When to make it common knowledge at work?

[Chattycat78]

Hi all,

I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I'm 13.5 weeks and wondering when to make my pregnancy common knowledge at work. My boss already knows but no one else, so I have already told the person who counts, but no one else.

I guess I'm worried in case I tell everyone at work and then something were to go wrong- everyone would know which would be awful....I had a mc last year so I guess very cautious due to that, although it was at 8 weeks.

Then again, i am excited, And would like to share it with my colleagues rather than having to sneak around and make up "doctors appointments' and reasons for not drinking...

Any views anyone?

[JennyBlueWren]

I would tell now as the chance of a miscarriage after 12 weeks is so low (1%) but it depends on your relationship with your work colleagues and how you think they'd react.
I've already told my very close team as I was late in one day after m/s on the bus in. They were excited but knew I was trying and have managed to keep it a secret AFAIK!
Will be announcing on Facebook soon after the 12 week scan (all being well) and that includes most of my colleagues -anyone else will find out through them or in August after the summer holidays.

[RetroHippy]

I told everyone at work at 11+4. I work in a primary school with lovely, lovely people, it's been an awful few months in terms of bad news and my scan isn't until the first Monday of the holidays so I didn't want to show up in Sept with a 19-week bump!

Equally, I didn't want to come back in Sept if anything does go wrong and have it be like nothing happened. I've seen how my colleagues have rallied round too many people recently and decided that if anything happens I'd rather have the support than suffer alone.

They have been lovely, and so pleased for me despite me only being there since Jan. I hope it's been nice for people to have a slightly more uplifting topic of conversation in the staff room too.

[AllYouNeedIsTea]

I told a few people in my immediate team at about 13 weeks and said i wouldn't be announcing it (just because i'm not good at bringing attention to myself) but i said i didn't mind people finding out. It seems to be slowly filtering through the office now.

[Eastwiththem]

I didn't tell anyone at work! (I was on a freelance contract ending at 22 weeks though)

Someone I worked with a few years ago had bad news at their 20 week scan and decided to end the pregnancy as a result. Our manager sent out an email explaining the situation to everyone so no one made any insensitive comments. I am really not close to people at work so would rather keep any decisions like that private, but if you were the type who gets on well with colleagues then having their support would make a big difference.

[resipsa]

I told work at 25 weeks! Small bump, obviously.

[HappyAsASandboy]

I told my manager at about 15 weeks and, with his agreement, told my direct team the same day. I wanted to tell them before I went on a week's leave because I was struggling to fit into my clothes an didn't want to appear with a bump after annual leave.

News has then slowly spread I suppose. And people will have noticed the bump. I didn't want a big announcement though, just happy for word to spread once my team knew.

[Chattycat78]

A mix of views then.... I do get on well with work colleagues, but there are very few I would like to know all my business. 15 weeks is starting to sound like a good compromise, and maybe I'll just tell my immediate team. As for hiding it past 20 weeks, I'm not sure I would manage it- I'm a size 6 normally so there's not many places for a bump to go! I already can't fit into a lot of my clothes...

[mssleepyhead]

I was outed by colleagues and pupils at 14 weeks and had to announce it to my team before they heard it from some very indiscreet kids! They kind of did me a favour though; I couldn't work out how to say it : )

[JennyBlueWren]

I'm a nursery teacher and I am wondering when to tell children and parents. It's harder than in a classroom as we see a lot more of the parents and so they'll see a lot more of me! Feel bad though as I'll be leaving halfway through the school year.

[weebairn]

I started telling work bit by bit around 20 weeks. I was bigger then but bump wasn't really obvious till 23/24 weeks.

It would have been helpful to tell someone at 8/9 weeks when I was really struggling with sickness and long shifts, but once I got past that bit I didn't really see much advantage to it. My work are not great about pregnancy though.

I am normally a size 8/10 and on my second baby so was assuming the bump would out me before then but there's no accounting for bumps! Random things… mine is still not that huge (30 weeks)

Very sorry to hear about your miscarriage. At 13.5 weeks though, and after (presumably?) a normal scan, your odds are VERY good that everything will be fine. I personally wouldn't let that reason stop me telling people.

[Newlywed2013]

I told my boss at 7 weeks as I didn't want to be doing barrels etc, also had slight sickness! By 8 weeks I couldn't pour more than 3 pints without spewing so customers and locals put two and two together! Which then meant we had to tell everyone which we did after a 9 week scan and two hospital stays! The sickness got worse and had 5 weeks off work! There was no hiding!

[Marnierose]

I'm a size 6 and it was really easy to keep secret I until after 20 weeks. If you have good muscles they keep the bump in pretty well. At the time i thought I was huge but looking back you couldn't tell at all. I wore maternity jeans and slightly more loose style tops.

Everyone has a different preference for announcing but it can be done later if you prefer to have the anomaly scan first.

[Pinkie2103]

I told my boss at 17 weeks with my last pregnancy (easier to hide the bump first time). It was just before Christmas and everyone else found out when an ad went up for maternity cover on our company intranet in the New Year