First of all, can we talk about the pregnancy test???

Can you believe what women go through?  We go privately in a bathroom.  Try to pee on an ity bity stick for EXACTLY 5 seconds (because too little or too much could cause ‘false’ readings) all while trying to do this without peeing on yourself. Then you wait, what seems like a century… for a line to appear or not appear, then you question if the line is too faint and not a line at all…  and with some pregnancy tests, you have to uncode the fine print in the instructions because some tests results are more complicating to read than the Da Vinci Code.  And if it IS positive, you have to repeat all of the steps just to make sure it was accurate.  I have been guilty of buying at least three different brands just to make sure and apparently the 99% accuracy isn’t good enough for me.  So, when you finally DO confirm you’re pregnant who/what/where/when can you explode this information?  It’s hard to contain this information to yourself and super hard not to tell anyone.  So here is a list of creative ways to announce your pregnancy!

Creative ways to announce your pregnancy!

There have been so many creative ways to do this.  We are on baby #2 and I had so much fun telling everyone and wanted to share how we did it.  Such a special time in your life!  Whether you’re becoming a first-time mom or adding to your tribe, there’s a period of time early on when you don’t want to tell anyone and a period when you want to shout it from a mountain!  Plus, there’s another period of time you want everyone to know you are actually growing a human in your belly vs. eating too many donuts.  I’m guilty of both. 

The good ‘ol; ‘I peed on a stick and here it is!’ method. 

Yes, I’ve done this.  When in doubt, you can leave this little potty stick with that big “+” sign for your baby daddy to decode.  Double bonus if you can record it.  Have your iphone handy, record it in the background, whatever it takes.  The initial reaction when they find out is the best!  Happy, sad, confused, the wave of emotions are priceless!  The video below is a bunch of hilarious clips of the baby daddy’s reaction when they find out they’re expecting:

Subtle hints. 

More like, subtle like a BOMB!

We surprised our parents with baby #1 by putting a pacifier in a cake that we had purchased for a family dinner.  When we were ready for dessert, my mother-in-law tried to cut the cake and everyone was watching her struggle and confused what was on the cake.  My mother asked, “is that a pacifier?!?”  You could slowly see the wave of realization on their faces as they made the connection of pacifier with baby.

For baby #2, we had our parents over for dinner and I had put a picture of the ultrasound under clear dinner plates.  The thought was when they finished their meals, they would see the picture.  Sounded easy enough, right?  Not so much, our dads ate in 5.2 seconds and didn’t even notice the ultrasound picture (hubby and I were exploding with anticipation) and it wasn’t until our mom saw the pic and asked us if we were trying to tell them something…  YES, YES, YES, WE ARE!

I surprised my husband with baby #2 by purchasing a “Big Brother” tshirt for our little one. My son was playing in the yard and and my husband was greeting him, excited to play with him but when he read the tshirt, he said, “what the @#%&!??”  It was hilarious because he was shocked and super excited.

Other ideas:

• Put a “bun in the oven” – hey honey, there’s something sweet in the oven!  That’s not the only place where there’s a bun in the oven!
• Buy baby daddy a present so when he opens the “what to expect when expecting” or Jimmy Fallon’s “Call me Dada” book, or a bib /onesie that reads, “I love my daddy,” the subtle hint will become very obvious.
• Go to morphthing.com, morph a picture of you and baby daddy, print it out and frame it. I think this is hilarious because sometimes the baby morphs turn out super hilarious looking.  Maybe it will be obvious, maybe not and he’ll ask, “whose baby is that?”  Either way, you’ll get a laugh and best surprise ever!
• Buy baby accessories (pacifier, baby shoes, diapers, baby books, or pics of ultrasound) and wrap as presents or put them in places to be found.

Fun ways to tell your loved ones far away!

Sometimes, over the phone isn’t always the most exciting way to tell people.  I wanted to send our siblings something special, so they could celebrate with us.  For baby #2, I had help from uber eats and edible arrangements to help deliver treats.  I addressed the treats to our nieces and nephews and came up with a little poem:

Dear cousins,  JJ thinks you are all so sweet, he wants you to have this little treat!  To celebrate the great news he heard today… JJ is going to be a big brother in May!  (Please share with your parents because Aunt R can’t be the only one with a belly!). xoxo, Baby M #2

Our family loved it and it was so fun to get all of their phone calls when they opened it and heard the news!

Pictures.  Worth a 1,000 words, right?    

I can’t get over the cuteness of what parents are doing with their picture announcements.  Again, using props to spell out that they are expecting: ultrasound pictures, baby accessories (baby shoes and onesies are super popular), baby due date (on a calendar with date circled or written on onesie), “B-A-B-Y” balloons, letters spelling out BABY on onesies.  Whether you post it on social media, mail it, or do an ‘expecting soon’ baby announcement, holiday card, or whatever, you can’t go wrong!

Utilizing your little ones and get them involved.  They love to be apart of the process and you’ll have an amazing keep sake.  Ideas include having siblings hold signs or stand next to posters that anticipate their future role:  “Being promoted to big bro/ big sis – effective month/year,” or reading a book, “I’m going to be big brother/sister.”

Do you have a fur baby?   Take a picture of them sitting next to ultrasound picture or next to sign stating, “my parents are getting me a human,” or “I thought I was your baby?”.

Make a Video.  Record your baby daddy’s reaction and show the world.  For baby number 2, we decided to make a dance video.  This was partly because our pre-Grammy party turned into a dance party, and eventually turned into a video paparazzi session. I turned all these little video clips into a dance video. I now have a little family video keepsake that we’ll be able to look back at.  PLUS, my pregnant self sometimes feels like Beyoncé with all my awesome curves and I obviously had to show it to the world.

Regardless of how you tell your loved ones and the world, congratulations to you!  Everyone will be excited with you!

What are some other pregnancy announcements that you loved or that you did?  I’d love to hear!

xoxo, Rachael