Finding Out "Boy" or "Girl" Just for Fun

I wanted to know so I could get the appropriate stuff! LOL! Most of the big stuff is gender neutral, but clothes and bedding and stuff like that. My family passes clothes, so it's nice to know who needs to gather up their old clothes. :)

With my son, I was desperate to know... like many others said, I am a planner, and I NEEDED to know so I could stock up on all things baby... being a first time mom, I didn't want to leave anything unattended to prior to his birth.

If I have another, however, as desperately as I wanted to know with my first, I will NOT want to know with a second! Having been there, done that on the first time mommy thing, I now know what I need.need, and what I can get later... so the planning would not be nearly as important to me the second time around... the thought of the anticipation leading up to the birth, and the moment when they say, "It's a _____!" excites the daylights out of me!!

I found out with my three girls! now I can relax knowing I only need newborn diapers. I'm prego right now with my thrid baby girl :o)

oh my! i'm such a minority! i didn't want to find out either time. i think that's what kept me going through the mizry of delivery, that glorious anticipation of not knowing! i remember looking down at boy #2 when he was hanging halfway out and the surge of excitement i got being THAT CLOSE to knowing yet still having the goods tantalizingly hidden, as it were.
i wasn't one of the ones who 'just knew' either. having 5 brothers, i was pretty into having a girl and fairly sure that both boys were going to be girls. but there wasn't one second of disappointment and never has been. i'd have welcomed a baby girl, but i have lovedlovedloved being the mother of boys.
the 'gender neutral' thing never really bugged me. i still don't really understand it. my boys wore pastel snugglies of all colors. brian's bright yellow and dylan's soft peach rooms weren't militantly 'neutral', just colors i liked. their toys were mainly stuffed animals, just as a baby girl's would have been. i don't know why it matters if a boy baby has winged ponies and fairies decorating his room, or a baby girl has sports equipment (or why only one or the other would be appropriate.) i totally get WANTING to know. i just don't get why it's more 'practical' to know.
either way, though, it's so much fun. thanks for a delightful question!
:) khairete
S.

We didn't find out the sex of our baby. I feel like there are so few truly happy surprises in life and having the doctor tell you the gender of that little one is one of them. We thought it was a boy all along and even the nurses thought it was because of how obstinate the baby was. 24 hours later we found out we had a stubborn, obstinate baby girl who was wonderfully perfect! It was sooooooooo exciting! When we have our next baby I think I'd like it to be a surprise. I'm a very practical person and would like to be able to prepare by getting clothes etc.. if we're having a boy but I think in the long run that stuff doesn't matter. It would be so exciting and special to wait till the little one arrives to find out if we have a daughter and son or 2 daughters. Either way we'll be blissfully happy!

With our first neither of us knew. I wanted to know, but my husband didn't. I decided to be suprised with him. It was a boy!
With our second, he still didn't want to know, but I still did. So, this time he let me find out if I promised not to tell a soul! He didn't want any chance of someone slipping the news. I had the ultrasound tech. put it in an envelope for me to take home and look at later. I looked about a week later and kept it a secret until the birth. Why did I want to know? I knew that this was probably our last and wanted to know whether I should keep the 8 totes of outgrown things from my first or start buying girl things. My husband knew to stay away from the totes if he didn't want to know. I kept my secret and he was suprised with another boy!

We're practical people and we knew we wanted O. child, so it made sense for us to find out.

I wanted to know so we could really feel ready, have the cloths and room and all that ready. Not knowing the sex in no way makes that first moment when you first meet your baby any more magical, I can guarantee it.

I am a planner and needed to know! I found out what all 3 of my kids were! I wanted to go buy clothes without wasting money and didn't want to go the gender neutral way, same thing with their rooms, I wanted to decorate and personalize and picking out names was THE hardest part for me...I needed the time to focus and pick the perfect name :)

I have 2 boys then a girl and all were correctly called...although we made them check and then double check with the girl, just in case!

I actually was dying to know what my first baby was because I was so excited, but my husband said he really thought it would be fun to keep it a surprise, so I agreed to wait until the baby was born. And truly, the moment when we found out we had a girl was so amazing that I was grateful to my husband for insisting on waiting. It really was an awesome experience, so with our second one we also waited. We were blessed with a healthy girl and a healthy boy, and I'm so glad that we decided to be surprised by both.

I'm so with Suz on this - the thrill of finding out in the birthing room was so amazing! I'm not hung up on the buying the "right" stuff either - so much can be gender neutral. For our first I knit a R.'s egg blue sweater, for number two a lovely cream with gray polka dots and for the last a deep burgundy cardigan. Everybody had rooms with bright colors.

With my last, my sister really wanted me to know (even tho she didn't with her twins) because she wanted to ditch the frilly girl stuff if I had a boy. As soon as he arrived she couldn't get rid of it fast enough - but then the joke was on her - soon after my guy arrived her girls took a many year trip into tomboy territory. 10 years later my little guy is still wearing t-shirts, sweatshirts, coats and hiking boots handed down from his twin girl cousins - LOL!!!

Well, this might be more than you bargained for on a JFF question, but it's the truth for me ;-)

My daughter wasn't planned. She (gratefully) came during a very chaotic and dark time in our lives. I had a very difficult time enjoying the process of pregnancy. I had a difficult time relating to or trusting my body's wisdom / change. My "little creature", felt very abstract and foreign.

As such, I wanted to find out the sex of my child because I hoped it would help me feel like she was more real and more human. In my mind's eye, I saw her olive skin, her wild curls, her amazing cheeks and her deep, throaty laugh - but I didn't trust my intuition because I didn't believe I was capable of creating something pure and right.

