You just found out you’re pregnant! Maybe you were hoping and planning for this day, or maybe you never would have guessed in a million years that you would be here. But yet, here you are, staring at that little plastic stick with a very clear second line in the window. Your mind is probably racing, and one of the thoughts that may have already crossed your mind is how and when you are going to make your pregnancy announcement.
Some women choose to tell their partner right away, if their partner wasn’t already there with them when they got that positive. The more difficult decision is often when to tell the rest of the world (or at least the people in your world). You might be one of those people who cannot wait to tell EVERYONE! The excitement is just too much and the world must know right this second! That’s a very normal reaction to getting this kind of news, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to share your joy with others.
Choosing to wait on making your pregnancy announcement
If you are one of those people who can’t wait to share, though, you might be trying your hardest to not tell everyone right away because you’ve already heard about the unwritten rule of not sharing the news of a pregnancy publicly until after the first trimester.
Many women choose to wait to share pregnancy news until at least after the first trimester because 85% of miscarriages occur during the first trimester. The risk of miscarriage goes down with every passing week of pregnancy, but the risk dramatically drops at 13 weeks gestation from 10% to below 5%. The risk drops to below 1% at 20 weeks gestation, and for that reason, some women choose to wait even longer before making their pregnancy announcement. They might feel that the loss itself would be painful enough without having to announce it to their friends and family, too.
Choosing to make your pregnancy announcement right away
Some people are very open about their desire for a child and their journey of trying to conceive, so it feels unnatural to them to keep their success in doing so a secret. Maybe they have been trying for a very long time and can’t imagine keeping the good news to themselves for over two months.
One in four women will suffer a pregnancy loss, and this type of loss is often suffered alone due to the fact that few people, if any, knew that the woman was pregnant in the first place. For that reason, some women choose to announce their pregnancy publicly as early as they themselves find out. They know that even if their pregnancy were to end in miscarriage, they would still want to share that information with the same people with whom they want to share their pregnancy news. They want to be supported by their loved ones through their loss just like they would have been supported through their pregnancy.
There is no right or wrong time to announce.
Not everyone makes their decision about when to share their pregnancy news based on the risk of miscarriage or their overwhelming excitement to tell the world. There can be thousands of different reasons why someone might choose the specific timing of their pregnancy announcement. All of us here at Utah Valley Doulas have seen a lot of different pregnancies be announced at various different times during the pregnancy (or even sometimes after the baby has already been born!), so we want you to remember that when and how you choose to announce your pregnancy is and should always be completely and entirely up to you.
And while you contemplate your decision on when to announce, check out these super cute ideas on how to announce!
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