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When To Announce Pregnancy- Read This Before Taking Major Steps
Pregnancy is probably the best phase in a women’s life. If you are wondering when to announce pregnancy, there is a lot you need to learn prior to that. Although the entire time when you are pregnant and expecting your little baby to born is pretty much exciting and full of surprises within your body, announcing your pregnancy to everyone around you is the most exciting time.
You are probably waiting to announce your pregnancy in front of the whole world especially your loved ones. Should you announce it today itself? when to announce pregnancy? Well, many people wait for the first trimester to end which is around week 13 of pregnancy. There are plenty of factors that determine when to announce the pregnancy and why people should wait to share this amazing news.
Remember that the most important part of the decision lies in you. Whenever you are comfortable, you may pass on this good news to your beloved. You can still have a look at the factors given below that are important to consider to know when to announce a pregnancy.
When To Announce Pregnancy- Things To Consider
Please read and consider the following factors before you have made your mind. These are just for reference, your will to tell others should determine when to announce pregnancy.
1. Miscarriage Risk
During the first trimester of pregnancy, there will be a lot of changes going inside you and your little one on your belly including physical and hormonal changes. With so many changes taking place in your body, there is also a risk associated that your pregnancy might not handle the changes and lead to miscarriage.
If we look at the statistics and percentage from previous years, about 10 to 25% of women who were pregnant ended up facing the predicaments of miscarriage. Among this percentage of women, roughly 80% of the miscarriage was thought to occur in the first trimester itself. This is the reason you should wait for the first trimester to pass.
You cannot control the miscarriage to happen. Most miscarriages are caused by numerous factors that are beyond a mother’s control. Among the causes about half the miscarriages are believed and studies to be caused due to chromosomal abnormalities. This clearly means that the baby did not develop in a healthy way or properly to developed further causing a miscarriage as the body cannot sustain changes in the future.
Some other reasons for miscarriage other than chromosomal abnormalities are:
- Sickness in mothers.
- Imbalance in hormones
- Adhesions of scar-like tissues inside the uterus of the mother
- Luteal phase defect which means there may be a problem with the monthly cycle in women.
Another important factor that leads to miscarriage is age. The risk of miscarriage changes according to the women’s age. Given below is a list that determines the risk depending upon a women’s age.
- The risk is 15% when the women are 35 years or below the age
- The risk of miscarriage is 20 to 35% when the women are between the age of 35 to 45.
- The risk becomes 50% when the age of women is 45 years or older than that.
When the developing baby inside your belly lives up to 7 weeks with proper heartbeat and heartrate the risk of miscarriage to occur will reduce up to 10%. In the beginning days or weeks of your pregnancy, you might not even realize that you are pregnant until you have missed your dates or taken a pregnancy kit test.
After the completion of 12 weeks or more, the risk associated with miscarriages drops and becomes only 5% for the rest of your time in pregnancy.
By looking at the statistics given above, it is clearly understandable why many parents tend to wait for the first trimester or even more until the risk of miscarriage to happen drops below 5%. Most women are more sensitive to their pregnancy and they do not wish to tell people that they have suffered a miscarriage soon after informing the people with pregnancy good news. This is the reason they prefer to wait.
2. Your First Prenatal Visit
Another big reason why parents prefer to wait to announce the pregnancy news is the first prenatal visit. This wait is not till the first trimester ends. The first appointment you should keep with your doctor is after 8 weeks of pregnancy or even later.
During your first prenatal visit, the doctors will run a lot of tests to determine and confirm if you are pregnant or not. They will also estimate the due date, determine the health of your developing baby in general, and will screen you for any infections that need to be paid attention to.
Many couples are excited and blessed to hear the heartbeat of their baby during the ultrasound scan, they just wait for this moment to happen, and then when they are completely reassured for the baby, they announce the pregnancy. Isn’t it a great feeling?
3. Recurrent Loss Of Pregnancy
Many women go through some loss that they cannot get over for years after losing their baby during a miscarriage. For any women who have faced a miscarriage earlier, the risk of miscarriage to occur the next time becomes higher than normal. This highly depends upon the health history of a mother too.
