Out at Work

I told my boss yesterday about the pregnancy.

It went well.

I told her because I feel it's super obvious that I'm larger than ever, wearing big long maternity tops that cover my stomach, and that I have a doc's appointment next Friday in the midst of my busy week at work that I can't reschedule.

My boss is someone I get along with really well. She used to be a freelancer at the publication where I work, and she got hired to be my boss after one woman in the job left the position after having twins, and her temporary replacement decided not to apply for the permanent gig when she announced SHE was pregnant.

(Boss, for the record, is a single woman as far as I can tell, and isn't planning on having a kid anytime soon).

I'd been stressing about how to tell my work about the pregnancy for awhile now. I'm usually able to skip out of the office during the slow weeks to take the subway to the doc's offices, and I've been able to explain it away by my usual excuse: "Diabetes: it takes a lot of doctor's appointments to stay healthy."

On the flip side, I really love working, like my job a lot, and when I'm not dealing with something annoying, am generally in a good mood about my career.

However, I'm months overdue for an annual review. This is not unusual in my office, but the top boss who is supposed to give me the review is himself waiting for news about his own position. (There have been a number of "acting" and "interim" roles in my office, including the top boss's. Thankfully, I'm not one of them. Solidly on the masthead full-time, I am.)

So my question was, do I wait for the review to announce the pregnancy? While I had no reason to think that a pregancy announcement would change the scope of my review at all... you just never know. I know I do my job solidly, my department runs without major incident, and all that. But my coworkers aren't my close friends, so I guess one never knows when something odd could pop up.

But I have no idea when the review might actually happen, and my burgeoning belly seemed to be dictating my announcement. I mean, I walk around the office with my jacket fully buttoned up, and when I have to carry papers from one side of the office to the other, I'm always covering up my midsection. Plus, and I know no one has noticed this but me, but ALL my old clothes just don't fit me anymore. Has anyone noticed I don't wear the sharp black raincoat anymore (it's about 20 pounds too small now) or the cool hot pink pants that fit me perfectly two years ago (again, about 20 pounds too tight)?

Behind the closed doors of the conference room, beyond the cubicle farm with no privacy where we typically sit, I sat and told my boss privately that I was expecting in April.

Boss congratulated me, and told me it was up to me about how I wanted to tell the bigger (review-bearing) boss, as well as other coworkers. She was surprised yet another woman in the office was making an announcement (as mentioned, I'm the third in a year, in a pretty small editorial office). I pointed out that I'm part of a trend of 30-something women getting older, and while I didn't say this to the Boss, honestly, of my same-aged friends, Mr. L. and I are the last (save for one other couple) to announce we're having kids. Everyone else already has them.

I didn't tell anyone else in the office that day, but I'm glad at least one person knows. Boss claimed she'd had no idea, but I know that won't last long.

The belly will out me soon enough.