To find out, or not to find out.....

[FFC]

That is the question.

Are you going to find out if you're carrying a boy or girl?

I've mixed feelings on this... I want to find out because I'm a planner, and it would drive me nuts not to know because I prefer either girly or boyish, not neutral. When it comes to painting the baby room, I'd rather know what colors to go with (pink or blue). Everyone else is saying 'don't find out'.

What about ya'll?

[Docsgirl]

I don't want to. I think it will drive me insane, but I want that "it's a ____" moment to be a surprise when we do have kids.

DH on the other hand, will want to know, because he wants a girl first. lol Don't ask me why.

But we've still got a few years to go, and I figure since I'll be the one carrying our children, that I can talk him into waiting to find what sex it is...I think it's so much more exciting! Maybe a little more stressful because of the whole nesting thing and not knowing what color stuff to get, but yellow and light green can both be spruced up with pink or blue to make it girly/boyish. :D

[Brian's Bride]

I'm definitely finding out. There aren't too many cute "gender neutral" clothes out there! Plus, I would also like to know how to decorate the nursery, too!

[Jacklynn]

I would go CRAZY. I am a borderline OCD planner haha. I think it will be hard enough to wait until they are able to tell lol.

[Micah's bride]

i wanted to know when i was pregnant with my son, but he would never show in my weekly ultrasound. I finally found out about 3 hours before he was born. I will def. want to know when we have another!

[Jenna5366]

I wouldn't be able to wait. I'm kind of an instant gratification person, so I think the 9 month wait to hold my baby will be excruciating enough!

[Mrs.Goff]

I'm a instant gratification type girl. There's no way I could wait. haha

[Lids4u2]

I am the type of person that needs to know everything ~ I mean everything. FH can never keep a surprise from me. When the time comes, he wants to wait until future baby is born to find out. 1. He wants to be genuinely surprised and 2. he wants to torture me! Lovely! LOL So for our first, I guess I'll just have to wait. Boy am I nice!

[Dani]

I'm too nosey, I need to know. :)

[SerendipityCrafts]

NO, no, no, no, no, no, no, no WAY! :) :) :) :)

There are so very few really nice surprises in this lifetime and we didn't want to ruin this one. It didn't matter to us which sex it was to be (and even if it did - how was knowing the sex going to change anything?), and we wanted to be surprised! No matter what the sex - it's the best surprise that you will ever have!

Re: all you OCD ladies - the baby is most likely going to be in your own room for the first 6 weeks or so. Let DH paint the room pink or blue during that time.

Re: clothes - newborns grow out of those gender neutral clothes so fast, you won't believe it and the moment the baby is born, Grandma & friends are rushing over with gender specific teeny weeny clothing (no one seems to want to give anything other than newborn). You will be lucky to be able to put all of those outfits, on the baby even once :)

I find it sad that some parents find out sex and then proceed to name the baby before it's born too. It kind of takes the fun out of it all (for me at least).

[WebLady]

My sister found out as did my brother when they had babies; both picked out names before the birth too.

[Heywie]

I would totally want to know. I want to plan for EVERYTHING and I just know I wouldn't be able to wait!

[Ninedays9]

For me, the planning probably wouldn't affect my decision much. I'm a very laid back planner, and like Elizabeth said, some of that stuff can be done later (and the baby is constantly growing out of things). Plus I'd like to use blue in some way no matter what since I love it... I think it can be made girly especially if green and yellow can.

The thing that would drive me crazy is knowing that I can know what it is. With other surprises, there's usually something stopping me from knowing what it is... but if it's perfectly acceptable for me to know the sex of the baby, I think I'd want to.

[ikkin510]

I found out with Ryan. We weren't sure at first and decided AT the appointment that we woudl find out. We still went neutral with everything though so we could re-use things with another baby. As for the name...we didn't decide on a name until the day after he was born!
As for our next baby. I think I want to wait this time. I got so tired of everyone saying "are you sure" or "you know they may be wrong" and all of that stuff. Plus I want to experiance that surprise moment. Dh wants to find out again. So who knows!

[ChristineLS]

I find it sad that some parents find out sex and then proceed to name the baby before it's born too. It kind of takes the fun out of it all (for me at least).

