After some debate, Paul and I decided that we were going to tell his parents on Christmas Day, my extended family on Christmas Eve, and my parents on the day the test results came back.
Back in September, I had seen a little onesie in the newborn section on Kohl's that said "I <3 my auntie." It was pink and blue with purple letters and I thought, "when I find out I'm pregnant, this is going to be how I tell my sister." In November, when I thought I was pregnant, I packed it up all ready to go, until I got the test results back. When I got home, I hid that onesie all the way in the back of the closet. This time, it was so different. I didn't even take it out of the closet until that morning of the blood test. I was so skeptical. I wrapped it up on Tuesday (since we didn't hear back from the doctor until then) and I texted my sister to tell her that I had found a Birthday gift I had bought her months ago but totally forgot about it. I told her I would bring it by later on in the afternoon.
So I went to my parents house to meet my sister at around 5:30. Paul also had something to give my sister, as if it wasn't strange enough that I was there, but I thought that if both of us showed up it would totally give it away. I actually kept the lies going pretty well. I don't know how I did it, since I am the world's worst liar. When she got in, she dilly dallied, as usual, harassed me about hearing back from the doctor, to which I lied again, then finally went towards the "Sephora" bag which is what I wrapped the onesie in. Of course my sister had to smell the bag, shake the bag, and feel the bag before opening it. She asked if she could wear it, so I said yes. She said "oh whatever this is it's way too small." She opened it up and started laughing, saying "This is funny. It's a joke right?" And I just kept shaking my head and saying no. She kept laughing and she looked at Paul, it was then that she finally realized (only after he confirmed it of course) that it was for real. She started crying and shrieking, and immediately pronounced that the baby growing in my uterus is a girl (it could be nothing else according to her.)
Paul had to go but my mom arrived home after 6:30. My sister threw the onesie on her chest and when she came around the corner of the kitchen I said "Hi Grandma." More crying ensued. It was quite funny and touching at the same time. I had to wait until Christmas Eve to tell my dad because he works nights and I didn't want to call him and tell him at work. So on Christmas Eve morning before I went to pick up my antipasto at Bucci's (love Bucci's!) I swung by the house and when I saw my dad I hugged him and said "Hi.......Grandpa." It took him a few seconds to process it, and he responded with his infamous "what?" like we knew he would, then the tears continued....it was the announcement to the extended family that I would have to make later that was making me nervous.
Christmas Eve is our big family celebration. We had it at my aunt Patricia's house this year (my mom's older sister). I was so nervous the entire time. I felt bloated and disgusting. I wore a pashmina to cover my baby bloat and I felt like people were looking at me. My family is so loud and crazy and it was nearly impossible to get everyone in the same room to make the big announcement. My sister and I couldn't think of a clever and non-obvious way to tell everyone and we didn't want to wait until we opened presents to share the news, so I figured once everyone was in the same room we would just announce it. This was proving to be nearly impossible. I was so nervous I was shaking. I was exhausted and I couldn't relax. It took about 90 minutes and my mom and sister pestering me with "when are you going to do it?!" nearly 600 times before my mom decided to herd everyone into the living room. It got quiet all of a sudden and everyone was looking at us and I just said "okay, we are having a baby!"
All I remember was lots and lots and LOTS of screaming. Some of my aunts were crying, my grandmother had no clue what was going on....someone had to actually explain it to her (and she's really not old or senile-PLEASE-she was flipping because she said I'm too young to have babies-okay grandma.) So then the questions came....when are you due? Do you know what it is? What are you naming it? Do you want a boy or a girl? And that's just the beginning. I was just happy we had finally told everyone and it was time to relax...until the next day.
On Christmas Day, Paul and I host his parents, his sister, Mary, and her boyfriend Jeff. I was so tired from the night before and had to get everything ready in time for a dinner at 4:00. Paul's idea was to put place cards on the table that said "mother" "father" "grandmother" "grandfather" etc. I told him they were going to get confused but he "shushed" me. I wasn't too fond of this idea because we would have to wait until dinner to reveal the big secret. Another evening of being anxious (and cranky-I wanted to eat the soppresatta on that antipasto plate from Buccis and I wasn't allowed!) Finally it was time for dinner, and just had I suspected, my mother in law went to sit at the "mother" place setting, until Mary said "no, mom, I think you need to look closer." After walking around the table and reading the other cards my MIL looked at me and said "Does this have something to do with the dogs?" ::Sigh:: At that point, I felt it necessary to just kind of tell her and they were very excited (no screaming at this dinner, though, we exceeded the scream limit the night before). We shared the news with Paul's brother, George, on Tuesday, when he came to drop some gifts off. Paul called him "uncle George" and that quick brother in law of mine caught on. Everyone was thrilled....now it's just going to be a challenge to keep it a secret for the next few weeks, especially at work!
 |
| Christmas Eve, right before or after the big announcement (looking exhausted) |
No comments:
Post a Comment