Did you find out baby’s gender?

May 23, 2016

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A group of my girlfriends and I are all due around the same time this year. A hot topic of conversation among us recently is whether or not to find out the gender of the baby. There are so many ways to do gender reveals now, and I feel like there should be a whole TLC show dedicated to them. Can’t you see it? Say Yes to the Dress move over! I’d nominate this 7th baby cake reveal and this sister’s reaction to a twin reveal as first episodes. 

Anyways, here are a few short stories of our own children, and then I’d totally love to hear yours. Humor me please, because you know, it’s Monday of moving week;)

baby bump

 

So far we have done surprise, reveal, surprise, reveal. Since we have experienced both, I have to say I love the delivery surprise most, but each experience was memorable in it’s own way. The moment Gabe looked at me in the delivery room after our first was born, and telling me “we have a son” is burned into my heart of hearts. Those kinds of moments are hard to beat. However, Gabe made the great argument with our second that he wanted to have something that helped him connect with our baby while I was pregnant. He didn’t have the advantage of getting to feel the baby kick and move, etc. He also didn’t have the advantage of feeling nausea and fatigue. (Wink wink) It made sense to me though, that knowing the gender for him would help him process the reality of what was happening inside of me. So for our little Veronica we had the ultra sound tech write down the gender, and we opened it on Christmas Eve just the two of us. We got to tell our family later that night when we are all gathered around the tree that we were having our first girl. There were many tears of happiness.

By our third since we had both a boy and girl, we went for the surprise again. The midwife guessed I wouldn’t be having more than a 6 pounder. By my back pain and the way I was carrying straight out, I had a feeling she might be off target a tad. Well, along came Max, flying out in 45 min. at a whopping 9 lbs. 6 oz. The fastest and most challenging birth yet and I knew right away what Gabe was going to tell me. A brother for Gabriel. More tears. (Let’s be honest, I am always a wellspring when it comes to these matters.)

 
awaiting baby
 

I had a gut feeling with each of them if I was having a boy or a girl (and the heart rate usually confirming my suspicions), but Rocco had me guessing till the very end. So much so, that Gabe and I couldn’t take it any longer. We went to an ultra sound two weeks before he was due and had them tell us the gender. We were shocked. My dream of having a brood of boys was coming true (although much faster than I anticipated mind you). We decided to keep the secret between us. In fact, there may be some family members reading this that are just learning that fun little fact. We loved having the few weeks to talk about who we thought he would look like, narrow down the name choice, and gently prepare Veronica that the sister she was convinced about may in fact be a brother.

As we are over the half way mark with this little one, we go back and forth about which route to take this time around. Most likely we keep the secret till the end either way, but I think I’ve had enough surprises for one year;) I have two sisters who are pregnant right now that are waiting till the end! We shall see.

What is the craziest gender reveal or surprise story you’ve heard? Thanks in advance for the entertainment;)

 
*Photos from my #bumpsilhouette series on instagram when I was expecting Rocco.
 

Leave a Comment

  • Lauren B

    I was convinced I was having a boy with my first. When we found out in the ultrasound that I was having a girl, I cried I was so happy. My husband looked flabbergasted – “But I thought you said you were having a boy?!” I was like “And you thought that meant anything? It’s not like I hold any power!” Haha! But he realized there’s not much difference – he and Margaret are totally obsessed with each other almost three years later.

    We found out for our first, but if we are lucky enough to get pregnant again, I want it to be a surprise. I think the only thing that would change my mind would be if we needed to bond- it definitely helped the first time around {when I was very nervous} to be able to call her by her name. There are so few great surprises left- it’d be awesome to have that in the delivery room.

    • Seeing your husband interact with a daughter melts your heart to the floor! And yes it is true…not many chances to allow life to surprise you!

  • I am 14 weeks pregnant with my first, and we are choosing to be surprised! I can’t wait. I’m so nervous. He’s hoping for a boy, I’m hoping for a girl. 🙂

  • One day when become a mom. I don’t know if knowing the gender ahead of time would be my choice. It’s fun to guess if it’s a boy or girl.
    xoxo,
    Carla B.
    http://www.carlabethany.com/

