BBS due early November! Part 4

So this post I want to talk about the big question (even though I really don't think it is that big) which seems to be what everyone always asks and wants to know. "Did you find out what you are having?" To know or not to know... that is the question! :)

So with Evelyn, we did not find out. I was the main advocate in our relationship for not finding out, and Mike respected my wishes and went along with me for the surprise. Practically, not finding out the baby's gender for the first one was a good choice for us, because we knew we would have at least 2, so then the things, especially big things we got as gifts were gender neutral (that is coming in handy now!). But for me, I really wanted that big exciting surprise. Side note: they say women who don't know what they are having ahead of time, work harder, or are more productive during labor (I can't be factored into this due to my c-section) but I can see where a mom is so excited to find out boy or girl that they really push that baby out! :) But seriously how many really good surprises do people get in life? I actually like to be surprised a lot, I don't like to read spoilers, or read the last chapter of a book first, know what I am getting for presents ahead of time, things like that which Mike does. I just like the whole feeling of suspense, anticipation and surprise, and with a baby, it is good no matter what, so it is awesome! :) That was a pretty amazing thing, even though I had a c-section, the surprise of 'Its a girl' when she came out... there is nothing as exciting and just happy as that moment... not that knowing makes it not exciting, but you could argue that it might dull the excitement a bit.... I have had many women and friends having babies lately that tell me I was crazy for not finding out and that they couldn't believe I would want the surprise... many of them said they had to plan, or they were too much of planner. Which might be a big thing for me, I plan a bit, but I really am NOT a big planner at all.... I actually stink at it and Mike does most of our planning. Maybe that is why he wanted to find out more than I did?

As a funny little add on, I like to think about why people think the way the do, and I feel there are many things in everyone's life that impacts their thinking and actions. Maybe because I have always seen myself as more of a tom-boy, or at least not very girly, but I always thought there are way to many gender stereotypes out there. I know I get teased that I am all 'women power' but I do feel that way, women can do whatever men can do, but see I also think men can do whatever women do... I don't feel like genders should be treated much differently. During my 'well-rounded' college education, I had to take some general degree requirements... now many if not all student I went to college with would usually complain about these courses... sure I didn't like them all, but I like to think I did not complain much, mostly because I am really interested in so many things, and love random facts. Well we needed to fill a 'minority' requirement, and I took this women's studies class, I thought how silly is this, what will I learn in this silly class! Well it might be one of those classes that did do it's job, it made me think differently and outside of the box and it is one that I feel earned me that 'well-rounded' label that comes with college. In this class we talked a lot about gender stereotypes and it was very intriguing to hear the different aspects of gender issues. I feel that finding out the gender of the baby is very useless... do you need to have a pink swing, or all boy clothes or any of those gender specific things? If I put our baby boy in an outfit that is the color pink, is it going to make him less of a boy? Or make him gay? NO! that is just silly! Just like Evelyn wearing some boy clothes that we had did not make her a boy or less of a girl... SO for me knowing ahead of time was not something I needed to know.

Ok now enter this baby... well since we had a c-sections with Evelyn, I felt like wow, the day of my kids birth will now not really be a surprise... so I wouldn't have any surprises if we found out, so I really did not need to find out again with this baby. However Mike did want to find out this time, and my scientific nature, I need to also experiment with this method to truly know which is the preferred method. Well it was sure a good thing we found out, cause well he was not shy and we might have seen his privates even if we did not want to see them! :) SO I will not lie, it was exciting to know, and to know 100%, since I was worried that they would only be like 60% sure or something, and that would drive me crazy! But Mike (to my surprise) agreed with me, that the surprise is better! We know now, great, but the baby is not out here, we can't hold the baby, it was kind of like ok, cool... it is a boy... now what, we still have to wait. Anticlimactic is an accurate word. Now comparing the surprise to finding out ahead of time... what a difference! And we have decided if there are any more babies to join our family, we will not find out their gender ahead of time. So that is a little piece of our experience, and I am sure most people will still go on finding out their baby's gender and that is great! I just wish they could experience the suspense, anticipation and excitement of knowing when they can feel their baby and see them in all their physical glory! :)

I am now 26 weeks, getting close! Today, August 5th is exactly 3 months till my scheduled c-section! We will have our second little baby in 3 months! AAAHHH! :) excitement! :)

See the arrow? yep that is pointing to his parts! No doubt about it! :)

Here imaging him squatting over your face... that is what you are looking at! calves, little thighs and his privates, not hidden out to show the world! :)