Ways to hide pregnancy?

[Catarinah]

I'm only 4 weeks pregnant and we aren't going to tell anyone until after 12 weeks. We have a lot of things coming up e.g. Friends coming to stay for a weekend, a festival with work friends, weekened away glamping, bbq parties etc... How am I going to hide that I'm pregnant!? They'll definitely suspect it and some of the same friends will be the different events weeks apart but we really want it to keep is quiet... Any advice other than antibiotics I could use?

Maybe say you’re on a health kick and trying to eat better and cutting out alcohol?

Only give an excuse if you’re asked directly though- pre-empting people’s questions will only draw attention to the fact you’re tired/not drinking etc when chances are they won’t have noticed!

You’re doing a detox as part of a new health kick for alcohol?

I used to nurse a bottle of beer slowly and pretend to sip from it, I'd then strategically swap with DH every now and again.

I also used a terrible hangover for an excuse at another event, to be fair I looked pretty terrible (cheers sickness!).

I also talked a lot about 'cutting down' and going on a diet.

Not sure any of it made a difference, if people are going to guess, they're going to guess. Hopefully they will be nice and not say anything to your face.

If going to parties I would drive so you have an excuse not to drink, basically try to drive as much a possible.

I would also get one drink, and just not drink it, or slowly pour sips away. You could make have 'gin and tonic' or 'vodka orange' which is actually just juice or tonic

You can have a bad hangover on one day.

I wouldn't directly ever say you weren't drinking

"Im on antibiotics"

Reason for no drinking and potential sickness / tiredness.

I sometimes assume people are pregnant if they say it, but it stops everyone talking about it openly so reduces awkwardness and you don't have to tell anyone until you're ready.

Summer diet?
Or just drink drinks that look like they could be alcoholic?

I thought I would need excuses but it turns out most people are pretty self absorbed and don't notice if you just sip a coke or something!
You could always just say you had a really big night recently and had the hangover from hell so are giving your poor body a rest for a few weeks!

The best thing by far is to just not mention anything and pretend to drink. Either poor your own alcohol free drinks to look like a spirit and a mixer or pretend to drink from a bottle of beer and swap it out with an empty one every now and again. You can also fill a beer bottle with something else.

Say you are cutting out alcohol as you are ttc.

Antibiotics excuse = everyone who didn’t consider you were pregnant now suspects it.

It can be done but do not make a big deal about not drinking. Don’t mention it. If people offer you a drink take it, pretend to sip, discretely swap with your partner or put down and lose or take to the loos with you and tip bits away.
If you are able to order your own drink order a tonic with lime and pretend it’s something else.
I got through a work Christmas party on red wine that kept getting topped up by pretending to take sips, walking round with my glass (making sure I was seen with it) and putting down at empty tables. People don’t notice if you don’t draw attention to it as they’re more focused on themselves. The day after the party I was told how drunk I was by several people

I didn’t use this excuse but a while ago I had to cut out alcohol for two weeks while I got liver function tests done after a routine blood test threw up a weird result. The doctor told me that drinking at all during the two weeks between the tests could skew the results. Could be a useful get out card if needed?

SupaNintendoChalmers
This. Seriously, although it’s in the forefront of your mind all the time it won’t be for other people. Just don’t mention it, people don’t drink for all sorts of reasons. My main problem has always been morning sickness, trying to function and make conversation while feeling like I’ve got the worst hangover of my life!

All good suggestions! I usually drink g&t so I could pretend and just drink tonic with lemon or a cucumber, and pretend I'm drunk... The trickiest one will be a weekend we have away in the peaks as every single year we play drinking games where we complete a treasure hunt but we get points for how much alcohol we consume throught the hunt (we're all actually late 20/ 30 believe it or not) but this is normally on the second day so I could try the hangover excuse to not take part in this one...

You could say you are on metronidazole for thrush and you can't touch a drop while you take it.

Just tell them. There's no law that you have to keep it secret.

Haha I don't think I'd feel comfortable to openly say I have thrush... and @nobaggypants I understand it's not the "law", we are making a choice to keep it private until we know the baby is healthy and the pregnancy is going well.

@Catarinah congrats! I'm 4 weeks as well so thanks for posting this as I'm struggling with it too!

Not that I see any problem with telling people but I get it's a totally personal choice. We are announcing it publicly until 12 weeks but we are going to tell our parents once we've seen the midwife when I'm just 7 weeks.

In the meantime I've told my best friend, another close friend who is pregnant (her OH is my OH's best friend!) and my sister because otherwise I was going to burst! We also have a BBQ at our house coming up so it's comforting to know I'll have a couple of people that can help me keep up the rouse :)

Let us know how you get on xx

I used to accept a drink, pretend to sip it and swap with hubby. He got trashed but no one suspected. If it was his round he got me a tonic water and lemon.

For the treasure hunt you could fake a “dodgy tummy” or try the old “throw your shot over your shoulder” trick.

Thanks congratulations to you too @mummybear405. This is my first pregnancy so I'm just scared to announce too soon incase (hopefully not) anything goes wrong. Just want to play it safe

Don’t have tonic water if pregnant, it’s more dangerous than a glass of wine would be.

@Catarinah it's our first as well but the way I see it, if (god forbid) anything did go wrong I'd want my close family & friends to support us but they can't if they don't know what's going on.

Like I said I totally understand about not announcing it to the world but I don't think I can keep it from my family for 12 weeks ... getting to 7 is going to be hard enough for me!

to be fair whatever excuse you use, at least someone will think your pregnant especially if you use the antibiotics excuse

I agree that saying you're on antibiotics is always really obvious, but people probably wont ask awkward questions as they'll probably realise. I was the same, but in reality not making it a 'thing' and coming up with a reason for not drinking worked fine; only one person mentioned something and I just said I fancied a soft drink. Most spirits and mixers look like the same as soft drinks anyway, but you know your friends the best to know if they'll notice and ask probing questions!

@MyDcAreMarvel no way!? See this is why i joined this website!

Making a big song and dance about not drinking and claiming to be on antibiotics is always really obvious. Don't say anything - just nurse one drink and swap with your DH occasionally.