Initially when we first found out that I was pregnant I was adamant that I didn’t want anyone to know until after our first scan at 12 weeks, but in the end we decided to tell a couple of people just before the 7 week mark. This was a bit of a compromise really, as Jamie was keen to tell a couple of people so we both agreed that we would tell two people each and leave it at that.

I decided that I was going to tell my parents, so we drove over there and waited about an hour into the conversation before dropping the bombshell. I don’t think either of them really knew what to say at first, but they were both very happy for us and it was nice to know that we had been able to share our secret with someone!

We both let our work know too, and reflecting back on this it was absolutely the right decision to make at the time. I know that there is no obligation to let an employer know about a pregnancy from such an early stage, but it made a huge difference to know that my manager understood why I wasn’t feeling on top form some days and why I may need to take the odd day off for appointments or need a bit of help with lifting things. I guess it just felt a bit deceptive to lie about going to the midwife, and the idea of having to make up excuses only for them to learn the truth a few months down the line wasn’t something that I felt comfortable with.

It was definitely a struggle not telling anyone else after this. There were times when I felt like I was lying to everyone by not letting them in on our little secret, but I was very aware of the risks involved and didn’t want to allow myself to get my hopes up until after we had had our first scan. I decided that dealing with bad news would have been very difficult for us, but would have been a million times worse if we then had to let everyone else know that things hadn’t gone to plan as well. I figured that waiting a few more weeks wouldn’t be the end of the world and that people would understand our reasons for not telling them!