Can you keep a secret? We sure can! But it wasn’t easy. Our little secret that we were dying to share with our family and friends finally came out when I was 14 weeks pregnant. We were finally ready to make our pregnancy announcement to our friends and family. I must admit, it was hard for us to hold our little secret in for weeks on end. Part of experiencing a pregnancy is the joy of sharing the news and discussing the journey with friends and family members.

For 13 weeks, we had been dying to let everyone know how extremely happy we were and of course that we were in fact expecting a little baby after being married for 1 year. Our pregnancy announcement was originally planned during the 13 weeks mark however with all our travels during at 13 weeks pregnant, the announcement was the last thing on our minds.

Why Is It Important To Keep Our Pregnancy A Secret?

Normally couples are advised to keep their pregnancy hush hush during the first 13 weeks, which is the first trimester of pregnancy. The main reason for this is the fact that there is a higher chance of miscarriage during the first few weeks of pregnancy. According to studies, the chances of miscarriages from week 1 to 2 is 75%. This drops down significantly from week 3 at 10%, however remains a possibility at 3% from 12 weeks even up to 20 weeks.

The fact of the matter is that miscarriages can unfortunately happen and can be extremely distressing on both partners. It is a time of grieving and loss. An emotional journey for both parents. You wouldn’t want to do your pregnancy announcement to later find out there were complications or experience a miscarriage, which will then make it difficult to announce the loss of the baby.

For us however, since we experienced a hematoma at 8 weeks pregnant, we wanted to make sure that everything was okay and the baby was healthy before making our big announcement. I focused more on my health and the baby’s health rather than deciding on when to make the announcement to family and friends.

We only told our immediate family and a few close friends the news prior to hitting 13 weeks but stressed that none of them should tell anyone else due to the chances of a miscarriage. Everyone understood and it didn’t seem to leak out at all. We felt that as long as the news was contained and we stressed our concern why we were keeping our pregnancy a secret, that it would be okay- and it was.

When Is The Best Time To Announce Your Pregnancy?

Although caution should always be considered and the chances of miscarriage may not happen to you (don’t stress if you are in fact pregnant!), it is definitely a personal choice and entirely up to the couple to choose the right time to make the big pregnancy announcement. I’ve known a few couples who were more than happy to make their pregnancy known earlier than 13 weeks.

I think if you are like most women, waiting until you reach 13 weeks is the best time. This gives you and your partner enough time to visit your doctor or health practitioner and complete your last ultrasound during the first trimester. The ultrasound is a great way to confirm that the pregnancy is going along well and that there are no major concerns or complications.

For us, we decided together that this was the right time to share the good news. We only announced it a little later than expected because we were flying out of Ecuador to New York on the day I turned 13 weeks pregnant. Feeling exhausted having to move all our belongings for our relocation to South East Asia, we felt that taking time out and resting was more important than worrying about our pregnancy announcement.

How We Announced Our Pregnancy

There are certainly many ways to make your pregnancy announcement. Many couples announce their pregnancy with a photo, like the first ultrasound picture. Though many people I know lately have been announcing their pregnancy with a simple message and a photo of their baby bump. It can be a little tricky especially if your bump isn’t as evident at 13 weeks. Other pregnant friends have also shared their news through a delivery notice image like the one below. These are really cute and come in all sorts of designs to suit you and your partner’s personality and taste.

For us, we wanted to be a little more creative when sharing our pregnancy announcement and had filmed ourselves doing a live reveal of our pregnancy test at 5 weeks pregnant. I got around to editing the video at 14 weeks and uploaded it onto Youtube, sharing the link on my personal Facebook page. We wanted to share not only our joy but the whole experience of finding out. It was funny because we just so happened to post the pregnancy announcement on April’s Fools Day, and a lot of people were utterly confused.

It was a great way to capture that moment when we first found out we were pregnant, not only for ourselves and our little bun in the oven, but for our family and friends who weren’t present at the time. This was particularly important as we were living in Cuenca Ecuador, away from family and friends and could not visit Australia being so far and expensive. A lot of people seemed to enjoy watching us find out and our nervous faces instantly turning into shock and overwhelming joy. In case you missed it, here it is below 🙂

This is just how we ended up deciding to announce our pregnancy at 14 weeks pregnant. Through a pregnancy test reveal video for family and friends, we were able to not only capture a special moment but allow friends and family to enjoy the experience with us. Which ever way you choose to do your pregnancy announcement, I’m sure it’ll be wonderful. I would love to see photos, comments and videos of your pregnancy announcement. XOXO