It’s official: the bean is a GIRL! And we couldn’t be more excited.
Well, actually, Burger’s a bit oblivious to it all.
We found out on the day before Christmas Eve (December 23rd) thanks to some Oscar-worthy pleading to the doc (she wanted us to come in on the 30th but we were dying to tell our families in time for the holidays).
Best. Christmas. Gift. Ever.
And lucky for us, baby beanette wasn’t shy and we got the most obvious shot of “the goods” that you can get. Woo hoo! (or should I say woo hoo-ha?). We originally thought we wanted the tech to write down boy or girl in an envelope and then go directly out to a special one-on-one Merry Christmas dinner afterwards to rip it open (before heading off to spend the next four days with family).
But when we thought about having to avert our eyes during that part of her scan (so as not to ruin the envelope surprise later) we both realized that we didn’t want to miss a moment of gazing at the bean while she did her cute womb thing. We literally didn’t think we were capable of turning our heads away for a second (especially since it might be the last ultrasound of Sherry’s entire pregnancy) so we decided to heck with the envelope- let’s find out right then and there. So that’s how Sherry (with goo on her belly) and I (on the edge of my seat) learned that we were going to have a daughter. And yes I kissed my beaming wife right there on the table in front of the tech. It was such an exciting moment.
But the plot thickens. Since we love surprises, we hadn’t told any of our family members that we’d scored that last-minute pre-Christmas appointment. They all thought we were finding out around the 30th when Sherry truly hit the 20 week mark. So after a romantic celebratory dinner full of name chatter and nursery brainstorming, we hit the grocery store for gingerbread cookie mix and pink icing to prepare for our big family reveal on Christmas Eve the very next day.
While the gingerbread girls that we made won’t win any cookie-decorating awards, they did the trick when it came to breaking the news to our family. As soon as we showed up to my parents’ house in Northern Virginia on Christmas Eve (after tiling the bathroom all day we were able to conveniently time our arrival right for dessert) I announced that we’d brought a special treat: “Surprise! We made gingerbread cookies in honor of the bean…” Sherry continued: “…and we learned yesterday that we should make them ALL PINK!!!!”
Shouting, jumping, and general merriment/pandemonium ensued. We had officially surprised the heck out of everyone and they were all thrilled. The entire crowd – especially our niece Olivia – was extremely excited to be adding a baby girl to the pair of baby boys that my sisters brought into the world in 2009. So naturally, everyone expressed their excitement by gobbling down the cookies in record time. Which was festive and fun- as long as that’s not the reaction our little lady elicits when she comes into the world next Spring.
And since I know we’re bound to get showered with girl-specific advice and/or questions, we should say upfront that (1) yes, this makes the name brainstorming much easier but we’re not planning to settle on anything (or share our contenders) ’til we meet our little bundle of baby in May and (2) despite all the pink themes in this post, we’re leaning toward a less gender specific color scheme for the nursery (think greens, blues, and yellows with a dash of pink here and there). Although now it’s really fun to think through some feminine accents and DIY details to make the room feel sweet and baby girl specific (but those with baby boys shouldn’t discount our nursery project completely since there will be lots of boy or girl adaptable ideas).
Enough about Baby P- we’d love to hear your stories about your big exciting boy/girl reveal (whether via ultrasound or via birth). Heck a super close family friend of ours just welcomed two beautiful twin girls into the world after believing there was only one in there for nine whole months (she didn’t want to find out beforehand or even have an ultrasound so it was a huuuuge surprise!). Oh and feel free to divulge your “it’s a girl!’ or “it’s a boy!” reveals as well – it’s so much fun to picture how such a major moment was shared with family and friends.
K says
Congrats! I can’t wait to see her room.
Reenie says
What a cute idea with the Gingerbread cookies!
