My Surprise Baby

Now that the cat's out of the bag (aka the baby's out of my bump), I have so many pregnancy stories to share.  I have thoughts on baby showers and registering, cravings and maternity clothes, and everything else from the pregnancy test to reaching (and passing) my due date.  But before I get to the sharing, I should explain why I didn't post about my pregnancy in real time.

When I learned I was pregnant at the beginning of the year, I wanted to wait to spread the news until I passed the twelve week mark.  It's a traditional milestone and it felt like the right milestone for me and my husband.  It was such a joyful, awesome discovery that we wanted to enjoy it between the two of us for a bit.  So, we did just that.  Then we told only immediate family and a couple close friends and let it settle some more.  Then, at twelve weeks, we told the rest of our family and friends and enjoyed a whole new round of excitement.

It finally seemed like a reasonable time to post my fantastic news on NSB. But, it didn't feel like the right time. Even with the news making its way through my social circles, I wasn't ready to share it with the public at large.  So, I decided to wait until it felt right and ignore what seemed reasonable.  Turns out it didn't feel right until last week.

From the start, my pregnancy felt like an immensely personal experience.  My reaction to that feeling was to keep it intimate.  I didn't share baby bump photos on Facebook and I didn't leave away messages on Gmail about my morning sickness (which I had).  I instinctively wanted to keep social media away from my belly.

Many, perhaps most, women shout out their pregnancy from the rooftops, which includes Facebook and online announcements.  I get that.  It's the reverse of what I did, but it equally expresses the true awesomeness of being pregnant.  For many, being pregnant is simply too amazing to contain.  For me, keeping my pregnancy amongst family and friends made me feel like I was preserving that awesomeness.   So, despite the fact that I constantly publicize my personal joys and junk on NSB, I pulled back and let this personal joy stay personal. I hope you forgive me for pulling a fast one on you.  Now that my beautiful baby has arrived, I'm ready (at last) to share and discuss.

An Unannounced Birth

What's the deal with birth announcements?  I love receiving them, but how important are they?  If a birth goes unannounced, did it really happen?

A birth announcement is an announcement of a birth.  Shocker.  The a traditional birth announcement is made on a card or postcard and snail mailed to friends and family.  A while back I wrote a post about some cute announcement options, like the one below (here's the original post).

Not everyone sends a traditional birth announcement.  There's a reasonable explanation for this - modern technology.  Nowadays, parents announce the birth of their new family member with a Facebook post or a text (more inventive ideas here).  Especially close family members get a phone call and a visit to the hospital.  Still, some choose to double up their announcement by mailing traditional birth announcements even when the recipients already got non-traditional birth announcements.  Why?  I think there's a couple reasons: it's more formal, and more classy (let's be honest), than a text and it's a photo sharing opportunity (a pic to hang on the fridge is awesome even when you've seen photos online).

All that said, traditional birth announcements are not necessary.  Quite frankly, formalities aren't as appreciated these days as they once were.  Few people know which side of the plate the fork goes on (versus the spoon and knife) and I'd wager that even less people give a rat's behind whether they get a traditional birth announcement.  The joy is the baby's birth, how people are informed isn't all that important.

Now you know.  (source)

A controversial question: does sending a traditional birth announcement imply that the recipient should send a gift?  Hmmm.  Well, no, it's not a prompt.  But, inevitably, some people may take it that way.  Those who were invited to the baby shower and already gave a gift won't think twice about a sweet birth announcement, those who haven't had an official opportunity to give a gift may feel compelled.  So, again, it's not a prompt, but it does have that effect on some.

Here is some basic birth announcement etiquette:

Who - Send them to whomever you want.  Friends, family, coworkers, neighbors...anyone.

When - Once the baby is born, ASAP.

What - Include the name, birth date, birth length and birth weight.  And, in my opinion, go with the photo card so everyone can appreciate the cuteness up close.

   

Reality Stars Do Pregnancy

Has anyone else noticed that reality TV stars are getting knocked up left and right?  Why?  I have two theories.  My first theory is that the pregnancy-is-so-hot-right-now trend is having a trickle down effect from the A list stars to the non-A list stars.  If Angie does it, it's cool.  And, by now, she's done it twice.  My second theory is that someone at MTV realized that the excessive drinking, hair pulling and grammatically incorrect sentence forming is losing it's allure.  Then someone at E! realized it...someone at Bravo...and so on.  Regardless of WHY, it's become clear that Gym, Tan, Laundry is being replaced by Unprotected Sex, Preggers, Baby. 

