The Great Boy/Girl Debate

So, the story starts when we found out we were going to have a baby. Bruce wanted Ryan to be the first to know. When we told Ryan we asked him what he wanted. Of course he wanted a baby brother because he already has a baby sister. I told him I thought it was a boy but Bruce told him he thought we were having a girl. I told everyone we were going to have a boy. The whole family wanted a girl. Not one person said they hoped baby was a boy - except Bruce and Ryan. I was sad everyone was going to be so disappointed to find out there was going to be a new boy in the family.

Then I got an email from my mom, in my dream mind you, that I needed to stop saying it was a boy because Jerry and Georgia had somehow found out the sex of the baby and told my mom the baby was going to be a girl. The email was burned into my brain because the "girl" was glittery and pink and the "boy" was blue and wavy. This did not stop me from telling everyone it would be a boy, but I did tell a few people about my dream.

I didn't have a lot of dreams about the sex. I had a lot of dreams where I woke up confused, there was a baby in the crib next to a pile of hot wheels, but I had played with hot wheels as a child so what did that mean. The night before the ultrasound I had 3 or 4 dreams about the sex. There was one where it was written on a library card by I was trying not to look but I thought I saw an F (for female) but when I actually did try to look again I couldn't read it clearly. I can't remember the other ones, I just remember waking up and thinking "Another dream about finding out!"

My original plan was to have everyone find out together what we were having by asking the ultrasound tech to write it on a sealed envelope where I would deliver it to a baker to make a cake that had pink or blue frosting in the middle but would be completely white on the outside so when we cut the cake we would all then find out. Bruce couldn't wait so the new plan was that I would bake the cake, since we wouldn't have time to ask the baker because we could only have Ryan that same day before he left for a weekend excursion with his mom.

I was a little sad to not go with my original plan but it was so beautiful and moving to find out with just Bruce and I that I'm not sad at all the way we found out. I was crying so much that all the nurses and midwifes said I was going to make them cry and even the ultrasound technician (who we thought didn't have emotions). Here's our perfect little baby girl sucking on her tiny little fingers.

So, as you now know, we're having a GIRL! The ultrasound tech had to tell me at least 7 times and showed us from multiple angles that it was a baby girl with a little girl bottom and everything. I was in a state of shock. I was wrong. Bruce, of course, had the "I told you so" face. If only I hadn't been so vocal about it being a boy. It's amazing though, it truly was a surprise. I was expecting a confirmation but I got the surprise of my life. Bruce was the one who got to have the confirmation.  As we're watching our baby wiggle and hiccup and stretch and cough I was mesmerized but still stuck on the fact that we're having a GIRL. I told Bruce, "She still has to like dinosaurs and cars, though." No princesses for us. I don't mind a girly-girl ~ just not too girly. That would scare me.

So after hours of off and on crying and my trying to come to terms with the fact that we know what the baby is (the tech said she won't call it unless she knows it, I asked) we had to pick up Ryan, I had to start getting the cake ready and we had to make sure everyone was going to be at our house to share in the good news!

The cake was a disaster. I am no cake baker. It fell apart so it was useless as a "reveal" cake. Bruce had a last minute idea (oh I wish he had thought of it before I even baked a cake) about popping a balloon. Brilliant! I rushed to the party store and had them stuff pink confetti into 2 black balloons so instead of a cake, pink confetti would sprinkle out to reveal the sex.

We ate pizza, I had people vote whether it would be a girl or boy and I had all the Old Wives Tales and Myths that I had tried to determine whether BB would be a boy or girl.

Finally, we were ready for the confetti. I thought it would sprinkle down on us. No one said it would explode out of the balloons so I was stunned for a bit and didn't really know what happened. Thankfully Des videotaped it so I could re-live the moment and comprehend what was going on.

Yay! Everyone was so happy! I think so many people had voted "Team Blue" because I had been so adamant about BB being a boy! Remember, every one had said "GIRL" when we told them I was pregnant. No one really cared BOY or GIRL but know we all know. Then I got to share the ultrasound and heartbeats with everyone. Hm, I could watch that ultrasound over and over. The little ribs, spine, fingers, toes, the stretching, hiccuping and swallowing. I'm so in LOVE! Bruce and I have been all teary eyed. LOVE LOVE LOVE

Here are some family photos after I brought out the "It's a Girl" balloons!