Heather H says
We waited to find out the gender of our baby, so my husband and I found out in the delivery room. He was supposed to look first and tell me but I saw her come out and exclaimed, “It’s a girl!” before he had a chance to say anything. My doctor reprimanded me for that. =) My husband is the one who told our families. He went out to the waiting room all beaming and said, “It’s a girl and she is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.” So sweet!
lynnor says
Yeah! How fun to find out! :)
We found out the gender of our first via a phone call. Our social worker called and made sure I was sitting and said “It’s a boy!”. We got the picture that day of a baby boy with lots of dark hair and wearing pink pjs. We had to ask again if it was a boy and that was the picture and it was. Yes, we adopted :)
Desiree says
Congrats!!! We are expecting a baby girl the middle of April – so I do hope you provide a sneak peak of the nursery details:)
Lauren says
Congrats you guys! Reading this post was too fun! I just have to say, We too are having a girl at the begining of May, and OUR niece Olivia was the only one that guessed correctly…..crazy coincidence!
Take care!
Kristen says
Congrats John and Sherry what fabulous Christmas news from you and your families!
A girlfriend of mine and her husband decided that they wanted to be surprised when the baby was born so they opted to not find out the baby’s. One night the dad-to-be’s sister who is a nurse was over for dinner. She looked at the ultra sound picture on the fridge and without thinking she said your little girl is already so cute.
Looking forward to seeing what you do with your nursery!!
Caitlin says
Congrats on the beanette!
I don’t have my own gender-reveal story (no babies for us!) but I love to hear about other people’s. So much fun!
Amanda says
Aww congrats! I don’t have my own kids, but I have 6 sobrinos and 1 on the way and each time it’s exciting to find out the gender. After having 2 girls, my brother was awaiting news of the sex of his third child. That day, I received a text that said “My baby has a !” He was verrrry excited and apparently that was the best way he could think of to spread the news! Who am I to judge?
Jennae @ Green Your Decor says
Woo hoo! I’m so excited for you guys! I will be totally honest — I sooo wanted a daughter when I was pregnant. I know most people say they don’t care as long as the baby is healthy, but I really want a little girl who I could dress up and have girl talk with and comb her hair and all the other girl stuff. Besides, I already had a husband and three stepsons, so I needed some help on my side of the gender scale. I was literally itching to find out in the days leading up to the ultrasound, so I was more than a little overjoyed when the ultrasound tech announced we’d be having a little girl. I can just feel your excitement, because I felt the same way. And my little one is now 4, and she’s everything I ever could have hoped for — plus a little extra! Happy parenting!
Amanda says
Hmm it deleted my underline. It should say “My baby has a (anatomically correct name of male anatomy)!” You get the drift.
Kristy says
CONGRATS – I forgot today was the big day.
So excited to see the title!
Don’t let anyone sway your name choices, good call.
Stay healthy!
Carol Ann says
I was absolutely convinced we were having a boy. Had the name picked out (Ian Jacob) but luckily hadn’t done the nursery yet. I had an emergency csection at 28 wks and told the doctor he was wrong when he said my baby was a tiny beautiful girl. We hadn’t really discussed girls names, but once I saw my 1 lb 15oz miracle, I began calling her Claudia. After a few days daddy got on board and we finally signed her birth certificate. She is now 5 1/2 years old and very proud that there isn’t another Claudia in her school. Babies are wonderful! I am so happy for you.
Julianne Hendrickson says
YAY!! Congrats! I feel like everyone is having a boy this year, so fun for you all to be doing the opposite, like you tried ha.
Alison says
CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are in for such a wonderful change to your lives. Ok, I’m gushing too much, but I really am happy for you. We have a little boy who is almost 14 months old. We were still living in Japan when we had our ultrasounds and the tech was (surprise) Japanese. His accent was difficult to understand (especially when saying words like “umbilical cord” and “amniotic fluid”) but one thing we kept hearing over and over: “98% boy, 2% could be girl” (actually he started at 95% and every time he saw our little boy’s boy parts, the percentage went up… hahaha). We were thrilled, especially my husband.
Ok, here is my advice (everyone will give you some): no one knows your child like you do. Not the doctors, not other parents, no one. So make your own choices and be confident that you have your child’s best interests in mind, not some silly trend or guilt-driven insecurity. If you don’t already know what I’m talking about, you will soon. ;)
You’ll be great parents and this is going to be one stylin’ kiddo! And if she’s anything like my son and our dog, she and Burger will be best buds!
