Gender Reveal!

Today we are so excited to share our gender reveal with you! It was such a special day. We found out the gender of our baby at about 12 weeks and decided to share the news with our families through a little gender reveal party.

This is something we debated a lot about because we know the problematic connotations that come along with gender reveals. In the end, we decided it was the right thing to do for us personally. We’ve been telling this little soul since before conception that we don’t care whether they are born a girl or a boy or if in the future they realize they identify differently than the sex they were born as. Our love is in no way conditional on gender. For us, it’s just a fun little peek into who they may be. Just like we were excited to look up their horoscope sign. Not as a predictor of personality, but just a tiny little clue for us to hold on to right now.

My family has been through some really tough times in the past few years and we’ve had a lot of loss. This soon to be baby is the first really great thing that has happened in a long time and I wanted to celebrate that. My family is really close and we haven’t seen each other much this year due to Covid. My aunt, who was the matriarch of the family, passed away just a few weeks before quarantine and it has been really hard for us not to be together during this time of grief. I wanted us to be able to come together for this very special event.

I also wanted my dad to have this beautiful moment as a memory to cherish. He was so mad that we knew and wouldn’t tell him, but I wanted him to find out at the reveal because I thought it would be so special! In the end, he was glad I waited. He loved the moment, but was angry because he placed a bet with Bassam’s aunt and lost! 

Speaking of, Bassam and I knew prior to the reveal. I’ve never wanted to find out in front of others, I’ve always wanted it to be an intimate moment between Bassam and I. We had the doctor pass along the results to my sister, who gave us a little gift bag to open. Inside was the cutest little baby outfit and a card. 

We celebrated by hosting a socially distanced boho beach picnic, created for us by Free Spirit Gatherings, a local party planning company owned by a lady who I’ve known awhile and whose family is very special to me. I didn’t have very much of a vision other than neutral colors and she did an absolutely beautiful job with what she put together. Each household had their own little picnic table and each person had an individual cheese plate. Everyone felt super safe which was important to me. A dear friend of ours took beautiful photos and videos for us. It was so nice to have people who are important to us be involved. 

I had been really emotional and moody all day. I burst into tears at one point in the day because I hated the powder cannons I had purchased and didn’t think the photos would come out well. Really, it wasn’t about the cannons. I was emotional all day because I was missing my mom and my aunt. It felt so bittersweet to be having this celebration without them. It was just easier to express anger at the cannons not being perfect than my grief in missing my mom and my aunt. While the journey of pregnancy has been so magical, I’ve also felt so much grief at not getting to share this with them.

The day was also emotional for Bassam, as the majority of this family is overseas. His mom and sister were just in the states, but we didn’t get the gender results in time to hold the reveal before they left. We held a little reveal for them via FaceTime. 

Okay. without further ado, baby is a…

BOY! 

We were SHOCKED! We were so positive baby was a girl! The majority of my old wives tale results were indicative of girl and both Bassam and I had a dream the week before we found out I was pregnant that we were having a girl! We were so sure, we almost didn’t even wait for the results to buy the powder cannons, haha! 

I had been imagining a little girl as our first born my whole life and it took a few days to adjust to start thinking of a baby boy. Truly, though, gender doesn’t matter. It’s all about a healthy baby and we know that the absolute perfect soul was chosen for us. We cannot wait to meet our little baby boy.

We’ve had a name picked out forever and we’ve been calling baby by his name since then. Being able to call him by his name has made everything feel so much more real. I can almost picture him! 

We’ve started thinking about nursey and baby shower themes. We’ve been researching all the little boy clothes and getting excited about them! I haven’t bought anything yet because I’m trying to be as minimalist as possible, but I know that’s only going to last so long. 

We are still in such shock and awe that we are going to be parents! We thank baby boy every day for choosing us to be his parents. We can’t wait to meet him! 

Thank you so much for sharing in our joy with us and being part of this special journey. We’ve never been so happy and are so appreciative you have chosen to share in the journey with us. 

Links:

(these contain affiliate links)

Powder Cannons

Gender Reveal Stickers

Flower Crown

Party planning – Free Spirit Gatherings 

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