The code of silence at the maternity hospital

On my first pregnancy, we were in for a check-up at around the 8-week mark and I was waiting for my scan as usual … I had a fainting incident at five weeks and that along with my “colourful” medical history meant that they did quite a few scans on me.

I remember we were in the waiting room and I was feeling too hot so I went out to the toilet to get some relief and on my way back I unexpectedly bumped into a good friend from college. We both went purple and blushed! I just smiled and said “We never saw each other” and kept walking!

He sent me a message afterwards saying congrats and that they were only in the early stages of pregnancy so to keep it hush, I replied saying it was the same with us and to keep ours hush too, we both stuck to our word and didn’t tell a soul until we broke the news generally after the twelve week mark.

I think most people understand what it’s like in those early days, you want to protect the news, keep it private to yourselves, enjoy it and come to terms with it, so if someone does accidentally find out they will be very discreet and feel privileged to know.

On my second pregnancy, same again!! I was in for an appointment at the hematology clinic and I bumped into my brother’s friend who was visiting his wife who has just had their second child. He was elated and so overjoyed for us, but again once I said, “Its early days and I am just in for an appointment” a knowing look appeared on his face!

There is definitely a code of silence people respect as they know what those early weeks can be like and can identify with this situation.