Who hates the idea of finding out the sex of their baby before it's born?

Who likes it?

My 2 daughters adamantly refused to find out. They said it took all the excitement out of the baby's birth.

I WANTED them to find out so I could buy cool stuff for them ahead of time.

Unfortunately, I didn'thave that option cuz there was no ultra sound when I was pregnant. Woulda done if there had been u/s tho!

and won't ever, so I can't tell others what to do. But...

if it were me, I would SO not want to find out. Life is so few of really good surprises it seems a shame to ruin one of the biggest.

...is soooo tedious and boring that finding out the sex of the baby is the only thing that keeps the parents from falling asleep. :rofl:

I have friends and relatives who've felt the same and it always strikes me as a very strange attitude.

They can get the nursery decor all done before the baby is born and not have to worry about that when they come home from the hospital.

...I don't have any kids, so it's one thing for me to feel this way now, and maybe another if I'm in that situation. Even so, I was one of those kids who always wanted to know what his Christmas presents were beforehand, so I think I'd still want to know.

Why should I start gender stereotyping before the baby is even born? A baby is a baby, I want to appreciate it as a baby and not as a boy or girl.

It is great when they come home from the hospital. I've been "baby nurse" to 4 grandkids (3 girls and 1 boy) and the little babyhood is so enjoyable.

Later on we get the gender difference situation, whether we like it or not. One way or the other, estrogen and testosterone take over and OUR choices of room decor or dress get pushed aside.

Oh, well...

I didn't really care one way or hte other; you have to find out some time. My wife wanted to wait. She enjoyed the moment of being introduced to her child with no preconceptions.

Today you have to have routine tests that as a direct result you have to find out the baby's gender too. So, I'd rather know, if only because I don't want the OBGYN knowing something about my situation that I don't. Plus, it's just easier to plan for the baby's arrival.

But if there are others who can wait for the surprise, well I won't gainsay them. :-)

Your shopping convenience and the overall decoration of the non-existent nursery never entered our minds.

Really?

I mean, sure the gender's a fun surprise. But I always thought there was an awful lot more exciting about childbirth than that.

there is special excitement in finding out whether it is a boy or girl.

I wouldn't go out of my way to find out (i.e. I wouldn't have an amnio that wasn't otherwise indicated in order to find out), but if it's clearly there on the ultrasound, I'd want to know. I don't like the idea of someone knowing something personal about me (and let's face it, that fetus would be, by extension, "about me" until it's out) if I don't know it too. Honestly, I'm a bit neurotic as it is.

Not that I would do much with the information except focus my name selection...I have a pretty visceral reaction to color-coded baby/kid stuff (especially "princess" crap), so any nursery theme would probably be pretty gender-neutral regardless of whether I knew the sex.

I support whatever someone wants to do with their own child. But for me, I think it will make it more personal if I can start referring to the baby as "he" or "she". I'm not into gender stereotyping so it's not like I would decorate the baby's room pink or blue anyway, I just want to be able to add that extra personal connection of knowing a little more about him or her before birth.

day before I had her and my son the week before. I'm not organized enough for it to have influenced my choice of decor :rofl:

Seriously I was more worried about the health of my babies and whether I would make it through childbirth - knowing the sex was no big deal.

makes it a bit easier to get prepared, via clothes/name, things of that nature.

...and didn't until the births of my first three kids. (Number #4 made himself quite clear on an ultrasound.) I agree with your daughters: I figured that there are so few true **pleasant** surprises in life that made finding out at birth what I had was worth the nine months of suspense. Plus, I wasn't much into the "boy stuff" "girl stuff" thing beforehand anyway, so that was never really much of an issue either.

The next two, we couldnt wait to find out to buy clothes and gender specific furniture items.

I wanted a boy in the *worst* way, if I'd known Dropkid was a girl before her birth, I would have maybe had a much happier reaction (I was happy, but had that tiny little niggle of disappointment). Getting pregnant was surprise enough, I didn't NEED another surprise.

