Spreading the News Far and Wide

Another debate rages in our household - how many people to tell about the pregnancy, in which order, and how to insure that people's feelings don't get hurt. And then there's one more layer: informing people in our professional lives.

So far I haven't vomited in class (a most embarrassing situation that did happen to me in 2nd grade, in the front of the class as I rushed to the bathroom). And I'm not wearing maternity clothes per se. But my stomach is growing, and soon enough it will be obvious. Being under 5 foot 2 pretty much insures that this baby has nowhere to go but out.

But is it my professor's business to know that I'm pregnant? Is it my responsibility to tell? Should Dave share the news with his professor, who is also pregnant? We want to tell everyone we meet, including the check-out lady at the grocery store. But how private should this remain? How many people really care? It's hard to gage, and so we let it slip, little by little.

So who knows thus far? The Dean of Student Life at the Law School. The flight attendant on the way back from Newfoundland who saw me swallowing a Prenatal Vitamin and congratulated Dave while I slept. Our roomie, Adrienne, who couldn't be kept in the dark with all the baby literature laying around the house. Our new friends Jason and Keira, also pregnant. Relatives. Close friends. You, if you're reading this. Our rabbi, who happened to be at the ob/gyn on the same day and upon seeing us said, "Really, it's not what you think," to which we replied, "Really, it IS what you think."

We've decided on the slow moving information approach... leaking it every time we speak to people on the phone, inserting it in those last few thank you notes we've written, explaining to our dinner companions who are curious as to why I brought a bottle of wine for dinner and then refused to drink it.

The pregnancy is a joy, it's a blessing, it's all of these things, and we want to spread the news far and wide. But we also want to maintain the last vestiges of our privacy before it becomes completely obvious, before our lives change forever with a real live little person who will deserve all the attention that's coming her/his way. And so for now, we're trying to keep it mum and smile at each other, content in our secret.