December 13, 2010

Ask Me if I am Surprised? Telling the Boss

While I have been challenged with nausea and tiredness, I have been feeling a lot of stress needing extra time in the mornings and requesting to work from home more than usual lately.

I’m stressed, because I am committed to my job, and having to be a flake around my schedule without others knowing why, makes me feel out of integrity and like I can’t be myself or get things done. The stress was heightening and starting to impact other things too.

So, I ignored society’s opinions about waiting three months to ensure nothing goes wrong and told my boss today that I am almost two months pregnant.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid he might be disappointed or mad, or worse, write me off as a person and put me on the list for upcoming budget cuts—he is the Chief Information and Technology Officer. However, that was not the case…

His first response: “Ask me if I am surprised.”

I played along and asked with some reluctance, “Are you surprised?”

He replied, “I am not surprised, because my daughter is going through the same thing, and she has been sharing her challenges with me and breaking the news at work, and I have sensed and noticed the same in you. Congratulations.”

It was a short conversation, because we both had to run off to other things, as is usual in our busy working environment. But I was able to learn that his daughter is five weeks pregnant, and it will be his first grandchild.

I couldn’t feel more blessed. I mean, how lucky am I? I get to work for a boss who is probably going to know what’s coming during this adventure before I do. I’m so glad I followed my heart and didn’t let fear or societal rules stop me from telling him when I felt it was right! (I’m not much for following rules anyway.)

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