When Did You Find Out the Gender of Your Baby?
I sometimes want to wear a shirt that says, “I am due St. Patrick’s Day, I don’t know the gender, and I feel fine!” I get asked those three questions to those answers all the time. Many people ask me “Do you know what your are having?” In fact we did not find out the gender of our first baby and we have not found out the gender of our second one either. Everyone has their own reasons for revealing the gender in the Ultrasound Room or the Delivery Room. Here are a few reasons why we chose to wait. (I would love to hear your reasons for finding out before the baby comes in comments!)
- A fear that the sonogram results would be wrong. I didn’t want to have to return a bunch of items or paint the nursery the wrong color. (This can be a real fear, check the Barefoot Foodie’s recent post for proof!)
- For practicality – I like that my nursery and newborn clothes are gender neutral, so I can re-use everything for the second child. Also, because people didn’t know what we were having we received gift cards and diapers instead of dresses and outfits.
- Labor and delivery was more exciting, because we didn’t know what we were having. It was also more exciting to share the baby news, because they didn’t know either.
- The fear of disappointment if the sonogram was wrong and that it would somehow affect my baby’s spirit. For my first pregnancy I felt like my instincts were telling me that I was having a boy and out came this baby girl. I think my disappointment lasted about 3 seconds and my daughter hasn’t been affected by my preggy thoughts of a boy.
- Part of the fun was making others wait. It tortured my mother. She was constantly telling me “Surely, you can see on the sonogram. The Tech knew.” Others would accuse of us knowing and not telling anyone. My husband and I can’t keep a secret. If we knew, everyone else would definitely know.
Waiting to find out the gender worked out well for us. After my daughter came into the world, the pink and purple just flowed in from family and friends. We were glad we waited and we are super excited to find out if our daughter has a brother or sister in about 9 weeks.
Did you find out the gender of your baby? Did you have any fears that the sonogram would be wrong? Was it your spouse that couldn’t wait to find out?
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We totally didn’t wait, and won’t in the future.
I love that your shower gifts were more practical and less out-fitty. That would be a great reason to not find out.
I have a friend who did the whole girly nursery thing only to deliver a bundle of BOY. Ooops.
CAN’T wait till you have your second little one!!
I found out with my first~ it was exciting, but after delivery when we were calling everyone it was so “boring”( best moment of my life) but everyone knew already it was a boy and what his name was. Next time I want to be completly suprised when that baby comes out! That would be the most magical feeling ever!!
Didn’t wait on either one. It was funny b/c the first time around, hubby wanted to be surprised and I wanted to know, then the second time around I wanted to be surprised and he wanted to know. And you’re right Amanda, there’s something about having a girl that gives people the “pinks-and-purples” (just so you know, I’m not a HUGE pink fan. At all). I’ve worked pretty hard to balance out her wardrobe, although it’s been nice b/c I had a lot of gender neutral clothes from my son that have been recycled.
I did not find out with my first 2 pregnancies and we loved not knowing– this time around we did find out. My husband really wanted to know and since our others are 7 and 4 we felt like they could prepare better if they knew (we have a girl and a boy and each wanted the baby to be their own gender– this way they have time to adjust!). Also- we are able to prepare better…there is a part of me that wishes we would have waited because that is so fun but the more practical side is glad we found out….I applaud anyone who waits though!!!!
Oh- and I KNEW what I was having this time– just KNEW so it was not really a surprise to me!
I found out because I don’t like surprises. I’m a planner.
I still had all of the same fears and just took the sonogram as a suggestion. I had a dream early on that I was sitting in my kitchen with my adult son drinking coffee and laughing. I found out at the sonogram that I was having a girl, but just kind of said we’ll see. Everyone else had a blast buying up all of the pink baby things because she was the first girl on either side for nearly two decades. Knowing that she would be our one and only, the practical part of neutral colors was not necessary.
When she was born, I just decided that I must have been talking with my son-in-law and now I can’t wait to meet him. It really changed the way I look at parenting as I can see her as an independent person instead of MY baby as I think many mothers do. I felt and saw her soul and potential the moment I laid eyes on her. I saw everything she could be. I wasn’t looking at my baby. It is a feeling that I just can’t explain. For us it was an even better surprise than boy or girl because there are so many more options. I can’t wait to see her as an adult and meet the love of HER life that I will love as my own son.
