It’s no surprise, we’ve kept our kids’ ahem, private parts, well, private until they are born. Finding out generally only serves one purpose: buying pink or blue clothing and nursery accessories. I hold the opinion, though, that it’s more important to focus on the baby as a human versus a boy or girl. Keeping the ‘big’ surprise does have several important benefits.
1. Re-use and resale–Itty bitty baby items only fit for so long. Even going through 2 kids in heavy rotation, most of the clothes and items we have for them look like they’ve barely been used! If you plan on having more than one child, nothing is better for RE-USE than keeping baby’s bits a surprise (yes, even from yourself!)–in general it forces you to purchase gender neutral clothing, at least for the first few weeks or months, meaning that for this and EVERY go-round, you already have items you can just toss into the dresser or diaper bag and always have appropriate items clean and ready to go! It also means when it comes time to part with these items, they’re salable (or donation friendly) to EVERYONE at every stage of pregnancy.
2. Zero expectations–Let’s face it, from the time you announce your pregnancy, there are expectations placed you on AND your unborn child. If you’re having a boy, you have a future footballer or heart-breaker wiggling in there. If it’s a girl, she’ll be a ballerina or ‘trouble when she starts dating’… It’s garbage. All of it. No one can predict your child’s temperament, future likes/dislikes or propensity to be a good or bad ‘teen dater’… for heaven’s sake, the child hasn’t even drawn a breath–give the little critter some breathing room before assigning a stereotype. Yes, I said critter.
3. Less prying–People are curious. A lot of the time, though? It’s none of their business. A simple ‘we’re keeping it a secret’ usually shuts down all further questions. Which is handy for making a quick getaway from all too nosy strangers!
4. Easier gift giving/receiving/returning–Anything goes. That makes it easier on everyone. If you are desperate for pink and blue, you can trade ANYTHING gender neutral you get for a sex specific item later, and perhaps in a larger size (or more appropriate or seasonal item you’d otherwise pay for out of pocket)…let’s face it, great aunt Hilda may not always pick the cutest items that you’d love, in the sizes that you want!
5. It’s charming–It really is. What’s more old fashioned than keeping your baby.. well just your baby instead of your little linebacker or ballerina? Not a whole lot. In this whole world there’s not that much anymore that’s a surprise, for you or anyone else. Technology has pretty much eliminated the surprise from… life.
So now that you know some GOOD reasons to keep that ‘bit’ a surprise…think it over before you make the decision to ‘find out’ or ‘not’ during your pregnancy. After all, the decision, and the time of revealing, are entirely up to you!
We do not do routine ultrasounds, so we did not find out for either baby. I loved being surprised with my daughter, and will love being surprised with #2. My daughter now has some pink things that she has picked out, but I prefer not to gender kids of any sex. My daughter wore every color of the rainbow. The same will go for #2. And duckies and froggies are cute on newborn boys and girls. As for our nursery, I picked blue with white trim. I would never paint a room pink (blech!), but I like the blue. And, yes, I would put pink on a boy. Jason Mraz made quite the career being “the geek in the pink” lol!