Today, I'm going to pretend to be Perez Hilton before he got all politically correct following a tongue lashing by Jennifer Aniston.  Anyone else remember that?  I'm going to waste a good 10 minutes of your life by dissecting the rampant pregnancy trend infecting affecting D-list Hollywood.

First up, Snooki.  Who was shocked by news of Snooki's pregnancy?  I was.  I really was.  Jersey Shore may not be as epic as it was a mere summer ago, but it still brags a huge following.  So huge that MTV has developed 2 spin off series, one with Pauly D (The Pauly D Project) and one with Snooki and J Woww (untitled at the moment).  Now, as I just hypothesized, maybe MTV (or Snooki herself) anticipated the Jersey Shore audience wanting something more than episode after episode of black out drinking and fist pumping at Karma.  Maybe a new generation of hair gel abusers is just the ticket.  But, if not, Snooki has just given up her cash cow for a money hungry baby.  She can't exactly head back to the Shore this summer while 7 months pregnant.  And, I don't think The Situation would approve of a Baby Snooks sleeping in a pack-n-play in the Smoosh Room.

via UsMagazine.com

Kristin Cavallari, former Laguna Beach and Hills star, is also pregnant.  Like the Snooki news, this announcement was quite the curve ball.  Just last year Ms. Cavallari had ended her engagement to Jay Cutler and was accused of scamming for cocaine all day, every day, all the time.  A lot can change in a year.  She announced her pregnancy about a month ago and seems to come up with a new, mind-numbing story to tell People.com on a day-to-day basis about her progress - her cravings, the size of her bump, her prediction that Jay Cutler (aka baby daddy) will be a good father because he's "good with [her] little dog".  I'm starting to think that she got pregnant to stay relevant.

image via UsMagazine.com

Then there's Kourtney Kardashian who's very pregnant with her second.  Unlike Snooki and Kristin, Kourtney's announcement wasn't all that shocking.  But, the timing of her announcement was noteworthy.  Just as the Kim and Kris relationship inferno hell came to a head last fall, WHAM: Kourtney's pregnant.  It felt like Kris Jenner was snapping her fingers at America - look over here, not there, HERE...ignore the Kardashian behind curtain number one...look at the fabulous Kardashian behind door number two!!!  While I avoided using the word "calculated" with Snooki and Kristin (because I don't think it applies), I'm gonna casually throw it out with Kourtney Kardashian.  I don't believe her pregnancy was calculated, but I do think her pregnancy announcement was orchestrated to divert as much negative press away from sister Kim as possible.

image via Celebuzz.com

How did I do?  Could I guest write for Pink is the New Blog? What do you think of all these reality TV ladies and their baby bumps?

Welcome to the World

I have a birth announcement on my fridge from an April birth.  It's more like a reminder and less like an announcement after all these months.  I'm not a pack rat or a hoarder, not in the extreme sense (we've all seen at least a clip of TLC's Hoarders...).  And, when it comes to my fridge, I usually cycle through features regularly.  But, the photos on the birth announcement are so damn cute that I can't bare to throw it away.  It makes me smile every time I get the milk.

In my former, non-baby-crazed life, I thought birth announcements were a waste of good paper stock.  Today, I adore them.  I don't live next door to (or even in the same state as) many of my friends who are bringing on the next generation.  A photo birth announcement brings the baby to me and to my fridge where I can check out those chubby cheeks every morning.  And, it's snail mail, which I love.

Each of these Etsy crafters makes modern, simple and fabulous birth announcements.  All the announcements below are $15 for the digital file.  Contact the vendors directly for quotes on professional printing and to check out other great designs from their shops.

by Dena Design

by Cards Etcetera 

by West Willow 

by Flair Designery LLC 

Attention: I'm Pregnant

No, this is not me announcing that I'm pregnant.  I promise.  It's just the title of this post.  This is me discussing all the ways that pregnancy can be announced.  It only happens once and it's going to be memorable no matter what method you choose.  Here are some ideas to break the news for both the creative and the traditional individual.

Modern Online Method - There are tons of options for sharing your news on the glorious world wide web.

• Start a blog (www.blogger.com).  It doesn't have to be a public blog, it can be a private blog that requires a password for access.  Then, after you make the announcement, your blog can become an online forum for family and friends to keep up with all the milestones of your pregnancy through words, photos and even videos
• Tweet your news on Twitter
• Post it on Facebook
• Make an online photo album with a single photo of your first sonogram or the positive pregnancy test result and share it with your short (or long) list of need-to-know people.  
• Send a mass email.  
• Set up an Evite: title is "Your Name Is PREGNANT!", location is your belly, date is your due date and details are that you are overwhelmed with joy.  