  • Colleen

    We’re 30 weeks today with #5 and haven’t ever found out early…and I have been wrong with all of my guesses. Our second, however, I don’t count within guesses at all. (Current mix is 3 girls and then a boy.) We had recently found out another baby was on the way, as my grandfather was fading away to lung cancer. He was suffering heroically and…just showing in so many ways how to love fully and die holy. We were so grateful for the chance to tell him we were going to have his 2nd great grandchild. His respone gave (gives!) me goosebumps: “How wonderful, there’s another Angel in the room with us!” We hadn’t told anyone our likely girl name: Angèle, the French word for angel. 7 months later she arrived and completely lives up to her name, and it was so vastly different to just KNOW that she was who was with us that whole time. So we had a very different, special gender reveal. I have 1 (hopefully final!) Ultrasound coming up this week and might be tempted, but me & my husband just love the ping-pong game of name ideas til/through delivery, so I’ll probably say no again. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way, more just what’s special to/the style of the couple, so I’m excited to read others’ comments!

    • Self control award goes to you Colleen! That is so awesome. I ran out of surprise tolerance. ha ha!! I just love the story of your little Angele. So beautiful. Thank you for sharing it!

  • My husband and I were very excited to find out the gender of our child when pregnant. For us, and especially my husband it helped us get to know the little person growing inside me.

    We had our suspicions about the gender, and had a name picked well before we had the ultrasound. So when the ultrasound confirmed the gender (a boy), the two of us weren’t really surprised, & privately referred to our son with his chosen name.
    We couldn’t wait to tell family, we didn’t have a special reveal. Most people suspected a girl so many were shocked that we were having a son. However we didn’t reveal the name, we kept that to ourselves, we wanted their to be some surprise for family they day he was born.

    I love how you & your husband learnt, and revealed the gender of your second child. Hehe I might suggest that to my husband for our second child ? Though, maybe we will keep the gender a surprise? I’m still undecided. I know second time around we might keep somethings more private. Maybe not even reveal the gender if we find it out. From our experience we got a little frustrated at times with my husbands parents who, granted were just excited but at times it tested our patience when they kept pestering us to tell us his name.

    • I think it’s definitely a great way to bond with the baby before they arrive! Many of my friends name their baby before:) So sweet! I like to keep some element a surprise too. We actually don’t name them till we see the face of the baby! Usually have it narrowed down to two options though;)

  • We found out with both of our babies so far, but did it differently. The first time, we had the ultrasound technician put it in an envelope and we opened it at our gender reveal party. The second time, we wanted to know before the party, so we found out in the ultrasound room, then revealed at our party. I definitely liked finding out with everyone at the same time much better. We’ll do it that way again next time! 🙂

  • I think you mean sex of the baby. You don’t know what gender the child will identify with.

    • I think we all know what she means. Why does everyone need to make a stink about this topic EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

      One in every bunch I guess…

      • Changing the status quo always caused dissent, your discomfort shows there’s a system here to be changed. Language and justice are important and I’ll continue to keep fighting and bringing it up even when people who don’t want to face it roll their eyes and get annoyed.

        • Also if everyone *knows* then why can’t we say what we mean? I only say this because I like this blog and I think we all can do better and hold ourselves to a higher standard.

        • Hi Jen, thanks for reading:) It’s pretty simple. A baby cannot “identify” with a gender. They are born with certain anatomy and medically classified as male or female. I understand where you are coming from, but thankfully a little baby doesn’t have to worry if he or she identifies with a gender, but just needs to be loved and nourished from their family in order to be healthy and happy. Hopefully we can keep this post positive as it was intended to be. Thank you!

  • My husband has a daughter from his first marriage. For our first child together, we had a surprise, and it was a boy. After that, we found out because our daughter REALLY wanted a sister. We ended up with 3 more boys, so it was nice to prepare her ahead of time. Although she would always tell me “Mommy, God can make a miracle happen and make it a sister!”. The surprise was nice, but I admit I like knowing ahead of time better. It was fun to name our boys while they were still inside me and start thinking of them as that person. It was still a surprise when they came out, to see their sweet little faces for the first time, but thinking of them ahead of time made me feel more connected as soon as they were born. But I really think it’s a personal preference!

    • ha ha ha! Sounds like something Veronica would say! I think I have could have waited with each one, but ended up really loving both sides of the coin of course. We are in the middle of the name game now!

  • Oh man, I haven’t had child, but those videos and stories brought some tears to my eyes. What a beautiful journey no matter how you find out 🙂

  • How fun to be pregnant with your sisters. My best friend and I had our boys exactly one week apart (they were due a week a part and then late exactly 4 days).

