The Beginning of Her Story - Gender Reveal Mishap

Sometimes the things you need most in life are things you would never have imagined. I always thought I would be a mom of all boys. Uncertain when this thought presented itself, it was something I envisioned my entire life. I remember being in high school and visualizing my future family; a mom of boys.  It was an intuition I came to accept. I never had a preference regarding the sex of my children and was wholeheartedly delighted with any scenario. 

I understand gender refers to socially constructed roles, and my children will ultimately decide to determine this for themselves. I will always support their decision but want to share the story of our gender reveal mishap as it may give you a laugh or prevent this from happening to other moms. Overall, I think this is an incredible story to share. If you are curious, keep reading!

For the reveal of my first-born son, Theo, we invited our entire family over. We had a custom cake made, and only the bakers knew the results. I felt like a child on Christmas morning. My heart was racing a thousand miles a minute as we cut into the cake. Once revealing that we were expecting a boy, it confirmed my previous beliefs. OF COURSE, we were having a boy! Just as I expected. I loved every second of this experience. 

Fast forward to our sudden news when we found out we were expecting our second child. We ultimately decided we wanted to find out the sex again for multiple reasons. Mainly, we wanted to be as prepared as possible for having two children well under a year and a half. We decided to do a similar reveal but in the form of cupcakes.

When the day came for our 18-week ultrasound, I was ecstatic. I remember waking up with a permanent smile. Every moment leading up to the ultrasound was extraordinary. I was sitting in the waiting room, shaking from excitement. Although we were waiting until the next evening to have our reveal party amongst our family, I think every mother looks forward to this specific ultrasound.

They called our name. The technician greeted us with a smile as we proceeded to walk into the ultrasound room. I quickly injected the fact that my husband is a doctor, and I wanted BOTH of us to turn away when it came time to determine the sex. She assured us that she would and that she would write the results in an envelope.

My eyes were wide, and my heart racing as the technician proceeded to show us the baby's heart, stomach, spine and limbs. There it was, the "potty shot". It looked like images I have Googled in the past (yes, I am that crazy mom who has Googled this). But it could not be. She did not tell us to look away. I convinced myself we would be expecting another boy, but I did not see any male parts.

There I was, waiting for her cue, and when she opened her mouth I was sure she was going to be to tell us to look the other way. Waiting...waiting...waiting. She finally began to speak. To my surprise, it was not what I was expecting. She informed us she was finished and we could pick up our envelope at the front desk.

WAIT, I did not get the chance to look away! I was utterly confused. I kept glaring at my husband in disbelief, wondering if he had the same thoughts as I did or was I the only one confused at this moment?

My husband and I did not speak a word. We walked to the front desk, where I grabbed the white envelope and proceeded to exit the packed waiting room. I had so many questions. I wanted to ask my husband why we were not given the opportunity to look away, and did he have the same assumption on the sex as I did? 

I quickly reverted to what I tend to do when confronted with a frustrating situation. MAKE A JOKE! Right there in the waiting room, surrounded by many strangers, I joked, "well, maybe this envelope is see-through”! Suddenly, I glanced down at the envelope, and that's when I saw something my eyes could not unsee. I saw the word "GIRL" written upside down with a smiley face.

Several thoughts went through my head at this precise moment. DID I REALLY SEE THAT? DO I PRETEND I DIDN'T? DO I TELL MY HUSBAND AND RUIN HIS SURPRISE? DOES HE ALREADY KNOW FROM THE ULTRASOUND?

If you know me, I am an awful secret keeper and an even worse liar. I must have looked like a deer in headlights. I was in shock. There, in a jam-packed waiting room full of strangers, I just discovered our second child was going to be a girl. I stumbled out some words to my husband, and the next thing I recall, he grabbed the envelope out of my hands and saw for himself.  We hugged, kissed and cheered with excitement, trying not to draw attention to ourselves. This mama, the one who was convinced Theo would have a little brother, was having a little princess. 

As happy and excited as I was, I was also disappointed our "surprise" got spoiled. Part of me wishes we had told the ultrasound clinic about these errors. Firstly, not having us look away during the ultrasound and secondly, writing the sex with a black marker in a white envelope. I wish I had told them to prevent ruining the surprise for another mother.

This is why I want to share our story here. Not only because the thought of us finding out the gender in a room full of strangers is slightly comical, but I wanted to advise expecting mothers not to look at the white envelope as there may be a chance you can see through it! 

Instead of my husband and I biting into cupcakes as planned for our reveal, we flipped the script. Our family did not know we already knew the results. When it came time to bite into the cupcakes, we pulled out 20 more cupcakes for each of them to bite into! It turned out to be a lot of fun watching my niece and nephew bite into their cupcakes to see what their little cousin would be. 

In the end, I would not change it for anything as the excitement on their faces when we told them they would be the ones performing the big "reveal" was such a special and memorable moment for us. Sure, this reveal did not go as initially planned in terms of where, when, and how we found out, but I like to think it all happened exactly how it was meant to happen.