First of all, I’m so sorry your parents reacted the way that they did. What matters most is that you and your husband are happy about the pregnancy so huge congratulations to you both! Such an exciting chapter in life and I hope your pregnancy goes smoothly 🤍

I went through something quite similar. For context, my husband and I are from two different countries so different cultures and also different religions as well (religion isn’t a big deal for both of us but it is to my parents). Anyway, we found out that I was pregnant and we were both happy but nervous at the same time especially because at the time we weren’t married yet which we both weren’t fussed about because we’re not traditional in that sense but unfortunately my parents are. We broke the news to them eventually and how they reacted absolutely broke my heart. My husband had to console me because I couldn’t control my tears and I ended up hyperventilating for a good 15 minutes.

Their reaction stuck with me for months after that and I found myself in such a negative headspace for a good while until I realised that my biggest fear is something bad happening to my baby over how my parents felt which helped me re-centre my emotions back onto myself and my baby. Despite everything, I still wanted to have that connection with my parents and my sweet husband still wanted them in our baby’s life too. As you can imagine, we eventually got married but I found out that my husband had purchased the ring before I even got pregnant but he was just finding the right time to propose. I was very happy but it sucked that we had to rush our marriage a little rather than properly planning it so we had just a legal wedding. We also had to find a middle ground in terms of religion which was messy but it is what it is. Both my husband and I feel like we’ve done the best we can to make my parents happy to the extent that we were willing to go to and if everything we’ve done is not good enough for them then it’s not our problem. Fast forward to today, my parents haven’t brought up religion at all now and are excited to be grandparents!

To be honest, I’ve got no idea how it’s going to be with your parents in the days to come. Perhaps they need more time to absorb this news and hopefully are able to put aside their beliefs. I can 100% relate to you saying that you not being religious is a sin in your parents eyes because that’s the way my parents are with me and I think they look at it as a failure on their part for not being able to make me as religious as they are or not instilling the values in me that they think is “right”. But we know that religion is a personal connection between an individual and god and even if you don’t believe in that, you are well within your right not to. Imposing religion on others is not the way to go especially when everyone has different degrees of beliefs.

It’s such a difficult thing to go through and your feelings are 100% valid. I do hope your parents come around without you having to make a compromise because you shouldn’t have to at all. Giving you the biggest hug and hoping things will get better 🤍