Spilling the beans

I was originally going to bury this in the comments over on my post from Sunday, but then I decided that would be a little unfair. Mad Hatter and Lisa b both commented on how lucky I was in my lack of morning sickness when I was pregnant with Scooter. Before you get too jealous, however, let me explain the impetus for that post:

• I was awakened very early Saturday morning by a wave of nausea. Not a run-to-the-bathroom kind of wave, but a distinct queasiness, nonetheless.
• This nausea continued throughout the day. Not constant, just rising to the surface from time-to-time.
• Yes, I was pretty sure I was pregnant by this time, but wasn't willing to commit.
• The pregnancy test I took on Sunday morning was inconclusive. I was pretty sure I saw a very faint line, but couldn't say for certain until outside the 10-minute limit the manufacturer gives for an accurate reading.
• More nausea.

By this point, I was pretty sure I was pregnant, but trying very hard not to get myself sold on the idea.

I retook the test this morning. And there was definitely a second line. Very faint, but there. The nausea continues. Still not overwhelming, but not pleasant.

I am now waffling about when I'll start telling people. I even debated talking about it here; since I personally know some of the Toronto-area bloggers, it feels a little odd to pass that information along to all of you before my family. But I needed to tell someone.

With my last pregnancy, Trillian and I told our parents and siblings almost immediately. And then we put a moratorium on telling when I had a scare. My HCG levels were not rising as quickly (doubling every 2-3 days) as expected. Trillian and I spent a few days combing the internet, trying to figure out what it meant. All of the examples we seemed to find, however, showed the HCG levels stalling out or falling instead of rising at 40% as opposed to 66-100%. The doctor moved up my 1st ultrasound from my 8th week to my 7th, but that still left several days for us to worry.

The weekend before my ultrasound, we went to visit my grandmother who was in a rehabilitation center, recovering from some medical problems. We had been planning to spread the good news, but decided to hold back, pending our results. But over a lunch with my favorite aunt, I ended up telling her about our source of anxiety--which is when she told us, "In my day, we didn't get nearly as much information about our pregnancies. And that was probably a good thing."

The next week, we headed to the obstetrician's office with our fingers crossed. And suddenly there was our tiny little peanut, heart beating away, measuring just right. That calmed me down. That and finding out that, in fact, 20% of otherwise normal pregnancies demonstrate lower HCG levels.

So the big debate now is whether we go ahead and tell people or try to hold off for 8-12 weeks, the course of action we know to be prudent. So what did other people do?