How to share pregnancy news

When I was pregnant for the first time we thought it would be fun to take pictures of everyone's reactions as we shared the news. It was Christmastime, so luckily we were going to see most of our family members in person. We were due in August of 2009. I didn't want to tell anyone until the end of the first trimester, but Christmas made it too hard not to. We lost that baby at 8 weeks. But, I don't want to forget about that little person. And I thought I'd share these photos for that reason; they are all I have.

I smile when I see them now. And I still cry.

This was right after I told Mike

I told my next younger sister Rosanne first. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo as we hadn't thought of that yet.

Next on the list was my best friend. She lives in Uganda (runs an aid organization) and I had to tell her before she went back.

We told Mike's brother and sister-in-law. They were a little surprised I think.

My parents were a tough sell. My mum didn't believe me. My dad just smiled. First grandchild on the way.

It took about ten minutes to convince my mum that we weren't kidding.

Telling my older sister Julia was not something I was very excited about. She had been trying to get pregnant for almost a year at this point with no success. She was happy for me though, so I didn't really have much to worry about. I am happy to report that she had a baby girl this past March.

Skype was how we shared the news with my youngest sister Sabrina.

Then she cried.

We told Mike's older brother and his sister-in-law.

I don't have the photo of us telling Mike's parents as it was on their camera and I didn't have the heart to ask for it after losing the baby. I don't know if they even kept it anyways.

I was so excited to tell my grandma that she could add a "great" to her title!

This is my best friend's parents. They are like second parents to me. Telling everyone this way was so much fun. It is also so neat to see everyone's reactions frozen in time.

These are the flowers I received after I lost that baby. I still have one of the roses. I know some people make think I'm silly for grieving that baby, that "it" wasn't even a human yet. But, I know that tiny being inside of me was a person. I will see him or her one day. And God has a knack for turning bad into good. I became pregnant with Laney soon after losing my first.