Ideas on breaking the news at work :)

CindyJill27

Hi ladies!!

So...I broke the news to my boss that I am pregnant, only because with symtoms and the no drinking at company functions..someones bound to ask and figure it out and I wanted to tell my boss before anyone else did.

Anyways...I want to now break the news to my co-workers. They are like family to me and I have been there since I was 17, so they have basically see me graduate high school, college, get married, buy a house and now I want to share the happiness I have with them. I want to tell them before they figure it out, I think the shock will get them since they keep asking when we are going to start and try hehe.

My question is...do any of you ladies have any creative ways that I can break the news to them? I was thinking of orginally putting my u/s picture up on our white board and saying GUESS WHO?!? but I won't get my first u/s until 12 weeks and I can't wait that long haha. I work as a dental assistant in an amazing office of ladies that I love so much so some help is greatly appreciated

THANKS!

 

Pepper6

My H is notorious for planning our next vacation as soon as we get back from one, and we're going on vacation the first week of November, so when we get back, I'm going to tell my boss that we already have our next one planned and that I'll be taking at least 6 weeks off starting in June.

CindyJill27

thats a cute one!

Kinipela7

Can you tell them during lunch or bring in a decorative dessert that shares the news?  I probably wouldn't hang up an ultrasound picture in the middle of an office.

JulieSmiles

A friend of mine brought in cupcakes for the staff. On top, it said "Guess who?" Then once all the cupcakes were gone, her name was written on the bottom of the tray. The cupcakes were blue and pink. Super cute!

Valie18

I'm planning to bring a great big jug of Sunny-D to a lab meeting. My supervisor asks people drinking Sunny-D if they're pregnant. (I'm the only girl so he's only ever asked guys.) If he resists asking I'll tell him in private and tell the rest of the lab after.

KLKilgore

We have to carry a book around school with us to encourage conversations about reading. I'm going to start carrying "What to Expect When You're Expecting" I plan on showing it to my boss and telling her I have a book I hope to finish before the end of the year.

Mommysaurus123

You could get a cake that is a white cake dyed blue on the inside with a light pink-dyed filling, then just take it to the lunch room and tell everyone to help themselves, and see how long it takes to figure it out.

I am trying to figure this out myself... I'm either doing the cake thing OR at one of our staff meetings in the morning I'll throw in some comment about preparing now for my maternity leave like it's no big deal and see who is really paying attention.

SarahS11

My coworkers are like family too! They also know I am kind of goofy, so I plan on bringing pink and blue frosted cupcakes with a sign that says "If I'm going to get fat... so are you!" 

MrsAMB07

Kinipela7 said:

Can you tell them during lunch or bring in a decorative dessert that shares the news?  I probably wouldn't hang up an ultrasound picture in the middle of an office.

I agree with this one, but I'm one of those that feels ultrasounds don't belong on FB either, so maybe it's just me. The pink and blue cupcake ideas above are cute!

amccul20

I cannot imagine making a big deal out of announcing my pregnancy to my coworkers.  my boss and one of my cw's knows about our IF due to work schedule, and so I know they'll be happy for me.

but I think i'll just quietly tell them when i'm in my 2nd trimester.

amccul20

mrsgerman said:

I don't want to be a debbie downer but I am going to throw out an opinion from a loss mom. I had a co-worker announce her pregnancy not long after we lost our son and it killed me inside for weeks. I am only mentioning this because while it's a fantastic and exciting time in your life and something that should be celebrated, you mention you work with mostly women and some of these women might have just recently had a loss or could be secretly struggling with infertility. I am just trying to show a different perspective. But if you know them all very personally, maybe you know this isn't the case for any of them, and hopefully it isn't, so you would know what is best. 

I'm sorry for your loss.

and @mrsgerman thank you for bringing this issue up. if people haven't ever dealt personally with IF or loss they have no idea what they're unintentionally doing to other people.

CindyJill27

Most of the ladies I work with have just had children or children are older so I was very sensitive with the ladies if they had issues but I announced it today and everyone is so excited for us. And the way I look at it is, I have no family here but my husbands family, which is amazing, but my office ladies and boss are truly my family and if something happens to this peanut then they can help me cope through it. That's my thought process...this is how I did it, no big thing but just a simple little dish of blueberry (blue) and cranberry (pink) bagels all cut up.

