I'm Canadian but I am living in Ireland at the moment. 22 weeks pregnant with my second.
I didn't have a good experience being pregnant in Canada and going on mat leave etc. The doctors in Ireland have been much nicer to me.
For example, in Canada I was pressured to do prenatal screening and when I said no for the last time at 25 weeks she said to me in a nasty voice: 'so you're just going to have THIS baby.' I was 25 years of age and the doctor thought I was too young etc. Don't even get me started on my ex-boss LOL
In Ireland the doctors didn't say a word about anything at all. Just congrats, everything is fine you can have an ultrasound at 21 weeks.
I don't know if you have heard but the 8th amendment has been repealed. Now that the 8th is gone I have reasons for feeling anxious about having to tell my boss that I'm pregnant.
The 8th was kind of a shield for me... like termination is not possible so women are bound to get pregnant from time to time anyways so I have no reason to justify being pregnant, my family size or the timing of it etc... I felt that it kind of shielded me in a lot of ways... like an excuse almost. It felt that it would be unreasonable to discriminate against a working mother with the 8th in place etc. etc. It's almost like I was more comfortable being a pregnant woman with the 8th in place.
Now that the shield is gone I kind of feel exposed.
I guess I feel odd about telling my male boss that I'm pregnant. I work in a male-dominated industry. It just feels so wrong to have to tell a man that yes I indeed was 'active' in December.
Last time I had a very hands-off boss that wasn't in the office very much and I had no idea when he would be in next so I told him over email. He was in absolute shock that I was pregnant and was really weird about it. He also wasn't crazy that I told him over email and not to his face. I guess I find that odd. If we were simply just coworkers me being impersonal should not have effected him.
If I tell people, I'm going to be very casual and nonchalant about it. Like 'oh, hey there is another baby.' I've had people in the past sort of hate on me for being reserved and unenthusiastic. Last time I was in a job that wasn't the best fit for me and I was even considering using the leave as time to look for another job. My colleagues were kind of offended and put off by my lack of willingness to include them in my pregnancy more than I did. That's a huge concern for me. I'm fairly introverted but I like to keep work separate from home otherwise I find myself thinking about work problems while I am home! Yuck!
I don't know ugh! I find having kids to be kind of stressful more than anything. In the first 16 weeks I felt like complete crap so I wasn't able to feel excited. And then just as I started to feel better there was a death in my husband's family so we haven't told anyone - we didn't want to when they are still grieving and my mother is not really the 'grandma' type of person. My mother doesn't approve of our situation so I'm not sure how she is going to react to the news. I told my best friend right away but she lives in another country.
I do have concerns about my job. Last time I came back from mat leave the place had changed so much that I would have been better off getting a new job. I basically had to prove myself all over again etc. and when you're a new parent you're not really in a place to do that easily.