One of the most interesting celebrations to have emerged over the past few years is that of the “gender reveal.” This is a time to call upon your nearest and dearest to gather up to find out the sex of your baby.
Why I wanted to find out…
I am someone who believes that whether a person makes a decision to do something or not, at the end of the day it is their choice and that should be respected.
When I found out I was pregnant in December, after what felt like months of trying, we’d done it! Then the penny dropped and I had to quickly get used to the idea of “baby” being inside me.
It’s such a bizarre feeling to start with – as someone who suffers from anxiety and PTSD anyway, for me, I had a million things going on in my head.
“It” didn’t feel very real early on as being fairly petite my bump wasn’t growing like most peoples. I was so distracted by the morning sickness and lack of energy, to be honest I didn’t really think that much about “it” being a he or she… just “baby”.
It was going so well…
On 22nd January we went for our first 12 week scan. After embarking on the long wait that all expectant parents go through our “baby” looked healthy.
With the good news we set off on one of my press trips to a treehouse in Cornwall with friends. When we arrived, we had our standard baby scan photo taken and announced our baby on social media. It was the hardest secret I have had to keep and we were so excited to share it with everyone!
Just when we thought everything was fine, disaster struck. On our last evening I was in bed watching TV, suddenly feeling a rush of wetness between my legs, I ran to the bathroom and to my horror all I could see was blood. I cried for my husband Sam and without hesitation we grabbed our things, jumped in the car and tried to find the nearest hospital.
Being away from home proved difficult, we arrived at the first hospital to find it was closed. Onto the second one, which was open, however there were no doctors there, only an insensitive nurse who told me “If you have lost your baby there is nothing that can be done now”. I was beyond consolable.
Baring in mind it was now 1am, we weren’t satisfied with that outcome, so third time lucky, we managed to find an open A&E department with doctors. I was seen at 3:30am – the doctor couldn’t arrange an emergency scan for me due to lack of staff, however, she did call my local hospital to arrange a scan two days later (as we needed a day to travel back home to Suffolk).
The worst wait…
To say it was the longest 8 hour car journey home was an understatement, and the wait until the scan was like torture. Was “baby” ok, was “it” still there?
As Sam and I held each others hands in the hospital waiting room, looking at posters on the wall about miscarriage and wondering if our lives were about to take a dramatic turn, I suddenly wondered what “it” would be.
We were led into the room and without hesitation the gel was applied and to our relief we see our “baby” moving and even giving us a cheeky little wave.
Whilst I left over the moon I couldn’t help feeling that things could have been very different and how lucky we were.
That’s when it changed…
After initially wanting to keep the sex a surprise, after this scare I changed my mind. I almost lost “it” and I am still calling “it” and “it”, I wanted to bond with this little baby inside me and finding out the gender was one of the ways I felt I could do that.
20 week scan…
We went for our 20 week scan on March 14th. I remember sitting in the waiting room with Sam both feeling so nervous and excited at the same time.
After a short wait, it was time. With all of the abnormality checks completed, I watched Sam in tears with the news that everything was ok, a little part of the baby was spotted and we were told we were expecting a little boy!
The reveal party…
After not seeing many people for several weeks, the reveal party was a great excuse to get everyone together! We hired a room at Graze, a local venue, and bought a giant balloon to pop filled with confetti. I can’t really describe what a beautiful moment it was for everyone, so here is a clip of event instead…
Highlights…
Thank you to our friend Andrew Florides for taking our photos! View his website here > www.andrewflorides.co.uk
So that’s the story behind why I wanted to find out.
Sam and I would like to thank our family and friends for making our gender reveal so special, for anyone who wants to find out the sex of their baby, its a really lovely occasion to celebrate it and to get every one used to the idea of what to expect.