Such news can be really disheartening for the mothers expecting their baby. The news becomes even more upsetting in case of recurrent pregnancy loss or RPL. The doctors will run few tests to examine you including ultrasound and blood test to determine what was the particular tests that led to a miscarriage.
You do not have to afraid, there are many treatments after the reason is known to doctors. With the right and accurate treatment, your chances of giving birth to a healthy baby will increase most likely. In such cases, you might feel comfortable waiting after the treatments to announce the pregnancy.
These were important factors to consider when it comes to announcing pregnancy. Let us see some pros and cons for you to understand before announcing your pregnancy.
The Pros Of Waiting
When we are thinking about when to announce pregnancy and what are the pros of waiting for a few weeks or months to announce pregnancy, there are few things you need to know. If you previously had difficulties in conceiving your child, or you have had a loss of pregnancy, or stillbirth, you may want to wait for 12 weeks to share the news.
It is entirely up to you when you need to share or how much more you want to wait. Loss in the first trimester is common in pregnancies as per studies but a loss in the second and tried trimester of pregnancy is rare. Many couples still feel sensitive that something might happen.
In such cases, you can choose to share the news about any of the following things:
- Performing an ultrasound that shows that the baby is healthy.
- Performing a test to find out the baby’s sex.
- When you have reached halfway, that is week 20 of pregnancy.
- When you reach a personal milestone ( when it is easy to determine that you are pregnant by just looking at you).
Many women feel anxious during their pregnancy many times, in such cases, you can easily tell any close friend or someone in your family about pregnancy to share the details and your low moments.
If you still do not want to share the news or any problem related to that with anyone from your family, you can talk to a doctor about the problem. They will suggest you talk to a therapist. You will be suggested to seek help and advice from a support group as well where you can easily express your feelings regarding your pregnancy or any loss to them in a safer environment.
Other than these things, one more option you can choose is talking to a woman from online forums that are meant for doing the purposes. You may also talk to someone that has faced a similar kind of situation and can help you with measures to deal with and cope up with the situation. These are some online forums that you can reply to for sharing your experience.
- Pregnancy after loss support.
- Subsequent pregnancy after the loss of support.
To sum up all the things, these 3 are the pros of waiting for when to announce pregnancy.
- The risk of going through a miscarriage or loss will decrease after the first trimester passes.
- Till this time you will have a prenatal visit where ultrasound scans will be done. After the scan, you will feel more comfortable and relaxed as you have heard the heartbeat, and reached a milestone crossing the first trimester.
- There is anonymity for you and your better half.
The Cons Of Sharing
If you wish to have a support group or network with people regardless of your pregnancy outcomes, just feel free for sharing the news with your close ones right away.
Because of fatigue, vomiting, nausea, and other unpleasant symptoms, the first trimester can be quite tough for many women. Letting and allowing few key people to share the news and ease your pain and anxiety can be very useful in balancing a healthy state of mind rather than dealing with everything alone.
Even if you end up with a miscarriage, it is not necessary to go through it alone. Let people close to you know that you were expecting and that you have gone through miscarriage to remain in a good state of mind.
You should also tell your employers about this good news right away so that you do not have to work constantly. If your work requires you to make physical efforts or labor, this is a good option to start. Working in such circumstances is not advisable for mothers to be. It may cause some serious health hazards to you and the baby including:
- Bending repeatedly at the waist, like more than 20 times or so.
- Standing still for a very long period can put a strain
- Lifting something heavy for work like heavy boxes more than one or two times.
- Being exposed to certain chemicals that are dangerous.
Your job might require you to perform any of the above-given tasks. It is not necessary that performing these activities while you are pregnant will lead to miscarriage, however, you should still consider them and avoid doing them to pressurize your body and take ample rest.
Always speak to the doctors as they will be able to advise you on how much weight to lift or how many hours you can work in a day. Let me sum up the cons of when to announce pregnancy in your circle.
- The first trimester is most difficult for many women so it is better if you have a support group.
- You may be exposed to some hazards in your workplace if your employer or boss does not know you are pregnant.
- Your friends and family might find out that you are pregnant from other sources too even if you do not inform them about the good news directly.
- This was all about when to announce pregnancy, however, when to announce pregnancy in different groups is another topic of discussion. Let us see what to do.
