Sharing the News!

I felt like the first trimester just dragged on and on. Almost everyday, I was truly unafraid that the pregnancy might be unsuccessful. Added to that was the fact that I was traveling for work at sub-7 weeks. 

I flew from Nairobi to New York for what would unknowingly be, my last travel with ThoughtWorks. I got in on a Saturday and headed straight for NJ for the evening, picking up Baked by Melissa cupcakes. I think this was the time that Abby accidentally order Thai from another state! Haha. The next morning we went for early breakfast before church and I ordered eggs that were not fully cooked and sighed. Still getting used to the new diet. 

My travel was due to Bahmni being in transition mode and we were coming together to figure it all out. We had also halted on hiring new TAs so I knew times were a bit tough. I worked the first week from the NY office with Tiffany and Elise, and had to do small things to hide the pregnancy like not getting a gel manicure and not drinking wine at Wine:30. I also saw Danya that week and didn’t drink (pulled the sick card!) and didn’t know how to say no to burrata and prosciutto - SO hard. Funnily enough, she was also telling me Nyda’s birth story. 

I was supposed to fly back on Thursday night but due to a snowstorm, my flight got cancelled until the next morning. I was pretty sad because I only had the weekend in Toronto. I was feeling pretty horrible so that afternoon, I took a massive nap in the new wellness room as I had already checked out of my hotel. I bought some ricola and took some emergen-C but didn’t really know what was safe or not. I was literally trekking 2 blocks to the office with my roller suitcase and life was NOT great. I could not understand how I lived in the cold before. 

Finally on Friday morning, I made it to Toronto. I ordered macarons from Ate Cresta and my plan was to put our scan photo in the box to reveal the pregnancy. There was 0 part of me that realized that it would look like Ate Cresta was pregnant. Whoops. Jon wasn’t home (of course), but it was amazing telling Nay, Tay, and Joey in person. I told Tay afterwards not to tell anyone, and next thing I know, he was already calling people. I said “Tay! Don’t tell anyone!” while the phone was ringing and he just hung up haha. We called Papa and all the Titas, and it was so joyful =) I also told Noelle that evening which was SO fun.

The next day, I was seeing the super7 girls, at least those that were in Toronto. I went over to Janna’s first and told her in a card. Her reaction was honestly, not what I expected. I was screaming and jumping up and down for her but I didn’t feel that same kind of happiness. More of a shock. I also told Lish and Vic in a card but it took them awhile to get it which was awkward and they were also shocked. I felt questioned pretty hard about whether I’m sure I want to have the baby in Kenya, that I should of course move back, etc. And that was really hard honestly. To this day, I can still remember those feelings. 

Finally on Sunday, I had lunch with Ad’s parents and also told them in a card with our ultrasound. They were happy and Ad’s mom quickly proceeded to tell me all the rituals required for a baby. Yikes. 

The following week I was back to New York, and very sadly could not drink during out team dinner at Ilili. On the morning I was leaving, David asked if we could talk. So I met him at his hotel lobby (The Roger, very fancy!) at 7am where he told me he might not stay at ThoughtWorks and I told him I was with child. I had actually planned to tell Tiffany and David together but given the topics of the week and really late nights (10pm), I couldn’t find the right moment. 

So yes, despite the hesitation in traveling, it was all worth it to tell our family and closest friends in person.