When the results of our DNA blood test during my pregnancy with Gideon came in, we had the midwife call David and tell him the news. He wanted to surprise me. That night he took me on an extravagant (and might I say, AGGRAVATING) scavenger hunt leading me to the gender of our first baby – our boy, Gideon.
This time around, I thought it would be fun if we were both surprised in a special way together. We also both liked the idea of waiting till delivery to know the gender of any future babies, so if this was a girl, I wanted to make finding out extra special as we might not be finding out in my next pregnancies.
I created a master plan where not only we wouldn’t know, but none of our friends or family joining us for the reveal would know either. I purchased these confetti cannons which came with 2 blue and 2 pink cannons. I placed them in two identical paper bags and marked the bottoms “boy” and “girl”. Everyone I explained this plan to said it was risky and flawed and I needed to entrust one of my friends with the gender. “No, no, no!” I replied, “I don’t want anybody to know.” I then proceeded to them that I would also have our ultrasound technician write the gender of the baby on a card and place it in an envelope to mark the correct bag with. To go even further with keeping the news a secret, I brought along pieces of paper to tape on the bottoms of the bag so there would be no way we’d accidentally see which was which. As I write this out, I realize it sounds very complicated, but in the end it worked! And I was so delighted I went through with the plan of nobody knowing, because when we blasted off those confetti cannons it was so satisfying to hear the genuine surprise and excitement of all who were present!
I asked God for a girl months before I was pregnant. I love love love my boy, and of course I couldn’t wait to know what a daughter would be like too! Whenever people asked me what I thought the baby was, I would say “I asked for a girl, so I’m going with that”. I felt pretty confident God gave me my girl right up until the day of our ultrasound. I sat in the car with my bladder full to the brim (just as the doctor ordered haha) and anxiously chatted with David and Kasey about what was going through my mind. The unknown was starting to sink in. Then when I was laying on the ultrasound bed, it really started to hit me that we had a fifty-fifty chance here of it being a girl. The only person in the room who knew was the ultrasound tech and I was started to doubt my confidence.
But the next day while everyone was arriving to watch the cannons announce the news, I had this strong sense that I knew something that nobody else knew. She was a girl.
That didn’t stop the amazement in my eyes as I watched pink confetti float down onto us. Nor did it stop the classic Natalie happy dance that followed. David, on the other hand was genuinely shocked. He always errors on the side of what I’m not necessarily rooting for to cushion a possible fall. I love him dearly for this, but this time I was right!
We have a daughter!!!!!!!!!!!
Watch the video below to watch our reactions unfold!
Happy Revealing!