Find Out Your Baby’s Gender

When you first discover that your wife is pregnant and going to have a child, there are number of doctor visits and tests.  Sooner or later, and with modern science it’s sooner that it used to be, you get the question from your doctor, do you want to find out the gender of the baby?

Like most couples, my wife and I had the debate, and we decided to find out.  Our goal in finding out was to have one special and private moment where we could celebrate finding out the gender.  I was reminded of that moment again when I saw this video on Twitter:

This was an exciting moment the father and mother got to celebrate, and they did it in a really cool fashion.  For my wife and I, we were a little more subdued in how we did it.  We did the traditional cake with the gender:

 

We jazzed up the moment if you will by using the cake cutter and server from our wedding and by using a tea set we got from a trip we make to London.  It was a moment that the two of us will never forget.

And trust me, finding out the gender didn’t rob us of any joy in the delivery room.  When our son was born, the gender was the last thing in our minds.  When your child is born, all you are thinking about is whether or not the baby and the mommy are healthy.  That’s the joy.  While I don’t speak from experience, finding out the gender then, really takes a massive backseat.  If anything goes wrong in the delivery room, as it did for us as it does for many other parents, the gender will be the absolute last thing on your minds.

Keeping that in mind, find out the gender.  Create another special moment for yourselves and your family.  I know when we found out the gender, we had some fun with it.  We bought a boy’s pink polo shirt to trick my parents.  When they opened it, it had a note pinned to it saying, “Real Men Wear Pink!”  For my mother in law, we sent balloons and flowers to hear at work.  Everyone had their moment, and it was great.

There are three more added benefits to finding out the gender.  The first is if you are stuck on a name, you get extra time to focus on figuring out the name for just one sex.  When people send you gifts, you get gender specific gifts instead of the “neutral” stuff.  That neutral stuff is terrible, and it varies from year to year.  Overall, I still maintain yellow is not a boy’s color, nor is green a girl’s color.  And no baby should wear gray or brown.

There’s another factor to consider.  When you find out the gender, not everyone is happy.  Sure, they’ll give you the line, “We just hope the baby is happy and healthy!”  They’re lying.  Most are not like my father who came outright and said, “I want it to be a boy!”  Hint, most grandfathers want their sons to have a boy because it means the name lives on.  Long story short is everyone has their preference, and some will get crushed when they find out the gender.  Letting them know early let’s them work out whatever it is they need to work out before the baby comes.

One last note, and this is perhaps the most important.  Finding out the gender allows you to bond more with your unborn child.  It’s not just a baby.  Now it is a boy or a girl.  If you have a name picked out, it’s not a baby in there, that’s John or George or Patrick or Jamison or whatever name you have picked out.  If it’s a girl, that’s Olivia or Eva or Katie, etc.  That’s a powerful moment, and one that makes the decision to find out the gender worth so much the more.

So for parents that are debating finding out the gender of their baby, I fully encourage you to do so.  It was one of the greatest moments in my life.  I hope it will be one of the greatest moments in your life as well.

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