Gender Reveal
Before we conceived, Matt and I naturally talked about whether we would find out the sex of the baby before I gave birth. Matt was always in the camp of not finding out, he wanted to be surprised. I wanted to be that person, that could wait for 9 whole months of not knowing, but I also wasn’t so sure I could wait once I was pregnant. Sure enough, once we conceived, we both had to know! Surprises are great, but we were anxious and excited to know whether it was a boy or girl cooking inside me. With that being said, we know the sex has little to do with the person they become, but it does give us a small glimpse into who that little person already is.
The 20 week ultrasound was such a treat. Anytime we get to see that baby move on the screen, is the best day. We let the ultrasound tech do her thing, taking lots of measurements, listening to the heart, looking at the hands and feet and head. Then she finally asked us whether we wanted to know, she said with most couples she could tell right away if they wanted to know and we were difficult to read. We told her we did, and then she moved her instrument to a different position. Then she asked, “Do you see that?”. We were looking in between its little legs. I said (in a questioning and excited tone), “See what?”. Then she proceeds to tell us, “It’s a boy!”. I assumed as much when she asked if we could see “that”. We were floored! A boy! I think it took us the rest of the day to come down off that high. We were beyond excited.
After we found out, then came the question of how to tell people. Do we throw a big gender reveal party? I toyed with the idea for a while. Do we, don’t we? I know people in both camps, people who abhor the idea of said parties (for good reason) and people who revel in planning every detail. I get it, both ways. But I also love to celebrate, well anything! I think it’s important and fun to acknowledge the big events and the little moments. My husband is the opposite, he’s not one to encourage a party. Maybe I balance him out?!
I came to the conclusion to meet somewhere in the middle. Based on our schedule at the time, it worked out best to do something for each family separately. For my family, we kept it pretty chill, ordering pizza and having dessert (the dessert being the big reveal). I decided to make a four-layer ombré cake, dying each layer a different shade blue. Here is the recipe I used. I doubled the cake recipe (leave plenty of time to make it, those egg whites don’t whip themselves!). For the frosting I multiplied it by 1.5 and it was the perfect amount. I also dyed the frosting on the outside pink and blue, in a kind of messy way. Watch the “Baby” story on my Instagram profile to see photos that inspired the cake. We were also able to FaceTime my brother’s family while we cut the cake, so fun! We had to change how we told my husband’s family last minute. Suffice to say, it was fun and a big surprise. Most people in his family guessed correctly, they even gave us a blue baby blanket thinking it would be a boy. This will be great-grandchild number 11 for Matt’s Grandma, being only the second great-grandson.
Now I’m onto planning the nursery... Interested in seeing photos when it’s completed? Let me know below!
Photos: Meg Van Kampen https://www.megvankampenstudios.com/blog