I respectfully and completely disagree :) To me, the surprise factor would be equally surprising before or after birth, and I'd feel better knowing as much as possible about the little creature growing inside of me! I wouldn't want something inside of me to be a stranger. This probably sounds really odd, since I can't really explain it logically, it's just very visceral.

In regards to the naming, I think I have a different philosophy...I'm a fan of naming in honor of someone else, so that the child comes into the world with a positive legacy to add to and create their own. Names are so culturally and temporally placed - to look at a kid and say, "You look like a _______" is so dependent on the experiences I have had at the time, and I can't see myself looking at a kid after giving birth and making that heavy of decision then. I already have in mind some of the names I want to pick from since they are honoring beloved family members and friends. For instance, the first son (if I have a son) will probably have "Thomas" as a middle name since it is FH's middle name, my brother's middle name, the name of my father, the name of FH's uncle, the name of my mother's brother... It's a name that ties the family together. If I have a daughter, I'd like to give her Eleanor as a middle name after my grandmother. Also, names change how people will perceive them professionally and interpersonally... it's not something I'd want to decide after the birth, and I'd hate to have my kid nameless. :)

(I'm also one of those people who reads the nutrition/ingredient labels of everything I eat and of all the soaps I use and I can tell you what the long named things are for. I'm a bit of a control freak LOL)

[SerendipityCrafts]

I respectfully and completely disagree :)

That's quite alright .... we can agree to disagree :)

It's also something hard for me to explain properly but suppose I know that "Bob and Sue" are having baby; a girl and that her name has already been chosen .... and so they keep referring to their still unborn child as "Sabrina Rose" .... well for me, that just takes the "fun" away from the whole process.

.. it's not something I'd want to decide after the birth, and I'd hate to have my kid nameless. :)

Ohhhhhhh that wasn't me either. I picked out 2 first names for each of my children before they were born. My daughter's name was pretty much a given but, when my son was born, we were still tossing two names about. It actually took seeing him to decide which name he was going to get.

Now .... my ex boss & his wife is another matter. Their 4th baby went for 5 weeks without a name :( Baby B is what they called him until they decided.

[Danielle9608]

Yup we want to know! I already have the murals I am going to paint on the walls planned if it's a boy or a girl :)

[FFC]

Yup we want to know! I already have the murals I am going to paint on the walls planned if it's a boy or a girl :)

Oh wow I can't wait to see those!!!!

[Danielle9608]

Oh wow I can't wait to see those!!!!
I promised Jon if it was a boy that I would paint a mural of the green monster/fenway park.

[Goin2thechapel]

Absolutely NO for me! Both hubby and I DO NOT want to know...I think it'll be what gets me through labor...LOLOL

[SkippyNXC]

we're gonna find out i think.. FH only wants boys (not that he gets much of a say LOL) so he'll prolly be DYING to find out plus since he's a doctor he could prolly look at the ultra sounds n figure it out ;)

[Nekochanpurr]

I'd want to find out.. Mostly so it would be easier to buy things and stuff. Haha, i guess i'm just easy going? :)

[savepaws]

I want to find out because I have NO patience and also am big on instant gratification. FH, however doesn't want to know because that's how its done in his family & he wants to be surprised when the doctor says "It's a ______!". My mom doesn't want to know either so apparently, I'm the only one that wants to know.

So I'm not sure what we'll do. We'll probably wait and find out when its born since I'm the only one that does want to know.

[FutureKelley]

DH does not want to know ahead of time. Me on the other hand... I need to know. Not only for the whole planning and buying super cute boy or girl stuff, but I thinking knowing would make the bond stronger. We are picking out names in advance, so knowing the baby by name just seems like it would make the connection that much stronger for me.

But who knows, maybe I will change my mind when the time comes.

[Cherrie]

I dont want to find out. I feel it ruins the whole suprise! Not knowing should motivate me through Labour! :)

[FFC]

I think I've decided not to find out. *sigh*. I know Matt doesn't want to, and everyone else wants us NOT to find out. I've looked at some bedroom themes that I can manage without finding out if it's a boy or girl, and I can still make it really girly or really boyish when it's all said and done. I really want that butterfly feeling in my chest when the doctor says "It's a ___!".

I don't know though dudes.... 9 months of not knowing.....

And I gotta agree with Cherrie - it should help motivate through labor that's for sure!