When we found out she was a girl, she became more real. My intuition had been validated and I was able to trust it's love. It helped me feel excited, positive and healthy. We were able to name her (her name means light) and collect tangible items that reminded me that I was growing a beautiful baby inside of my body (!!!!!).

When she was born and I held her to my breast, my life began - again. She was beauty; I was awe struck by her perfection and her character. At first I was simply amazed that SHE could come from me. Her birth was a personal revolution and changed the very foundation of my perspective. That, for me, was the shocker!

I am in my first trimester with my first, and we definitely want to know!! There are so many surprises that come with labor/delivery/going home, I'd rather not add the sex of the baby to the pile. :)

We let all three of ours be a surprise. I think it is more fun that way! My first two were boys, and I thought for sure that my third was going to be a boy as well, but I so badly wanted a little girl. And surprise! I got my baby girl! It was a sweet way to end a hard delivery.

With my first one me and my husband went ahead and found out what it was and it was a girl who is now 2 1/2. I guess because it was our first and was so excited and wanted to be prepared. Now im 5 months with our 2nd baby and we decided not to find out what it is and im so excited for the surprise:) Which i have girl clothes still and my sister had her 3rd child which was a boy and she is done so she gave me a bunch of boy clothes which some are still brand new. So we have clothes for both. Doing the nursery a light green with black furniture and black and white bedding so if its a boy or girl it will fit. I think it will make delivery a lot more fun. I also have boy and girl names picked out and i get to take both boy and girl clothes to the hospital with me. I think its just way more exciting. If we decide to have another one it will be a surprise as well.

I wanted to know because we didn't have a bunch of money to go out the next day to purchase clothing. Once we found out the sex I started shopping for clothing and even clothing for the next season off the clearance racks. To me it was about being prepared for a boy/girl mentally as well.

I didn't become pregnant until I was 38!! I was soooo thrilled to say the least!
I knew I was probably only going to have one child and had hoped for a son. When I had an Amniocentesis at 16 weeks, I found out I was having a boy and that he was perfectly normal. I love having a son but would love having a daughter now too! One of the things I would've done differently is have had a child earlier and had at least two. Hind site! Hope you all enjoy your children--mine is almost 13 already---THE TIME REALLY DOES FLY BY!! ENJOY THOSE PRECIOUS GIGGLES, LAUGHS AND ALL THOSE GOODIES THEY FIND AND WANT YOU TO HAVE! I really miss those days!

I'm a planner and needed to know with all 3 kids. I also figured the technology is there to find out, we might as well take advantage! It was nice to do some painting of the rooms before the baby arrived, etc. I also was able to do some discount shopping beforehand, especially at Target and Wal-Mart when they put the seasonal stuff at 50-75% off.

Hubby wanted to find out -- I wanted to wait but I knew if he knew, I wouldn't be able to hold out :( so we found out the first was a girl....so I end up with a pile of PINK dresses at my shower (ugh). That means with baby #2, I either find out or end up with nothing to dress my little boy in....yes, so we found out and it was a boy and we had to buy all new stuff. Now prego with #3...really didn't NEED to find out since we already have a girl and a boy BUT we wanted to be able to tell our kids (almost 4 and 2.5) to prepare them so that they wouldn't have their heart set on one gender and be disappointed (daughter desparately wants a little sister). Lo and behold - - another boy! Guess she is going to have to wait a bit longer for that little sister! If I had it to do over again, I think I would have waited and not found out with #1 so I at least had some gender neutral baby clothes!

I do not like surprises, even good ones. I just had to know. Could not wait to find out.

I am NOT a patient person and was having difficult looking at the "gender neutral" things and actually seeing them as gender neutral. I kept clumping everything into "boy" or "girl" so getting his nursery ready would've been impossible cause I would be like "well that's cute for a boy, but what if it's a girl"! lol Plus, I think it helped with my attachment to him during pregnancy to be able to give him a name and such.

I was paranoid about them telling me it was a boy and it really being a girl (I had a friend who was told it was a girl and it ended up being a boy! She was returning a lot of pink stuff that first week lol). My boyfriend already had a girl and was so excited about having "his boy" so at every ultrasound that I had, I had them double check lol.

We didn't find out with our first two (ages 2.5 and 4.5) but I knew what they were from the second I found out I was pregnant. We just found out a couple of weeks ago what number 3 is (boy) and I love being able to say "he" and "baby brother" when I am talking to the other kids about "the baby in my belly"...I also love getting rid of all the girl stuff I have been holding on to for 5 yrs just in case we had another girl! SO there is my reason to find out: decluttering :)

I was on board with not knowing by the doctor telling me, but I knew from the second I found out I was preggers it was a boy and no one needed to tell me that. We opted to have the gender written and placed in an envelope sealed and sent off with my sister, daddy cracked under the pressure ... the exact statement when driving to my sister's at 10pm ... "am I buying a football or a chastity belt?" He just had to know! Like I said I already knew and no one was telling me anything otherwise ... so yes, I had a boy.

I always viewed it as its a surprise whether you find out at 20 weeks or in the delivery room! I just had to know early. I'm not a patient person and I am a planner. For me, it was too stressful to wait - I needed to know so I could go ahead with the nursery, clothes, etc. I wasn't someone who did all blue or pink but I was still going to go in different directions with the nursery depending upon the gender so I had to find out. Besides, I KNEW the gender anyhow - don't ask me how, I just KNEW!

Purely and simply: Because I could.

Not finding out, to me (since the option is available), would be like waiting until my child was 6 months old before being "allowed" to change their diaper. It wouldn't drive me nuts if the tech wasn't available (I've been pregnant where the tech wasn't)... but since it WAS, I couldn't not find out.

It was utterly magical. Hey there little guy!