CindyJill27

@mrsgerman I am soo sorry for your loss..

ljs4117

mrsgerman said:

I don't want to be a debbie downer but I am going to throw out an opinion from a loss mom. I had a co-worker announce her pregnancy not long after we lost our son and it killed me inside for weeks. I am only mentioning this because while it's a fantastic and exciting time in your life and something that should be celebrated, you mention you work with mostly women and some of these women might have just recently had a loss or could be secretly struggling with infertility. I am just trying to show a different perspective. But if you know them all very personally, maybe you know this isn't the case for any of them, and hopefully it isn't, so you would know what is best. 

@mrsgerman - First, I'm sorry for your loss.  Thank you so much for bringing this point up.  I read this post earlier and thought of this, but didn't know how to say it tactfully.  Well done. 

Also, I will just throw this out there (ultimate debbie downer, I guess), but I told a lot of people about my first pregnancy and unfortunately it did not end very well.  I found it was a thousand times harder to deal when coworkers kept asking about how things were going.  God forbid anything go wrong, but it's just something to think about.

Who and when to tell is a personal choice, I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in.

Congrats though!  Sounds like PP have some pretty cute ideas should you decide to share your good news with the office.  

ETA: wording/clarity

ljs4117

@CindyJill27 - Just saw your last comment!  Sorry if my previous comment was.. irrelevant lol!  So happy for you, and glad that you got to share with people you care about!

CindyJill27

@ljs4117

Not at all...I aprecciate everyones comments and I understand that telling everyone early was probably not the greatest idea, but I suck at secrets and wear my heart on my sleeve. I just wanted to tell everyone before someone guessed it at work and before you know it its going around the whole office that I was pregnant and then my boss finds out before I get to tell him and then hes upset that he didn't hear it from me....you see my thought process HAHA. but I agree it was a little early...I guess I am just to excited as well. Heres to wishing all the June ladies a happy and healthy pregnancy!

ljs4117

@CindyJill27 - Totally not trying to rain on your parade!!  I'm sorry!!  We're all excited.. it's so hard to keep such good news a secret.

WhitePicketFence

I'll be blunt. I think "cutsie" announcements have their time and place, but work is not one of them. I guess I just like to keep things more professional. I'm all for telling my boss and coworkers quietly.

I do realize that all work environments are not created equal and that what would be considered inappropriate at my employer may be the norm at another.

lzmac11

I don't plan on saying anything to my boss(es) until I'm at least 8-12 weeks.  I started my "day job"  in August, and they are like family and care about me but I don't feel it is necessary to make a big deal over it.  I will tell my editor first then the owner, from there I will bring it up in conversation. 

abbyful

The standard at my work is to send an email. Some people just say "baby is due xx-xx-xx", some do a riddle or picture hint, some send the sonogram picture, etc. But in the 5 years I've been there, and averaging an announcement about every 6 months (I guess we're a fertile bunch!), it's always been an email announcement.

abgail24

Anyone recently start a new job and now nervous about the reaction? I started with my current company 8/28 and got my BFP 9/25 after just our first cycle TTC. Everyone here has been great but I'm still worried how they'll take the news. Any advice?

lzmac11

abgail24 said:

Anyone recently start a new job and now nervous about the reaction? I started with my current company 8/28 and got my BFP 9/25 after just our first cycle TTC. Everyone here has been great but I'm still worried how they'll take the news. Any advice?

I started at my day job on August 7th.  My crappy part is that my grandfather passed away a week later (them giving me 3 days off for that).  Since my DS has been sick, H has been sick and so have I (I am currently still sick).  

Since I made my post, I have been toying with the idea of telling my editor and owner earlier.  So they understand why it is taking so long for me to recover from my illness.

abbyful

abgail24 said:

Anyone recently start a new job and now nervous about the reaction? I started with my current company 8/28 and got my BFP 9/25 after just our first cycle TTC. Everyone here has been great but I'm still worried how they'll take the news. Any advice?

I will hopefully start a new job soon, I'm still waiting to hear back. If I get it, I won't tell them until after the 90 day probationary period.