I could not wait to find out what we were having BUT we did not tell anyone what her name was going to be. It became this big thing with our families what her name was. Polls and bets were on. It was really fun. But also with our first she had her legs closed most of my pregnancy and we only got to find out since I was need an amino test for other reasons. So there was no concerns that the tech was wrong since it was a full proof test of gender. I am not sure what we will do for the second time around but it fun to have something on the day of delivery that everyone will be surprised about either gender or name.
With my son I wanted to find out so I could everything blue or pink when we came home! But my boyfriend didn’t want to know until we went in for our first ultrasound and he seen him moving all around. It was pretty funny we are looking at an image not even an inch long and just as serious he was like “So what is it” lol! And that was his question at every single ultrasound after that.
We found out with both and I wanted to. I do understand the fear though. After we had our daughter, we wanted our second to be a boy so badly. The tech told us it was a girl and had to go get the measurements and stuff checked by the doctor. My husband was visibly disappointed and I was too busy making him feel better to realize I was a little bummed too. They came back to check one more thing and saw they were wrong and he was definately a boy. I just kept thinking how bad we were for being disappointed if he was girl and how bad it would have been the bring him home to a pink room with flowers and butterflies.
Thanks for sharing your stories. They are so fun to hear!!
Oh, we sooo wanted to know! But it wasn’t in the cards…Kaylee was very uncooperative during both ultrasounds. It’s funny though, I didn’t realize until someone told me, but while I was pregnant I referred to the baby as a she. People would say to Nick so you know it’s a girl? He was like “no, Katie just thinks it’s a girl.” In my defense, I was right.
I think it’s so cool that you are waiting. I am too impatient and have always ruined my own surprises (including opening my Christmas presents before I should). I found out with both of mine what I was having AS SOON AS I COULD because I couldn’t wait. My husband wanted to wait, but I completely overruled him. I really wish I would have waited, because it is so true that it is one of the very few surprises you get in life.
Hubby and I were eager to know the sex. Yes, there are instances where the sonogram tech tells the parents the wrong sex, but for the most part they’re accurate.
This momma found out with all six of her pregnancies! Three were girls and three were boys! I am very impatient and could not wait to find out with each pregnancy. Most often I was asking for a sonogram at 16 weeks to find out. My husband probably could have waited but he always laughed when I even considered it! I also found out for convenience reasons, especially with so many other children as far as cribs and sharing rooms and all. We have since adopted a child also (a girl) but I am now interested in one more biological baby. If we decide to have one last baby, I have told my husband I would like to wait and not find out this time (especially since it would be my only opportunity to do so). Of course he laughs at me and tells me I would never make it to the end without finding out! If we do it, I sure hope I can prove him wrong! Wish me luck on getting pregnant and waiting for the surprise!
I totally found out! I’m like Lisa and I can’t stand not knowing. If we have another one I will be taking another peek.
I was the kid that peeked at the presents under the Christmas tree. So my family knew I wasn’t going to wait to find out the sex of our babies.
It was great knowing before hand- to decorate the room and to purchase clothing and toys without worrying about being surprised at the end that everything bought was the wrong color!
I couldn’t wait to find out the gender of my baby. I waited and waited for my doctor to order the ultrasound. When I went in at 19 weeks for the first ultrasound (a new tech, who took two hours just to measure and find everything), my baby was cross-legged, sitting low in my pelvis. We had told everyone that it was the “big day,” that we’d be finding out. I think we jinxed ourselves. So, thankfully, we didn’t get good images of the heart and needed a second ultrasound. That time we had it at 21 weeks along and got a very clear image of a little girl bottom way up in the “air.” The day she was born, they handed her to me right away and I began saying, “She’s so beautiful, she’s so beautiful!!” I paused, asking, “She is a girl, right?!” My midwife said, “Well let’s check…Dad, does that look like a girl?” My husband immediately confirmed. I had fears of discovering the other gender when my baby was born, but I just tried to keep faith that our ultrasound was correct. Though next time I might want to try either not telling the gender or not telling the name. (Though, I’ll probably have to know. I don’t know if I could help myself.)