Letting the Cat out of the Bag

Ladies, I took your advice and got out of the Seattle trip - phew.

It is such a relief.

I feel a bit better today since I could sleep in, but yesterday I was so exhausted from the previous day's travel, plus waking up at the crack of dawn to go for the U/S appt that I was really not sure I could do it at all.

I left a VM for the VP Sales. He is not my current boss, but my ex-boss. However, since he is the host of the meeting I needed to talk with him.  Plus I just feel more comfortable with him than my current boss.

He called me back in the evening and I explained the situation to him, basically saying that I could potentially haul myself to Seattle, but I could be in/out of the meetings based on how I felt. He has two young boys and remembered how sick his wife was during her first trimester, so he suggested I just do it remotely. He said that it may raise awkward questions as to why I kept leaving the meeting at all hours.

 I did not argue :-)   

He was really nice and appreciated that I entrusted him with the information.

I do feel guilty about not being there in person, since its a company meeting and everyone will be there except me, but it is what it is.  It would have been stressful for me. Of course I was sick right after dinner last night and that pretty much removed the guilt.

Later, I called the Exec Asst to cancel my hotel booking. I told her I had a personal situation which precluded me from travelling.  She asked me if all was well I said yes. Then she says "did you not just have a baby?".

I was taken aback for a minute.

I said No. Then she says "hmm...wonder why I thought you had a baby".

I could not lie so I said "well hopefully I will soon". So, she's like "oh....is that why....?"

So, I had to tell her too!

She immediately said " gosh, there is no way you can be stuck in a room full of people for 9 hours".  She promised to keep mum. I told her that since its still very early I don't want it to be common knowledge just yet, maybe in 4-5 weeks.

The story for the rest of the attendees will be that I had a personal situation that I needed to handle.

I do think however that I should tell my boss though on Monday, so he does not feel that I purposely left him out - sigh! Not looking forward to that conversation.

But it will be a weight off my mind for sure.  I was reading an article about how stressful disclosing a pregnancy is and I agree.  Frankly, if it was not for all these trips I would not have said anything for a long time.

The next set of business trips are mid-end Oct so I should be okay for those, plus they are Boston and Chicago so shorter flights.