New to It All

I admit, I am very new to all of this. So any help and advice is greatly appreciated!

This is our first time trying to get pregnant. So any expert tips out there on how to get pregnant for my husband and me would be great!

Since it is also our first time, we would like to surprise the family with the announcement once we are expecting. I would love cute ideas on how to surprise a family, particularly for a soon-to-be Grandma. My mom is amazing, and I know she will be over the moon when we announce we are expecting. I would like to do something special for her and my dad. Any ideas on cute/clever announcements hanging around there? Sometimes I feel Pinterest only does so much.

Along the note of family, some of you may have noted that I didn’t include my husband’s family above. His mother is emotionally and mentally abusive. The relationship is better than I ever thought it could or would be, but I really don’t know if I want to even tell her when I am pregnant. My husband feels the same way. She has told us most boldly that having kids IS NOT in our plans among many other things. Sadly for her, it’s not for her to decide. Since she has said so much to us that is negative when it comes to us having children, we don’t know if we want to include her in the announcement(s). The trouble is, we would want to include some of his siblings. Any advice on that note?

One more note on family: how does one deal with a horribly jealous sister-in-law? She doesn’t know we are trying, but she has made some awful comments about us for when we are parents. I know there’s not much I can do to dispel that attitude, but how do I overcome the hurt her words cause?

Onto some happier tones, since we are TTC, when is the best time to test? I know Glow says two weeks, but I have heard other time frames (everywhere between three days, to six, to a week after a missed period), so what really works best? Also, do I test two weeks (or whatever the best timeframe is) after having had sex, or is it after the ovulation time period?

Thanks for all the love and support and advice!