I'm 11 weeks pregnant with twins via IVF (first pregnancy). We have only told a few very close friends, no parents yet. While I'm sure my husband's family will be happy (perhaps over the top), I'm very worried about my family's reaction, specifically my mother and sister. We are both 34, professionals, financially quite stable, married 6 years, etc. We are in a great spot to finally have children, and we struggled for over a year to get to this point. Here is the problem: I have an older sister (she's 38) who is unmarried, has been through a broken engagement, no children, very socially awkward, trouble keeping/making friends, etc. She lives a very solitary life basically going to work and to home and repeat. I feel bad for her. But she has made her life this way and does not accept input or help from anyone. My parents have tried to get her to go to counseling because she seems constantly unhappy and angry with life. She has refused. She does not speak to me, unless I make the effort to travel over 1000 miles to my hometown, and even then it is one word answers with almost no "real" conversation. It's very depressing. When I got married she did not want to come to the wedding (let alone be in it). My mother was extremely upset and she ultimately did show up. When I graduated from graduate school, she again refused to come to the ceremony, my family was again very upset, she showed up at the last minute and proceeded to start a HUGE fight with my parents which resulted in my grandmother leaving the dinner table and sitting in the car. It is a constant struggle and seemingly a constant fight when she is around. I really hate to think that announcing my pregnancy will be the same thing. I want to spare her feelings and I THINK they best way to do so is to tell my mother privately and allow her to tell my sister, rather than making a big scene of it. My mother usually defends her behavior because she doesn't want to cause a bigger fight. I just really do not know how to tell them, I'm dreading it as I think rather than the usual congratulations and we are happy for you comments, it will be met with dread of how my sister will handle the news.
SIGH.
SIGH.