Thursday, August 21, 2008

I thought I would maybe have "knowers remorse".

When I was pregnant with Willa, we did not find out if we were having a boy or a girl. We're all about gender neutral at Camp Sinki, and wouldn't have planned any differently, had we known the gender. I like to think we're not raising our daughter one way or another just because she's a girl. We also looked forward to the surprise element of "it's a ...." when she was born.

And like I've written here, I have no memory of that moment. 9 months is a long time to wait for something you don't remember happening.

So, with (oh boy, I just typed and then erased his name. Something has to stay a secret, I just hope I can keep it for two more months.) er... this one, we opted to find out.

Going into the second ultrasound, I could have very genuinely told you that I had no preference for girl or boy. Jim and I were both very happy to know we'd be welcoming a son.

Part of me is a little sad that there won't be a Hazel (my top girl name choice that Jim was slowly coming around to) any time soon. I was going through some of Willa's newborn clothes and actually felt sad that all of the cute dresses would be kept in storage until another girl - our own or someone else's - came along. Sure we could use them on the boy, but we aim for gender neutrality, not gender challenging.

I love knowing I can refer to him as a he. I can have long conversations with him in the car and call him by name. Willa's gearing up for her "tiny baby brudder, swimming in mama's belly." I like to tell Jim, "your son is moving around a lot right now."

I have some learnin' to do about the care and maintenance of a baby's and later young boy's penis. Other than that, we're not preparing ourselves any differently than we did with Willa. With, of course, the lack wide eyes and saying, "we're going to be parents?!"

This time it's more, "holy crap, 2?! What have we done?"

6 comments:

Heather Moore said...

great post. I'm so glad we choose to find out too. It is to fun revering to him as a he!

AmyinMotown said...

I was totally thrown for a loop about taking care of a boy versus a girl. As it turns out, what I didn't realize was that he starts out as a BABY, so I knew exactly what to do (love, cuddle, feed, talk to, play with, beg to sleep). As far as the unit? If you don't circumcise, apparently you don't have to do anything special according to our ped. If you do, it's probably much the same once the wound heals. And keep it covered during changes--we got drenched at the hospital during our first or second diaper change!

I can't believe you're seven months already! I was thinking the other day about how I got the news while I was checking my email in the hospital after delivering Will, and now you are so close! I am enormously excited for you, and also kind of excited we are having the same --girl first, boy second!

Anonymous said...

I love this post! I know I've said it before, but congratulations on your son!

Shana said...

Awww! I was hoping for a slip up on the name! :o) I love knowing that we're having a little girl. We've been referring to her as "her" from the get-go but it's nice to know we weren't mistakenly calling a little boy "her". LOL! I'm so excited for your little man to be here! Willa is going to be the best big sister ever!

Christina said...

I always liked being able to refer to my baby by name rather than "it" or "the baby". That is the primary reason why I always have found out. Don't worry about the penis maintenance. It is only like a week and you're done with it. Not a huge deal.

Em said...

I like calling him by name too. It makes it much more real, you know??

And are you keeping the monkey theme in the nursery?? I meant to ask you this awhile back.