I had been doing parent conferences the first two weeks of November and I was hiding my pregnancy pretty well (or so I thought!). I wanted to tell everyone at the same time. About a week or so before Thanksgiving, I had started to show pretty obviously and had somehow made it into the PTO gossip ring at my school. I decided that it was time to tell my class.
I decided that I was going to ditch the loose clothes and go for belly-hugging shirts starting the Monday the week before Thanksgiving. We had our American Education Week activity that Thursday and my plan was to tell my students in the morning, so that they could tell their parents when they came for the activity before lunch.
I didn't really know how to tell a bunch of 9-10 year olds that I was knocked up, so I was hoping that with all the hints in my clothing that week they would be able to guess. We had just had a guidance lesson and the class was settled down pretty well. I started by saying that I had some exciting news to share with them.
Several bounced up and down in their seats and one yelled, "It's Jeanmarie's (one of my students) birthday!" I responded, "Yes, it IS Jeanmarie's birthday and that is incredibly special, but I wanted to share some NEW news with you." Another student exclaimed, "You finished organizing the bookshelves!!" And several smiling heads bobbed up and down in agreement.
I responded once again, "Yes, that IS right as well, BUT this is something NEW about ME!" I look at at my students and see some rather baffled faces. I then turn in profile and start rubbing my obviously protruding belly in desperation. There are some audible gasps in the classroom and I hear one girl whisper to another, "Hey, you're not supposed to say that!!" And then the hands start to gradually go up. I called on one little girl who seemed to have it figured out. "Ella?"
She stood up at her desk and exclaimed, "You're going to have a baby!?"
I answered in the affirmative and then the class erupted!
There were several shocked faces. One kid yelled, "I knew it, but my mom said I shouldn't say anything!" Others hugged one another and ran around giving high fives. Several came up to hug me, and a very few just sat there and pondered it over. It was complete pandemonium. :)
We had a question and answer session for about 10-15 minutes afterward to get all of the excitement out. Several questions were centered around whether or not I would name the baby after them. :) (The class has centered around the names Rufus?!? and Isabelle.) Others wanted to know with sad faces if this meant that I would be leaving them. Luckily all comments and questions were appropriate and there was only a little talk in between two boys about how they would be learning all about it in Family Life Education this year and they didn't want to because it was "disgusting!"
They asked me if I could feel the baby yet and at that point it hadn't been too regular, but I did tell them that the baby could hear them. (I had just read about it on my babycenter update.) They immediately jumped out of their seats waving and started yelling, "Hi Baby! Hi Baby!" Over and over again. One of them asked, "Do you think the baby is learning what we are learning?" Before I could answer, another exclaimed, "The baby must really know their multiplication facts!" They've been quizzing her since. "Baby? What's 0 x 1? Did you hear that? She didn't answer because she already knows its zero! She's a genius already!"
My class this year has truly been a blessing! They are extremely well-behaved and all around good, sweet kids. Now that they know, I find many of them speaking directly to my belly instead of to me, I get hugs from a couple of them with belly rubs in the morning saying, "Good morning Baby!"
It's all very sweet and exciting and I'm glad that I get to share this special time with them.
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