The other day, I went to lunch with several girlfriends.
I should have noticed something was up when A. didn't order sushi. But I was too busy blathering about work.
Then, in the midst of discussing her still-new marriage, she said, "Oh, yeah, and I'll be having a baby in February."
Totally nonchalant. Like -- "Oh, yeah, I'll take a diet Coke with that."
Another girlfriend and I paused, forks in mid-air.
"You're pregnant?!" one of us squealed.
"Yeah," A. said, still eating. "I'm 17 weeks."
Seventeen weeks?
She's just now telling people at 17 weeks? (You'd never know she was knocked up, btw, due to an adorable figure and well-chosen concealing clothes. But that's a whole other post, one in which I will describe the inequities of the pregnancy bump. Or ass, in some ((ahem)) cases.)
How did she wait 17 weeks to tell?
With my first pregnancy, I called a girlfriend immediately after I'd peed on the stick. I was at home, still in the bathroom. She was at work.
"Oh my God," I shrieked. "It's positive!"
"Oh my God!" she screamed. "No way!"
(When you yell "Oh my God!" or "No way!" in a newsroom -- well, it tends to attract attention.)
The next several weeks were tortuous. Not just for me, but Hubs as well. After my first appointment, two months into the pregnancy, Hubs bounded into work waving sonogram prints.
The second time around, Hubs and I had just accepted new jobs in San Antonio when the test turned up positive.
Nervously, I called the recruiting editor.
"Um. While you guys were dilly-dallying about making an offer ... well... so were were. Dallying I mean."
Smoooooooth.
Again, I was only a couple of months along.
And A. waits 17 weeks?
I cannot imagine such discretion. Don't get me wrong -- I can keep other people's secrets. Just not my own.
And clearly Hubs is no better. When we were trying to conceive the second time, I informed him just as he was leaving for a night of poker that circumstances were ideal, if you catch my meaning. We had to do the deed RIGHT THAT VERY MINUTE. Because, you know -- the egg was waiting.
Hubs, of course, was late to the game. And rather than offer excuses, he told everyone why.
The guys were impressed. Sex on command. Right before poker. Dude.
And yet -- the pair of us cringe when imagining what the kids say about us at daycare. Because the blabber-mouth gene? It gets passed on.
13 comments:
Ah, the blabbermouth gene. I know it and curse it everyday now that the wee one has inherited it from me.
Is she perhaps superstitious? My mother's family believes that a woman shouldn't reveal she's pregnant until she's at least two or three months along to ward off bad luck (we ARE from Louisiana). If that's not the case, then I too have to wonder why the silence.
I always wait 'til the danger period (first three months) is over. Just don't wanna jinx it.
Oh, Crap! I have that gene.
I don't know how people do it - especially with the first one. I miscarried in between my girls, and so I waited to tell people about Freya until I was sure it was all good. But the first time I couldn't shout it fast enough!
Did she suffer infertility or loss?
I know even when it got to be time to tell people...we had a hard time.
I'm tall and hide it well. I can make it past 12 weeks.
There is a lot of superstition, especially before 12 weeks, anyway.
Julie
Ravin' Picture Maven
No, this is her first pregnancy. It happened pretty quickly, which kind of caught her off-guard.
She initially wanted to wait until 12 weeks, but still was a little weirded out, so she just waited ...
... until the one girlfriend who knew begged her to announce it because it was getting difficult to explain to people why she kept taking calls in the conference room.
i know a lot of people who take great satisfaction in being able to keep it a secret as long as possible...ala "oh, i didn't tell until i was 17 weeks!" "oh yeah, well, i didn't need to tell people until 18 and a half!" as if it's some sort of contest...
Yeah, I couldnt keep my preggers state a secret for more than five minutes.
I enjoyed keeping my secret until we announced it at a party (for my birthday, but we had chosen to do so then).
Each to their own, I suppose.
I could never wait that long! 17 weeks. Besides, the nausea and enlarged boobs kind of gave it away for me.
We waited 13 weeks with baby #1 and 20 weeks with baby #2. Yep, I'm weird like that. First of all, we don't live near any friends, so my growing ass (yes, it grew first)didn't give away my condition. The second time around, we wanted to announce it in our Christmas card and so we just waited for the appropriate time to send the cards. Halloween would have been too early for Christmas cards!
Ah, the blabbermouth gene...makes you wonder what the day care people know, doesn't it?
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