My wife and both have very loving and involved parents. That’s a great benefit for us when we need advice or help with projects, and it will come in very handy when the baby arrives.
But we were facing our first dilemma once we found out we were pregnant: How to tell both sets of parents, or future grandparents, at the same time. Calling them all over the house or out to dinner together would be suspicious and they would know at the invitation. We thought about calling them simultaneously on the phone. I would tell my parents and my wife would tell hers. While that solved the issue of telling them both at the same time, it was rather impersonal because we live within five miles of both. Hmmm.
Aha. Leave it to the future mother to have an idea. She thought of sending out two bouquets of flowers with a card signed by their future grandchild. The flowers would be delivered while they were all at work, and they would get the news in a personal and memorable way without feeling like we chose one over the other to tell first.
The card read: “Dear (grandparents’ cute names), Can’t wait to meet you in nine months. Join my parents for dinner Friday. Love, Your Future Grandchild. P.S. Keep this quiet!”
Let’s just say it worked. It was a big hit, actually. My mom showed the card to her coworkers the next day, and it received rave reviews. The celebration dinner was a bit of a disaster, as both future grandmothers shared their pregnancy, labor and delivery horror stories as my wife sat there freaked out.
But there aren’t many people who know about this yet, as we are being cautious about getting past the first trimester. After that we can “go public,” and I can actually refer to my wife by name rather than as a possession.
Peaks and Lavallees 