Ericka says
CONGRATS! I have three wonderful children. Two boys ages 9 and 11 and a little girl, age 1. She was our surprise baby! I never thought I’d have the joy of a daughter and I was perfectly happy with my two boys. Now that she’s here, I cannot imagine life without her. She’s spoiled already by daddy and her two big brothers! Enjoy your time with the little one – they grow sooo fast!
Jenny @ DIY Newlyweds says
Congratulations! It must have been such a wonderful Christmas surprise to find out it’s a girl! Can’t wait to see more about your Beanette and her new nursery digs.
Beth says
Congratulations!!! Can’t wait to see the nursery!
Rachael B says
hip hip hooray for team pink!!!!
Danielle@Newlyweds Paradise says
YAH!!!!!! How cute! You are having a girl and Bower Power is having a Boy!! How adorable!
Congrats to you both and thanks for sharing. It even brought a tear to my eye.
Dani says
Congratulations on the beanette!
Gail says
Hooray!!! This post made me teary. Such a magical time!
I’ll share our friends’ story, ’cause it’s funny:
The parents-to-be decided to hold off till the delivery to find out the baby’s sex. So when the baby was delivered, the doctor turned to the new beaming father to announce the sex. He yelled, “It’s a boy!” And the doctor gently said, “No, it isn’t. You have a girl.” The hormones of pregnancy and delivery do funny things to babies’ private parts (OK, making everything a little GRANDER in scale), so the little *totally healthy* girl was mistaken for having boy parts! Oops! Everyone of course laughs about it now.
Congrats again, and happy dreaming!
Megan says
Congrats to you guys! What happy news! I know she is going to melt your hearts.
Eleanor says
Love your post! What a nice gift at Christmas time & what a fun way to surprise your families!
We didn’t find out the gender of our baby, who was due mid-June 2008. We both just felt that the baby was a boy. Part ‘instincts’ and partly because I had two friends expecting girls close to me and my pregnancy was completely different from theirs.
I ended up with PIH wich progressed to Eclampsia so I had a months long hospital stay at the end of my pregnancy and 2 ultrasounds a week to check in on our bug. It was so hard to have SO many ultrasounds and to stick to our wishes to be surprised!!!!
We held out & I tell you – our hearts just melted with the most instant and amazing love when we met our DAUGHTER(!!!) on May 27, 2008!
Congtratulations!
:-)
Jamie P says
Congratulations! My husband and I are pregnant with our first and it’s a little girl too! The day we found out she’s a girl, my husband asked the ultrasound tech about a dozen times “Are you SURE it’s a girl??” She was sure :)
Anyway, here’s a link to how we told our families using surprise cupcakes. Since my family’s a little larger than his, we video taped their response.
http://jpandjamie.blogspot.com/2009/10/drum-roll-please.html
Congratulations again!
JP and Jamie
Ursula Graham says
That’s awesome! I bet it was a fantastic surprise and I can’t wait to see some new ideas of what the nursery will be like. :)
Tashia D says
Congratulations!!
We had a baby last April and when I first found out I was expecting I knew it would be a boy and it was! It was the first thing we saw at the ultrasound. My sister already had 2 boys, but my sister-in-law had 3 girls. And on my husband’s side of the family there were already 11 great grandkids and they were ALL girls including his cousin who was expecting last May, so needless to say, they were thrilled to be adding a boy to the family! Having a baby is SO much fun and such joy! I’m so excited for you and your new adventure!
Wendy @ A Southern Accent says
Congrats! Maybe you can just name her pink!
Kim Hannemann says
My daughter Vicky – also a TJ grad, John – delivers babies at Alexandria Hospital. She tells me that the staff filling in the paperwork – actually PC work – typically turns to the nurse at bedside and asks, “Junk or no junk?”
Rena says
We love little girls – our twin girls will turn 30 on May 19th! Of course back then technology really wasn’t the best and we were not able to find out what we were having. We were glad to learn there were going to be two babies. I convinced myself that they were 2 boys – but in the delivery room I was thrilled to find out they were girls. In the end all we really hoped for were healthy babies. Now our little girls each have a little girl of their own. And one has a little boy who is pretty cute too. Congrats!
