Congratulations?

I just recently had a friend share the news with me that she is pregnant with her fourth baby. I was elated, jumping out of my seat to give her the biggest hug. Smiles, squeals…the whole nine yards. After we talked for a bit, she confided in me that my reaction was genuinely so very different from many of the other reactions she had received since sharing the news of her pregnancy.

And it brought me back to mine and Justin’s own experience of sharing the news of expecting our fourth with the people in our life.

With your first pregnancy, sharing the news that you are carrying a baby is all sunshine and rainbows – or at least it was in our experience with Grace. I cannot remember a single negative reaction, nor one that was even luke-warm. People were genuinely excited – elated even – and we even received rounds of applause, folks jumping out of their seats, and legitimate tears of joy stream down a few cheeks. So it always goes with the firstborn.  

With our second pregnancy announcement, which happened to also be our third, our news was also met with genuine joy, excitement, and happiness. Plus, we had the added factor of explaining that fact that we were carrying two babies at once, which of course introduced a whole slew of new excitement and questioning.  

 

 

By the time we got to our pregnancy with our fourth baby, sharing our news with the people in our life was a whole different experience. We were used to this news being met with squeals and shrieks with our first, but this time was different. Many of our friends and family looked at us with seemingly blank and questioning stares after hearing about the impending arrival of our fourth baby. “Was this planned?” Were you meaning for this to happen?” , “How do you feel about this?” and even “Are you kidding?” were common questions.

 

 

I don’t blame anyone for reacting in this seemingly frank, yet understandable way. I get it. Four kids is a lot of kids. Looking back, it’s just a comical progression of behavior that we witnessed firsthand. I am going out on a limb in assuming that fifth and subsequent pregnancies trigger similar reactions as the fourth, but for proof, I’ll have to leave that to a few dear friends to confirm.

Hello There!

My name is Allison! Nurturer Of 4 Remarkable Littles / Married To My Own Modern Day Prince Charming / California Born And Raised / Adventure Seeker / Nature Enthusiast / Memory Maker / Food / Wine / Fashion / Sleep

Join me in the Choicelunch Blog takeover

Categories

Latest Posts