Classic Phone Call Method - The phone call method is standard for friends and family that can't be easily told in person.  A few years ago my non-Spanish speaking friend called me from across the country and said, "Hola!  I'm having a bambino!"  I was so confused by the Spanish (not the complexity of what she said, thank you very much, but the fact that she was speaking Spanish) that it took me a minute to react.  We celebrated in high pitch English shrieks.  The face-time option on iPhones and video-chatting (through skype, gchat, etc.) are all ways of doing it from a distance but still getting the visual reactions.

Creative Face-to-Face Method - The direct face-to-face, "I'm having a baby" method works just fine and my guess is that it will be the best choice for most of your family and friends.  If you're inspired to do something more original here are a couple ideas:

• Try hand delivering a homemade greeting card that features your sonogram photo
• Get a group together for a nice dinner and game of Charades, your turn to act and you signal "I am pregnant" in whatever way you can without words...shouldn't be too hard.  Pictionary would work well too.
• Bring over a cake that says "We're Expecting!" 
• Invite friends and family over for drinks and dessert.  Serve a selection of cookies, brownies (whatever you want) with several bottles of sparkling apple cider.  You can pull out some actual champagne for your family and friends once they figure it out
• Show up in a t-shirt that says "I'm Pregnant"

Revealing Gift Method - This can be done in person or via snail mail by giving a gift that says it for you.  Purchase a "I Love Grandpa" mug or "#1 Grandma" bib and send it to your family members.  The message should be obvious, though I can imagine a call from an unsuspecting brother after he opens his gift to ask whether your clicked the wrong button on the website because he accidentally ended up with a World's Best Uncle t-shirt.

Birth Announcement - Word Choice

The standard elements of a birth announcement (also known as arrival notification), though there are absolutely NO rules:

1.  Introduction/opening
2.  Baby's name
3.  Arrival date (and time if you want)
4.  Weight
5.  Length


The introduction can be said in many different ways.  Or you can skip it all together.  Here are a few bitten and a few original ideas:

"It is our pleasure to announce the birth/arrival of"

"With joy in our hearts we welcome the birth/arrival of"

"We are proud/pleased/excited/overjoyed to announce the birth/arrival of"

"Without further ado"

"Someone new to love"

"And baby makes three (plus our dog)"

"At long last, she/he has arrived"

"We've expanded our family be two feet"

"We've added a branch to the family tree"

"Oh boy! Oh boy!  It's a girl!!!"

"We welcome with love our new daugher/son"

"A new little YOUR LAST NAME has arrived"

What have you seen and used and received in the mail?

Hello, I'm Alive

Your little peanut (or little poppyseed, which is what a good friend calls her unborn baby) has arrived at long last, and it's time to tell the world.  The paper product snail mailed option is a classy and classic method to consider.  Granted, much like the wedding save-the-date, anyone receiving it probably already has the information.  But that's not the point, now is it.  

Photo or not so much?

Including a photo in the announcement requires that a photo be taken.  Taking an announcement worthy photo requires that baby is home and happy and photo ready.  Maybe you want to give the bizarre baby cowlick a chance to grow out or maybe you want to memorialize it and spread the adorable hilarity.  Maybe you're laid back enough to forego the glamour shot session and snap the perfect photo with your digital camera.  Or, maybe you can barely schedule yourself to use the bathroom at reasonable intervals and the thought of coordinating any sort of photo session feels insurmountable.

Tinyprints - Photo options that are slightly more inventive than the standard snapfish or shutterfly options.

Cid Pear Stationery - Non-photo options by way of sweet, whimsical drawings

Luscious Verde - Non-photo options that are modern but still soft


THE PAPER SOURCE - my crafting obsession

I think I love it so much because it allows me to feel creative, without leaving me strictly to my own devices.  It's a little like painting by numbers - the finished product is your own hand-painted art, but there are a few careful instructions along the way (i.e. the numbers).  It offers all the fixings to make your own birth announcements: paper (duh), envelopes, rubber stamps, ribbon and other creative touches as well as full and partial templates if you're feeling less motivated.  I also love the idea using blank 5" x 7" colored card stock and writing a handwritten note on one side and sticking a photo on the other.

The options are endless and include the choice of no birth announcement at all.  My husband thinks the concept of announcing your child's birth is unnecessary and borderline pretentious.  I think it's a lovely way of sharing the unadulterated bliss.  Like most decisions in the worlds of weddings and babies, there are no rights and wrongs, just personal preferences.  As for us, I'm sure that when the time comes we'll find a happy medium, after all we did send out save-the-dates.