Bev says
Wow, what wonderful news, congratulations!!!!! Our little baby girl (now 16 mo.’s) has been the absolute joy and light of our lives, and we are so excited for you!!! We’re expecting a boy on the way now (due July 1st) so we’ll be anxiously awaiting your nursery ideas!!! Wishing you endless happiness from your little pink princess bean!!!
The Classy Woman says
Wow! Congratulations to you both! My dream has been to have 2 girls. I don’t have any children right now but I’d even settle just for one. :) You will have so much fun with her and I’m sure her nursery will be gorgeous!
My girlfriend was expecting in My too (in 2007) and she and her husband opened up the envelope from the doctor with their family on Christmas day. I’m sure your family was super excited.
Amanda says
Yay! We are also on the pink team and due in just about 4 weeks.
Having had 3 miscarriages prior to this pregnancy, we were VERY apprehensive at each and every ultrasound (we had one every 2 weeks until 20 weeks and have had 2 after that for some checking-up). When it came time for THE ultrasound, we both wanted to know, if the baby would cooperate. Well, she did (showing us her woo-ha with legs spread WIDE OPEN) and we.were.elated.
To tell our parents, we went out and bought varying shades of red, pink and white Jelly Belly jellybeans and put them in an orange bag. My in-laws were on their way to visit my bro-in-law, so they waited to get there before opening. They let my nephew (who is 4)guess what was inside and what color – he immediately shouts, “I bet it’s candy!” He could have cared less what color it was! My eldest niece looked inside the bag and wanted to know if pink meant it was a girl :)
Katrina says
CONGRATS!! So looking forward to seeing the bundle of joy’s room :)
Heather D says
Congratulations! How exciting. The ultrasound where I found out the sex of our son was one of the best moments of my pregnancy, and there was no mistaking it was a boy. The tech didn’t even have to say a word! I had a hunch it was going to be a boy for me though…I had a dream I was pregnant with a boy before I knew I was pregnant. Before my ultrasound, I had about 3 dreams of me and my son. Strange I know, but true.
Jess says
Thanks Sherry for the old wives tales – i have the sick one for sure but a little too early for the other two. I just “googled” old wives tales and found a sight with a questionnaire and even though I couldn’t answer them all yet it said girl too. That was fun. I crave O.J. so I’m having a girl, haha.
patti says
when I was pregnant with our first daughter (who just turned 5) my father-in-law didn’t want us to tell him if we were having a boy or girl – he always likes being surprised with his grandkids (he has 28!) so we didn’t tell him and asked the family to keep it a secret. well, we had painted the nursery and he wanted to see it, so we took him up there. he thought for sure we had ruined the surprise and that we were having a boy. see, we painted the walls a pretty ice-blue color – for our baby girl surf theme. little did he know, he was in for the surprise of his life with a granddaughter!
Emily says
I just teared up reading this thread, takes me back… babies are such wonderful experiences and blessings.
I think you are VERY smart in keeping your name choice to yourself until after the birth. VERY smart!
sara says
Our most recent pregnancy was due this past May and we also found out the gender on Dec. 23, 2008! I had purchased blue and pink jelly beans and my older boys helped me package them in clear little bags…we put one more blue jelly bean than pink in each bag and put them on the table as favors for our family’s Christmas dinner. Everyone furiously opened their bag at the same time to count whether there were more pink or more blue beans inside. It was really fun. :)
CasaCullen says
GIRLS ROCK!! woo woo, woo woo! and great hubbies do too! yay for yall, YAY FOR YALL!!!!
Jill Stigs says
Oh, wow……………congrats on the news! I had guessed a girl (think crashing her and Will Bower’s wedding) LOL
I did not find out I was having a girl until my 33rd week. My OB was a “nature nut” and did not believe in doing u/s for determining the gender. (boo) So one visit she was at the hospital w/a laboring patient and my hubs and I talked the other OB (nice guy) for one. The tech barely had the wand on my belly and told us it was a girl and evidently she was laying there with her legs wide open. On the car ride home my honey asked me if our daughter would mind if he goes along with her on her prom date!! BTW– our nursery had autumnal colors (olive green, rust, dark purple and beige) as I don’t care for PINK overload. Of course when she hit ten her room has been painted Pepto Bismal!!
