When It Comes to Gender Welcome Spontaneity

Some women and couples are completely comfortable awaiting birth to find out their baby’s gender. The anticipation and outcome of the event must be like opening the greatest gift you could ever imagine. However, my husband and myself were not as patient and were extremely excited to find out the gender of our baby. In the first trimester, my doctor performed routine blood work to rule out any possible upcoming issues with the pregnancy (MaterniT21 Blood Test). She also mentioned that a test could be performed to find out the gender of our child. We were completely on board and decided on the spot to have it done. To give you a little background, before I had even fathomed the idea of becoming pregnant I had always pictured myself with a little boy. It just seemed right. Yet during my pregnancy, I had the gut feeling that I was carrying a girl. I warmed up to the possibility of having a girl and realized that no matter what we were given, our work as parents was to raise a caring, kind, loving and loved human being. During the waiting period of the test results I had even invented the idea that a girl would teach me so many lessons about life, as I walked through parenthood nurturing and teaching her as well. The prospect of the unexpected had me filled with enthusiasm. The day finally came that would confirm or deny what my gut was telling me. The phone rang and as my husband and I eagerly awaited the test results. I, of course expected the outcome to be, “it’s a girl”, but the doctor so definitely stated, “you are having a baby boy!” The moment following the news left me feeling confused. I was given what I had always wanted and my husband was ecstatic, but what happened to the personal lessons and the challenges I needed to overcome by raising a girl? That part of the news had me feeling slightly disappointed. After reassessing the situation and realizing that the gender of our baby had nothing to do with me and had everything to do with my husband, our child, myself and our future, I found that my expectations to have a girl might have been a way of opening myself up to anything. I embraced any possibility regardless of what I thought I knew. We are given what we truly need and we have no control over certain situations. This prospect is comforting for me and I hope it is for you as well because how boring would life be if we always got exactly what we wanted or expected? Perhaps the true lesson was disguised all along and did not have to do with the outcome, but the process.  

Feel free to pass along the story of finding out your baby's gender. I would love to hear about it!