By Cheryl Bac
E-mail Cheryl Bac
About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons incl...
(More)About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons including Chicago and Boston. Exercise is an integral part of my life. I hope to one day go back to long distance running and tackle the New York City Marathon. Right now I run after my one year old son. Although I am a stay-at-home mom, we are rarely "at home." My mom also stayed at home with my brother and me. She warned me that, although rewarding, it can be isolating. So, with her help, I learned the importance of getting out into the community and meeting other mothers. On the rare occasion when I am at home and have a hand or two free, I squeeze in time to scrapbook. As a new mom, many challenges are thrown my way. I hope my opinions, triumphs, and struggles help experienced parents reminisce, new parents cope, and parents-to-be get an honest glimpse of what the first years of motherhood can entail.
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My husband and I chose to not find out the sex of either of our babies until after they were born.
We seem to be in the minority of new parents. Most of our friends found out baby's sex very early in their pregnancies.
Personally, I enjoyed the extra challenges of hunting for gender-neutral clothes, coming up with a gender-neutral nursery theme, and buying gender-neutral toys. And it was double the fun to brainstorm both boy and girl names.
The hardest part was knowing that our secret could be spilled during one of our many doctor appointments. A doctor, ultrasound technician, or nurse could easily say "his" or "her" while checking baby's heart rate or during any other standard procedure.
When our son was born, I ended up finding out his sex just a few minutes before his birth (one of the nurses slipped and said "baby boy"). Luckily, my husband didn't hear her comment and he was still surprised when he found out we had a son.
When I got pregnant the second time around, we were excited to wait the 40 weeks again to find out baby's sex. We kept all of our baby stuff and since most of items for the first few months were gender neutral, I only bought clothes and toys that I adored.
When our daughter was born, I got the surprise that I had hoped for. My husband told me that we had a baby girl right before the nurses placed her on my chest.
Did you wait to find out baby's sex? If not, how was it revealed (blood test, 20 week ultrasound, cake filling color, envelope, etc)?
