I waited until 15 weeks to tell my boss and 17 weeks to tell coworkers. I wanted to be in the clear of successfully finishing my first trimester (which is either 12 or 14 weeks depending in who you ask) and I am not particularly close to anyone in my office so it wasn't too hard to keep the secret. I also wasn't really showing then either and knew that even if it was a little bit noticeable no one would have the guts to ask me if I was pregnant or just getting fat.
We have been talking about international travel for the last year and this is the first year we were approved for a trip. It had come up a few weeks beforehand as we discussed where to go and what tour to join, but I knew it was going to come up again. Not too far into the meeting, it came up again and I had to break the news. I felt like I was lieing by not telling him I was pregnant and going to be out on maternity leave the entire travel season, including when we had discussed going to Brazil. I had gone over scenarios in my head, thought of excuses, read about the best ways to approach the situation and gotten pretty worked up over it. Do I say it was an accident? No, I'm a terrible lair and I would feel really bad. Do I come with a whole leading story to distract attention? That's just a lot of work and in the end you get to the same point. So after completely over-analyzing it, getting hot and frigidity I just blurt out "So, I'm pregnant." I think he could tell I was getting worked up over something because I saw a sigh of relief on his face of 'Oh, at least she's not quitting.' Or at least that's how I read it.
At this point, I could tell his metro-sexual side came out. My boss is a previous social worker so he is great with stuff like this and has an almost nurturing/motherly side at times. He also has a wife that is a psychologist and two little girls, so I think he's used to being around women. Anyway his response was "Congratulations! That's great news!" Wow, that was easy and completely eased my nerves. I responded by "Yeah, and I'm going to miss all of travel season." He didn't seem to realize that at first but just said "Well, I'll talk to Dean Smith (his boss, name changed though) and figure out what to do, but don't worry about it." That's all. Ok, I'll take it. We talked a little more about how I had been feeling, taking time off during the pregnancy and some mushy stuff about how rewarding it was to be a father :) It was really cute actually.
All the preparation and anxiety over this was for nothing. He was much more supportive than I expected a guy to be. Afterwards I felt so silly for thinking up all the worse case scenarios and excuses in case they came up. And really if you think about it, shouldn't everyone be excited for you? I mean what kind of person are you working for if they get mad about it? Obviously one that only cares about the bottom line dollar and not family values.
So to all you current preggers friends and soon to be ones, don't sweat it ;)
And if you want advice from professional writers:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-tell-the-boss-youre-pregnant_454.bc
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/25414034/ns/business-forbes_com/t/when-tell-boss-you-are-pregnant/
http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/signs/breaking-the-news/
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