Boy or Girl

- September 16, 2014

Impatiently Waiting

Waiting to find out a baby's gender is always a fun yet very anxious time. For me, most major decisions were put off until I knew if Jellybean would be a he or she. Name, shopping for baby items, nursery themes, even my excitement. I commend any mom that chooses to wait until birth to find out what she's having because that requires a degree of discipline that I just don't seem to have.

Babymoon

Right before my gender ultrasound, I went on a "Babymoon" with my girlfriends. First stop, Orlando, Florida for the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon. Needless to say, I signed up for that race before I got pregnant. Second stop, PERU! At 4.5 months pregnant, I would be running 13.1 miles and then jet setting to the high elevation/low oxygen land of the Incas. What was I thinking? Well, I was thinking everything had already been paid for, and I wasn't going to waste that money! With my midwife's blessing, I took off with my adventurous self. On our trip, my girls and I eagerly planned nurseries and names for our little Jellybean with difference scenarios pending the gender reveal.

After the race, posing with our Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon medals

About to run 13.1 miles while 4.5 months pregnant

Tracking my belly progress in the land of the Incas

Riding a reed boat on Lake Titicaca. Jellybean is already quite the world traveler.

The classic shot on Machu Picchu. That was probably the hardest day, but Jellybean and I were determined to climb those steps to see that amazing view!

The Waiting Game

A few days after my return, I had my ultrasound appointment but told my technician that she had to write down the baby's gender, put it in an envelope, and not breathe one peep to me about it! That was such a hard day. There I was, laying on the table, Jellybean's gender on the screen next to me, and I had to CLOSE MY EYES! That took so much willpower, but, one of my closest friends from college was flying in that week for my gender reveal photo shoot with Brittany. I took that envelope, went to work, and gave it to Smelly for safe keeping because there was no way I could hold on to it without peeking.

That week took FOREVER. The afternoon Amanda came, I had an appointment with my midwife. We took another ultrasound and again, I had to avert my eyes while the two of them got to see my little Jellybean. My midwife had her guesses, but she wasn't proficient in ultrasound gender guessing so Amanda and I would remain clueless until our photo session with Brittany. I scoured Pinterest for gender reveal ideas. I didn't want to do balloons, a cake, glitter, or a big party. It would just be me and my two girlfriends...and Abby. I found an idea where a girl stuffed colored confetti in a paper lantern and decided that would be the way to go.

I had to get rid of these ASAP otherwise I would open it well before Tuesday!

Picture Perfect

We trekked out to a field on an extremely cold and blustery November day. Britt and Amanda were the first to peek into the envelope while I hid impatiently. Britt captured those first few moments of Amanda finding out what gender Jellybean would be. She stuffed the lantern with the appropriate color and then it was my turn! I eagerly pulled that string and opened my eyes and saw....NOTHING! Pinterest FAIL. All the crepe paper confetti got *stuck* in the lantern. I had to look up and jump to swat at my failed prop to get the confetti to fly out. Then I saw it- blue everywhere! I'm a girly girl to the nth degree. My Air Force uniform isn't fooling anybody. I daydreamed about pink tutus and princess tiaras and inwardly worried that if that confetti were blue, I just might be disappointed. I was SOOOO wrong. Gender didn't matter at all! I'm sure the excitement I felt that day would have been the same regardless of the color of that crepe paper. Putting a gender to Jellybean just made the whole pregnancy even more real. I could finally start PLANNING. I loved that baby even more because I could finally call it a he!

During my pregnancy, my friends really came out for me to show their support and excitement. They still do! I can't even describe how grateful I am that even though we just went to Florida, then Peru, Amanda still flew down to Texas for a few days to be there for me and my gender reveal. And I'm so blessed to have a friend talented like Britt who is so eager to capture all the big moments in my life with her handy dandy camera! My girlfriends are definitely one of my greatest blessings. I love my son, my husband, and of course my family. But there really is something special about a group of girls that can tell each other everything, not reserve judgment (oh we judge and we share it with each other!), and still love each other the way we do.