    She didn’t know what she was having but I could not stand waiting. After hearing the heart and confirming everything was healthy looking I asked what the gender was. Since we knew we would name him Lucas, we took a fun ‘Luke, I am your father picture’ to post on Facebook as the reveal to our friends/family.

    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/29625310026710168/

  • We found out early for our first two (boy then girl) and with our third baby we went with the surprise since we had one of each already. I just knew it was a girl all along, love that mother’s intuition! 😉 The delivery room announcement was sort of anticlimactic since she was born so quickly to the doctor on call who just assumed we already knew what we were having. It was so much fun to call and tell our families that our second little girl had arrived!

  • Stephanie

    The first time around, I was convinced I was having a boy and we had a named picked out. We were quite shocked in the ultrasound room when they told us we were having a girl. I kept it a secret for 4 days. (i dont know how some do it for longer) When we finally got our families together, I dumped a dozen pink and blue balloons on the table and had everyone pick a balloon to blow up. Before hand, I secretly poked holes in the blue ones with a pin. On three, i had everyone blow up their balloons and only the pink ones inflated. The grandparents-to-be got a kick out of it.

    With this baby, we were already a bit surprised to find out we were pregnant. We definitely will find out again at the anatomy scan.

  • Lakenia

    I wanted to know with my middle child. We already had a girl so I was so excited to even think we would be having a boy. Every doctor’s appointment our little one had his/her leg closed. We finally decided to get a 3D ultrasound after our fourth attempt at the doctor’s office. I had totally convinced myself we were having a son. As soon as they put the ultrasound wand on my belly, I saw girl parts. I cried so hard, my husband walked out of the room. He was so mad at me. I would not change a thing. She has been an amazing blessing…and we finally got our boy two years later! 🙂

  • We found out with our first -and were so happy to being having a boy first -deep down that’s what we had desired. With our second we chose to wait till the end. During our sonogram (we didn’t watch the monitor and the nurse didn’t reveal anything) …suddenly music came on in the room “July moonlight shines, your pretty little head on my shoulder…” -a George Strait hot that summer of 2013. My husband says right then and there he knew we were having a girl and that was the only song that came on in the room the entire time. I wasn’t for sure and more than anything I just wanted to that girl more for him at this point because he was so convinced. On Fathers Day I actually had my placenta abrupt and it sent me into an emergency csection three weeks before my due date. It was an 30minutes before midnight we I delivered. And sure enough it was our girl, healthy and perfect and making her grand entrance for her Daddy on Fathers Day with 30mins left on his special day. We cried so much -it was THE BEST surprise of our lives. xoxo

  • I have had three pregnancies and have not found out with any. However, I was so CONVINCED that my first one was a boy that I put up the boy name we had selected on the wall of the nursery. My brother brought an It’s A Boy balloon to the hospital. It was a girl. All of mine have been girls so far, and for every single one EVERYONE has told me “I think you’re having a boy.” I like not knowing ahead of time. It’s something nice to focus on after the uncomfortableness of pushing. 🙂

    • Oh my gosh no way!! Ha ha! I was quite convinced with Rocco that he was a girl up until 7 months pregnant;) So funny when life flips us upside down!

  • Pat Schwab

    I have 3 children and we didn’t find out the gender for any of them. My son was 3 when I was 6 months pregnant when a cashier asked what I was having. I said I didn’t know and my son had a meltdown insisting we were having a baby sister. It turns out he got his sister and then another one. I was really tempted with the 3rd pregnancy to find out the gender so I could clean out the baby clothes we didn’t need but I held out. The nurse almost told me the gender by mistake. Oops. Pat S

  • I’ve “peeked” for all five of my babies. I had a feeling with all of them, but with my son, Baby 4, I felt like I knew he was a boy. All my dreams were about boy babies. But can I tell you? When the sonogram tech said without a shadow of doubt, “It’s a boy!” I could not have been more shocked. I had twelve years of girls under my belt, so I just assumed I was wrong. I feel like finding out helps me connect to the baby. That’s just me, though.

  • I am 39 weeks + 1 today with our first child and we couldn’t wait to find out the gender. I would have loved to get myself surprised but I just knew I am too impatient :-)). At the first ultrasounds my doctor told us she thinks it is going to be a girl. We had been convinced it was a boy so we had to adust. At the end of the sixth month when I did the 4D ultra sound we got surprised that it was a boy. My husband was thrilled! We are expecting him to arrive any minute now and really excited about it. 🙂

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