October 26 - a day I cannot wait for!

Corey and I had a great appointment with Dr. O today. Everything is moving along well, and we are going in for our next appointment in 5 weeks. We will have our anatomy scan (to find out if Lil Buns is a boy or a girl) on Wednesday, October 26. I will be 19 weeks and 1 day pregnant.
Corey and I have already decided if we have a little boy we want to get a onesie that says "The Dude Abides" (we love the Big Lebowski). We don't really want to get that for a little girl, lol. I've already decided that if we find out we are having a baby girl, I'm going to buy this painting for her room.

I have known from the beginning of this journey that the reality of this pregnancy and how it is going to change our lives will not fully hit me until we find out if our Lil Buns is a boy or a girl. I'm not sure exactly why that is, but it does make it feel more real.

It's interesting from a psychological and sociological standpoint (my major and minor in collge respectively) to look at how important it is in our culture (and really all cultures across the world) to find out a child's sex. I remember taking an infant development class in college that talked about how people hate not knowing, often pressuring parents to find out the sex before birth. They hate calling a baby an "it" or "s/he".

A very popular current trend is to have a "gender reveal" party, and invite friends and family over to eat cake and if the inside of the cake is blue, you are having a boy, if it's a girl, the cake is pink. An alternative option if you aren't into cake (weirdo) is to have a big box and open it and the color of the balloons hidden inside indicates the baby's gender. Or you could do it Duggar style and have a small plane fly over your house with smoke flying out in the shape of the boy or girl symbol (seriously?).

All of that hullaballoo is a little much for me and Corey. I feel like I'm making a big deal of it/drawing enough attention to myself by inviting my sister and mom to come with us to the ultrasound. But to each their own.

But getting back to the whole topic of it, isn't it amazing that people have entire parties to celebrate/announce whether their baby has a taco or a hot dog? (By the way, those are the technical medical terms) And I'm honestly not making fun of them for doing it. I totally get it. Like I said, the whole baby thing is going to seem a lot more real to me once I know if it is a boy or a girl. The not knowing, the undefined baby in my tummy, feels like a big question mark. Once I know, I feel like I will be able to fully invest, to really get into the daydream of it, and picture our little family.

One thing that is interesting to me after taking so many classes on the topic when I was in school is the preference people have for using the term "gender" over "sex." People use them interchangeably, but it seems most people prefer to talk about gender (I guess sex is too dirty of a word).

Not to be Ms. Politically Correct, but in reality, those going for an anatomy scan aren't really finding out the gender. That is really defined by society. It is a completely different thing to be genetically female and a woman. The genetically female part is about whether you have a vagina. The gender part of it is really about an individual's personality and/or the gender role that they assume.

Think about it--it would be really weird if you went out and bought a Barbie Doll the minute you found out you were having a little boy. Because most little boys don't like to play with Barbies. So really, we are finding out the sex so that we can then go about definining the baby's gender with all of this stuff. Which is really the fun part and totally normal.

But, if you do go with all pink everything for a girl or decide to decorate a boys room with cars, don't be surprised if your little girl ends up being a tomboy or your little boy ends up loving Barbies. Because kids love to break the rules and challenge you. And that is why having kids makes you a better person.

By the way, I totally talk about the baby's gender all the time. I also sent an invite to my mom and sister for our baby's gender reveal. So obviously, I follow my own advice.

Have a great day!

Elizabeth