Call me old-fashioned, but I refuse to let infertility steal away the joy of surprising my family and friends with the news that we are PREGNANT! So, I may still go a little overboard with my attempts to surprise people, despite the fact that they 100% know that some kind of news is coming. I also know that not every couple chooses to tell people as early as we do, but it comes back to Evan's and my desire to choose JOY while there is time for joy, knowing that our joy may turn into loss. We also know that we will want the support of our friends and family during loss, and I much prefer telling people the fun news first. Our close friends and family walked through every step of our IVF journey with us, and so I felt like it would be weird to try to keep our news on lockdown after they knew when we transferred our embryo! So, with all that in mind, we had to be extra sneaky if we wanted the element of surprise!
My family
For my mom, I knew I couldn't trick her and my dad to Skype with me without giving it away, so I took advantage of our daily phone call, and was able to tell her on the same day Evan and I found out. I had Evan come and meet me so he could be on the phone with me to tell her, but he couldn't reveal himself until after I broke the news. After tons of laughter, screaming, questions, and tears, we plotted how to trick my dad into Skype-ing with us the next day :) Later that weekend, we were able to trick my brother into calling me, too!
Evan's family
Evan's parents were a little easier, as they happened to be coming into town the next day. TRUST ME, I tried to get both of our families everyone to Skype in all together, but I couldn't get that to work without confessing my secret! So, Evan used his selfie-stick to take a picture, which turned out to be a secret video, and we spilled our news to his parents. After dinner that night, Evan's parents then took us baby clothes shopping at Carters!Later that weekend, we were able to share our news with his sister via Skype!
Church Family
Then, on Sunday night, we told our entire church small group after we tricked them into taking a group picture, which also turned out to be a secret video.
Telling Others
We slowly began to spread the news to the rest of friends and family who knew about our IVF process. Our hearts were full and we cherished sharing that joy with those close to us. We shared the testimony of God's work in our lives through our IVF journey.