Aimee says
CONGRATULATIONS!!
Our story…well, I should preface by saying that I always KNEW I’d have girls. I was one of two girls in our family, and I just knew my own family would be the same way. Yeah, right…
We chose not to find out ahead of time with our first pregnancy, but the real surprise came when I was 28 weeks, and baby decided to make his appearance then and there! DH knew Nicolas’s gender long before I did, because, well, let’s just say I wasn’t in the land of the conscious when the little guy was born. Good thing we’d decided on names beforehand, because he had to fill out all the hospital & naming paperwork.
With our second pregnancy, I decided that I needed to know when the ultrasound rolled around, so I could get used to the idea of no girls if I needed to. (Due to my history, we weren’t having more than two kids.) Sure enough, Nicolas had a baby brother, who made it all the way to 36 weeks before joining us “on the outside.” (And for the record, although I get twinges when I see moms and daughters having mani/pedi’s together, I am so thrilled to be a mom of boys! They’re now 9.5 and 6 and both very healthy.)
Melissa says
Congrats!! =) Love the cookie idea!!
Susan Solo says
Aw, yay! Congratulations on the pink! I’m so excited for you guys.
Christine says
Congratulations! Girls are seriously so much fun. Mine is 16 months, and I’m discovering the joys of having a girl each and every day.
I don’t have a dramatic gender story, and your friend who had *surprise!* twins definitely trumps me. But I found out I was carrying twin boys when I was 6 months pregnant, which is pretty late for someone carrying multiples. I hadn’t had any of the “normal” twin symptoms (ie, intense nausea), and we were all oblivious, doctor included. So I didn’t have an ultrasound until 24 weeks, when we got the surprise of our lives. It was the day before Thanksgiving, so we were able to surprise our families with ultrasound pictures of two heads, which tipped them off to our secret pretty quickly. We had to do some pretty quick alterations to the nursery furniture and registry!
Those boys are now rambunctious 2 1/2 year olds, and their sweet sister keeps up with them marvelously. I love my boys, but I’m definitely of the opinion that every mama should have the extra sweet joy of having a girl. You are in for so much happiness!
Mary Catherine says
Congratulations! That is so wonderful to welcome a baby girl in May!
Margot says
Congrats! That’s great! All the best for all of you.
Chantel says
Congratulations! What a cute way to tell your family! :-)
No babies for my husband and I yet, so I don’t have a fun story to share, but I hope I can be as creative as you guys were in telling your family when the time comes.
Kelly J says
CONGRATULATIONS! That is wonderful! I hope after we get married in March that we will have at least one girl eventually. Two fun stories for you:
I’m the oldest of 3 girls. With the youngest, my mom and dad were deciding not to find out the sex. The nurse doing the ultrasound asked if they would be upset if it was another girl since they already had 2, and my mom said no, that they didn’t care as long as it was healthy. She replied… “oh good” with relief- it was then that my mom knew Rosie was a little girl!
The other story- my coworker at a past job is a tiny petite girl, and a twin. Her mom was told she was having a large boy- ended up with two small girls!
Loren says
Congratulations on the baby girl!
When I was born the doctors weren’t sure if I was going to be a boy or a girl. My mother had names for each sex picked out (I would have been a Micheal if I was a boy). When I was born and she found out I was a girl she named me Loren, which turns out to be the _masculine_ spelling of ‘Lauren’. Whoops!
Even though neither of us is pregnant (or going to be anytime soon) my best friend and I agreed that when the time comes we aren’t going to reveal the baby’s sex to our families, for fear of being overloaded with gender specific presents. I love the color pink but I don’t want a room or a wardrobe that looks like bubblegum dipped in cotton candy. So in the future even if I accidentally find out the gender I’m not going to tell ;)