Alder's Tone

On the night we found out, after I had had a secret drink in the garage whilst Sarah watched Emmerdale or something we discussed the "Should we tell people" subject. Some people choose to tell their close family straight away, others will wait until well into the pregnancy. Everyone is different but for me it was important to get the scan first and then show the pictures to the world. I had thought a full page in the Metro should do it.

Anyway, the first few weeks were absolute hell. When with friends and family one line you are not likely to hear from Sarah and I too often is "Oh actually, I'll just have some pomegranate juice rather than that fine Chardonnay, thanks though"....FHM WARNING!! We'd be as well taking out that Metro advert early. "Oh so your preganant" would be the response!

So various schemes were devised. Gin bottles which actually contained more tonic. Elderberry non alcholic wine bottles stashed in various locations so we could pour the good wine out and this stuff in when people turned their backs, and my personal favourite "Here drink this quickly before they come back into the room"... It was hard work. Ask Sarah what the hardest night for her was and I would place the mortgage on it it would be my sisters Hen night. Picture the scene, a hen night in Glasgow...ok so far, just...at a Curry Karaoke restaurant - I'm thinking 5 or 6 tequila slammers to cope with that one! But to her credit Sarah managed to get through the night without anyone guessing!

And so we made it to the booking appointment - it was week 10 by this point. We had found out on July 21st, this was now August 11th and we had a fortnight off in two weeks time - Sarahs Brother was even up from Brighton. All was going to work out well. Only 2 weeks until the scan! Life is never that straight forward though.

Despite our hints and I dont mind saying begging (I drew the line at kissing a mid wifes little toe) we were told September 15th would be the date of the scan. Around about 13 and a half weeks to 14 weeks! The bad news was this meant another month of keeping quiet, scams, her Brother being told by phone etc. The good news was we would get a great scan as the baby, fingers crossed would be developing well.

We made a decision over the next few days to tell a select bunch of people pre-scan. I am a big believer in everyone doing things their own way in life, here was our logic. If anything were to happen to junior between that moment and the scan then I would want the support of those I had told. We felt that by telling them now that would be there without haivng to take in the shock of the fact we had been having a baby in the first place. The other deciding factor was that far from reducing stress with regards to Sarah, it was actually causing her more. She would stress about every night we had in company and I was not happy watching her get wound up. Decision made. As I said, I think everyone has to deal with these things in their own way, its whats best for you that counts.

So we told our parents and siblings and the look on their faces was fantastic. The mothers did not get it when I pointed to Sarahs stomach and waved a wee baby hat in the air, the dads got it straight away. My sister thought it was a hat for when she went snow boarding before realising wee teddys are not hip on the slopes at the moment. (They will come in eventually!). We partied, good times! Well we partied until I got the nod that Sarah had had her fill of tonic! Only a small number of people knew pre-scan but for us it worked well.

Having told people the pregnancy became a little more real for me, but to be honest I know its becoming a cliche of sorts but it was only when we had the scan and saw "Raspy" for the first time that it really hit me.

*Raspy - whilst reading a book at week 7 or 8 it mentioned junior would be the size of a raspberry at this point. The name stuck. It could have been plum or eggy as time went on but its Raspy, who am I to argue. You go girl.