When To Announce Pregnancy In Front Of Different Groups
It does make sense to announce the news of your pregnancy at different times to a different group of people like your workplace, home, friends, etc. You may want to discuss and expose it in front of close family members at first and then to some friends you have known for years or your colleagues before you announce it publicly to everyone.
Let’s see when to announce pregnancy in front of each of these.
When To Announce Pregnancy To Your Family
Consider starting with your family to announce your pregnancy. You being pregnant will be a piece of major news for them. It is especially seen when they are expecting their first grandchild. You should think of an innovative way to pass on the good news to your parents and witness their reactions full of joy and happiness.
If you have chosen to announce your pregnancy to your family you will get plenty of people for celebrating your good days with you. If something goes wrong you do not have to explain them again and again, they will be there to help you out to deal with the situation.
When To Announce Pregnancy To Your Friends
You will most likely share this news with the closest friends you have in the beginning. As you feel comfortable and relaxed with the news, you can make this group of people who know your pregnancy wider or broader with time.
You can also make an official announcement using your social media handle and tell all your friends about this great news.
Social media sites are a great way to get this brilliant news out once you are sure to share it.
When To Announce Pregnancy To Your Employer
Telling your employer sooner or later is very important especially if you have to take parental leave to get enough rest for healthy functioning and taking care of the baby. If your job involves physical labor or you have to stand most of the day, telling your employer about the news is highly suggested to avoid anything dangerous to happen.
Once your employers learn that you are pregnant, you will be protected against a law known as the protection against discrimination act of 1978. Through certain laws and acts, your employer is supposed to provide you with accommodation if you need any during the work and grant you leave whenever you ask them to.
If you do a job related to computers or any other niche where you are required to be sitting down and working, you can wait for few more months to pass until you feel comfortable in working. Inform them above the leave some time back so that even they get a reasonable time for preparing for your time away.
You should most likely inform your direct manager in the beginning so both of you can plan together and find interesting ways to share the good news with everyone at your workplace too. Remember, it is completely fine to talk to your direct manager in keeping the information up to themselves or private until you feel comfortable and ready to share it with everyone publicly.
If you do not wish to interact with your immediate superior at this moment, just feel free to discuss with the company’s human resource department when to announce pregnancy and what option you have. Make sure you also discuss with them if the pregnancy in any way can affect your job or not.
Being prepared and well-informed about everything will help you reassure your bindings with the workplace and will help carry out a smooth transition.
What You Should Do Now?
Remember that in the end, the choice is entirely yours on when to announce pregnancy and when to tell your close ones about your pregnancy. To help your decision much easier, just ask yourself these questions and believe in what your instinct or gut says.
- Do I need a large number of people if something wrong happens afterward?
- Am I having certain work-related factors that require me to inform everyone sooner about my pregnancy?
- Will telling everyone about this news make me less comfortable or more comfortable around people?
- Are there any factors that can increase the risk of miscarriage?
Ask yourself all these questions and see what comes first in your mind and act accordingly.
The Bottom Line
You have to know that the starting of pregnancy is always frightening as well as exciting for many women out there and you are not the only one facing ups and downs. Just relax and give yourself time to enjoy this amazing phase of life.
A lot of parents decide to announce publicly about the pregnancy at the end of the first trimester when the risk of any miscarriage occurs reduces highly. People also tend to announce it when the pregnancy bump is easily visible and they cannot hide it from anyone anymore. But announcing at the end of the first trimester is not mandatory and the choice rests entirely in your hands.
Telling the world about your pregnancy is not a matter of concern or something you should be worried out, you can tell them wherever you wish to, but telling a doctor and visiting them every month or as per appointment scheduled is very important.
There are a lot of things a doctor will advise you on, for example taking your supplements and vitamins, eating healthy, and developing some exercise habits.
Just take of yourself and the baby to be born. It does not matter when you decide to announce the pregnancy news publicly, whenever you do, it will be a reason to celebrate with everyone.
These were some very important things you needed to about when to announce a pregnancy. In this article a lot is mentioned about trimesters, if you wish to learn about all the three trimesters or 40 weeks of your pregnancy, just read this amazing information to have better insights into your body and your baby’s development.
