BABY!
SURPRISE!!! We're not finding out the gender! CRAZY, right?
Reactions to this news have ranged from...
"It just seems so silly to wait! Why would you not want to know?"
to
"But how will I know what color to buy?"
(Ahem, pretty sure any baby can wear any color... just sayin'.)
to
"That's the way to do it! Best surprise of your life!"
So yeah, it seems like opinions are wildly split on this one. But John and I both agreed, years before pregnancy was even an option, that we were up for the surprise.
And when people say sassy things to us like, "I couldn't do that. How could anyone ever do that?" I've got two canned responses...
1.) It's what my mother did with all four of her pregnancies. It just seems normal to me. :)
and
2.) I guess we don't mind being patient on this one.
After all, we waited 2 years just to get pregnant, so this little practice in patience seems easy to me. Plus, I read somewhere that not finding out the gender beforehand can actually help during labor by giving you an exciting goal to push toward. (Literally and figuratively, of course).
"I'm only pushing because I want to find out if it's a boy or a girl, gosh darn it!!" Sounds about right.
PLUS, most of the baby stuff we get will likely be in neutral colors, so totally reusable when (hopefully) baby siblings come along. We're frugal like that.
And also, it's really just exciting and kinda magical not knowing. People guess all the time, which is a fun game! Most people actually say GIRL, while the Chinese gender charts (which I looked at for a good laugh) say BOY, so who really knows?
All I know is that we're excited to be having a BABY, no matter the gender. So a surprise it shall be!
Though, I can't resist. Would you like to take a guess? ...
We didn't find out either and I am SO glad we didn't! We got all useful, practical things for shower gifts and then still tons of cute, cute outfits once Kateri was born. It really was the best of both worlds - plus, my husband and I seriously loved the hours (and hours!) we spent discussing name ideas and what we thought the baby would be! We won't change our minds for future pregnancies, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt's true, John and I talk almost every day about whether we're having a boy or a girl. It's fun stuff. :) Glad to hear you enjoyed keeping it a surprise too!
DeleteI'm always interested in what people decide about this! For me, I think I'd like being able to call my child son or daughter in utero, but I'm sure that moment of surprise will be awesome! Blessings to you three :) ....I imagine you might feel the same way, but going through IF, if we are ever blessed with pregnancy, I will not care one tiny little eensy teensy bit about whether we're having a boy or a girl - **baby** is enough!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with Ecce...a baby of any kind would do it for me. I don't care if it ends up being a boy who got a pink dress as a gift or a girl who had to be dressed in overalls with firetrucks on them. Baby is enough for me! :)
DeleteAnd you asked for a prediction... to which I say 100% chance of a baby human resulting from this pregnancy. I know, I'm fun aren't I?
Ladies, you're both totally right. Baby is more than enough for me. :) And maybe that's why gender isn't a big deal... yet. I'm super excited to eventually find out though! And I'll be so so so happy either way.
DeleteAnd CH - Thanks for the guess. I'm pretty sure you're 100% right. :P
We didn't find out with Elizabeth and I was 99.99999% convinced she was a boy. So much so that when she was born and my husband looked at me and said "Marie we have a daughter", my very first words upon hearing my daughter cry were "Are you SURE?". I was that surprised!!! He of course looked at me and said with a smile "Marie, I know what I am looking at!" LOL! Still to this day, I can't believe I could have been so wrong in my gut.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, all that to say, we did find out with Katharine. Actually though, I guess I was a bit surprised that we were having another girl and so when people asked I would say "well, they say it is a girl, but you know you never REALLY know until they are born". :) But of course, they were right.
Have fun!!! Do you have a nickname though for the baby? We called Elizabeth "Baby B" because our last name starts with a B. So maybe subconsciously that is why I thought she was a boy...who knows. And then with Katharine, she was actually Baby Titus...another boy's name although we knew she was a girl, but Bl. Titus Brandsma was her patron saint and I liked the name, it was kind of quirky, but I thought fun.
It's true, you never REALLY know. I think ultra sound techs are REALLY good at getting it right, but there's always the risk of them getting it wrong. Or baby not showing his/her stuff just right. I guess the only way you can know for sure is a blood test or some of the other more invasive tests.
DeleteBaby's nickname is Baby Schweitz. :) We could probably get more creative, but that just stuck from the very start, so we love it.
John is certain we're having a girl, but I go back and forth every day. Just trying to imagine it both ways so there's no shock at all the moment baby is born and the doc announces "it's a _____!". :)
I predict girl. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe found out... I like predictability in my life so I needed to know lol. It was a good thing, I think, because like Marie I thought it was a boy, so I was kind of glad to have my thinking corrected earlier on! And as far as the waiting 2 years... my opinion was, I've waited long enough, I'm finding out now! To each their own--people have strong opinions on this, but there's no right or wrong way to do it!
I totally get your line of thinking too. "I've waited long enough..." Because those feelings creep in for me every few days too. Haha! But we're staying strong on not finding out, at least this time around. :) And I agree, no right or wrong way to do it!
DeleteYou should get a whole bunch of wives tales about gender and post if what symptoms correlate :) Then you can see how accurate the wives tales were once the baby is born!
ReplyDeleteOooooo, I love this idea! I'm gonna do it toward the end of this pregnancy so folks don't have to wait too long to see if the wive's tales are right or wrong. :)
DeleteI agree with Katie! There isn't a wrong or right way to do it, though I would want to know as soon as possible. We have boys names picked out, but our step-great niece ended with a variant of the girl's name we wanted to use, and we haven't wanted bothered coming up with a replacement. I would want to start calling him or her by name as soon as I could. I think some of that is due to the fact that we never named the child we lost.
ReplyDeleteIt took us a good long while to pick out a name for the first child we lost. Don't feel like the time has "passed" for that. It's one of the things that has helped me the most - having a name that is just for that baby. Like you said, you instinctively want to call a child a name. Anyhow, just wanted to share since it helped us. <3
DeleteStephanie - Early loss is so hard for so many reasons, and I think not being able to find out gender is definitely one of them. I understand your pain and your desire to know with future pregnancies. And I totally agree, there's no right or wrong way to do it! I hope I didn't come off as judgy! Just trying to explain why we're choosing to wait.
DeleteCH - I think that's a beautiful way to honor your babies in Heaven. I think we'd do the same.
I say BOY!!! I agree with posting old wives tales though, why not?! :)
ReplyDeleteI'll def do the old wive's tales thing. It's a fun idea. :) But I'll wait 'til the end of the pregnancy to do it, so that folks won't have to wait too long to find out if the old tales are right. And boy, huh? What makes you say that? Just a feeling? :)
DeleteLove your surprise post! It's a...baby! Good thing because if you were carrying anything else...I would have to wonder...hmmmm...There are very few surprises anymore in life...I think it's great you are waiting. Sounds like all is going well...Praise God!
ReplyDeleteYeah, pretty happy it's a baby in there and not a cow or a block of cheese. :P Glad you're supportive of our SURPRISE! Really looking forward to sharing the gender with all of you 5 months from now!! :) Praise God indeed!
DeleteIm a horrible guesser. Love that you are waiting for a surprise!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, MB! Glad you like the surprise thing too. :)
DeleteAnd if you're a bad guesser, you should tell me what you think and then we'll just assume we're having the opposite. :P
DeleteI don't know, but I think it's fun that you're waiting to find out!
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks CM! I think so too! :)
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