I can't remember the exact order of this as things were still a bit fuzzy, but soon after I told my news, the girl who was next to introduce herself turned to me and whispered "I'm pregnant too!". And then a few seconds later she turned to me again and said "I haven't told EK yet." and I whispered to her "No worries". I did talk to her a bit later in the day and told her congrats and found out she is a week behind me. It'll be cool to have someone else on the team going through the same thing, but I have to say, I'm selfishly glad I told my news first.

And wave 4 of my team's department of pregnancies begins. At least this time, I'm a part of it!