Did You Find Out Your Baby's Gender?
I always thought that when I got pregnant I'd want to leave the gender of the baby a surprise. My pre-pregnant self thought I could withstand the temptation of the ultrasound and be able to wait the full 40 weeks. I thought David and I would be guessing the gender until he or she was delivered into the world and we'd hear the doctor yell, "It's a boy!" or girl... you get the point.
When we found out we were pregnant, the very first thing I wondered about the little baby inside of me was the gender. A boy would be wonderful, a girl would be so sweet. I don't think I cared either way, but I had to know. I think since we got pregnant unexpectedly and there were so many unknowns, I wanted to know something for sure. The idea of waiting to find out the gender seemed to add to the anxiety of being first-time parents. As the months went on and started to drag, the excitement of learning something about the baby was the perfect way to break up the monotony of pregnancy. It was something to look forward to!As soon as I found out we were expecting I had a feeling we'd be having a boy. I can't exactly describe why I felt so confident, but with certainty for the first trimester and into the second I was even referring to my belly as "he". As we got closer to our 20 week ultrasound, I started to waiver a bit. I started to get nervous we were going to be surprised again with the news we were having a girl. At that point, I was so convinced a boy was on the way that the news of a girl would have thrown me back down the anxiety road - another thing to wrap my head around.
David and I wanted to find out the gender in a special, intimate way. We went to the doctor's appointment that morning (January 7 to be exact) and had the nurse write down the gender on a piece of paper. We made a reservation at one of our favorite restaurants for that evening. The day dragged as I'm sure you can imagine. When we got to dinner, we hardly waited for our drinks to arrive before we tore open the envelope and the paper was - pink!I remember catching David's eye when we both realized the paper was pink. We unfolded the paper to find "It's a boy!" written in marker. It was that moment that we knew Finn Ryan would be making his appearance in May. My nerves calmed, I got excited for the first time, anxiety was no where to be found. Our waiter realized what we had just found out and helped us celebrate with free dessert! :)The second half of the pregnancy was just as long and much more uncomfortable, but I know that finding out the gender helped get me through.The funny part of all of this - my dad never wanted to know the gender of either of his grandchildren. (My sister was 6 weeks ahead of me with a girl). I had to talk in code, especially here on the blog! I think my mom let it slip after a while, but it was fun while it lasted.David and I have talked about finding out the gender for the next one, and I think we'll know when it happens. Just like we knew we wanted to find out with Finn, we will know one way or the other next time, too!xoxo