I had my ultrasound too early to tell, and they wouldn't do another (ghetto health ins), even when I fell down the steps at 7.5 months. Buttheads.

I WILL insist if I have another, though.

Of course, I have access to an ultrasound at work now, so even if they refuse to do one, I'll get one anyhow!!

With my first, routine ultrasounds were not get given to healthy young women, so I didn't have one.

With the next two, I had several ultrasounds apiece, but I specified that I did NOT want to know the gender.

asked me if I wanted to know and like a dummy, I said yes.

I should have waited the two weeks.

But I think I knew already. I had been having dreams that it was a boy for months.

My husband didn't, but we eventually found out anyway because I had to have so many ultrasounds with my firstborn that it was getting pretty hard not to find out. By the time the second one came along, he didn't object to knowing ahead of time.

give you virtual PICTURES of your baby!

WILD!

If only it had come out one year earlier. Some of the ones I've seen look really creepy, though. Still a lot better than the traditional ones.

Having a name already in place really "pre-bonded"
me with Elizabeth. I couldn't wait to "see" her
and put a face to her uterine habits and name.

and then I caved!

on edit, knowing made little difference in the preparations, we picked stuff that was gender neutral anyway. He had a purple crib pad and lots of green and yellow clothes!!

I don;t see any problem with knowing the gender, it just makes you feel closer in some ways, I think.

buying blue everything with footballs on it, or worse yet, lacy pink scratchy horribleness if I'd been having a girl instead. My family threw a damned fit, to be honest, for exactly that reason- they wanted to know whether to drown me in pink or blue stuff. I really didn't want to go there- the funny thing is, they're not so into gender roles for older kids (my baby sister played football and little league and is still the girliest girl alive) but for some reason everybody was really fixated on assigning gender stereotypes to my child and I figured he'd get enough of that as he got older.

I think I made the right call. Unless I had a medical reason to need to know the sex, like a sex-linked genetic disease, I'd rather not find out in advance.

But even if they had found out the sex they wouldn't have automatically chosen "princess" over "NASCAR". It was more subtle, but of course everything worked out fine.

The only interesting incident was that I had brought dressier clothes to my daughter's house for her second child's birth because I was CONVINCED she was having a boy (based on just an ultrasound profile view, not genitalia). Wrongo, bongo. It was a girl!

attend a "bris," a Jewish male circumcision ceremony performed on the 6th or 7th day after the boy's birth. The girl's equivalent, a baby naming, is not typically performed that soon after her birth.

I wanted the surprise.

I had no problem getting the nursery ready ahead of time because I didn't want a pink or blue nursery. Same for the clothes. I bought pastel clothing that would work for either gender. I figured I had plenty of time later for the gender specific clothing.

It made preparing for my son's arrival more fun. My father bragged about having a grandson on the way--so it was exciting for him, too. He spent a week looking for baby blue bubblegum cigars to hand out as soon as my son arrived.

My mother sewed my son's bumperpads and comforter--in fabric with little retro cowboys. We had the nursery ready when we came home from the hospital.

I respect people's choice not to find out, but I loved knowing before my son arrived. While still in my belly, he was referred to as "he" instead of "it" or "the baby." He took his place in my family even before her emerged from the confines of my anatomy. :)

There is no way I could have waited.

because we didn't want to spoil the surprise. But, I knew the gender anyway, as I had dreams during both pregnancies (my family . I was so sure about my daughter, we didn't even pick out any boys names.

in life
When the Dr. says its a ????

It is the most amazing moment in your life


lost

1) Having the chance to check out the baby clothes sales before being too preggers to care
2) Friends save hand me downs now that they know the gender of the baby...

When I was pregnant my mom was convinced I was having a girl. She made pink flannel blankets and bought clothes that had pink trim.

She was so wrong. And I think a bit embarrassed.

Mz Pip
:dem: