So, here's the story of how we found out the gender of our baby at 21 weeks when we were TRYING to be surprised in the delivery room.
Jeremy and I decided early in my pregnancy that we wanted to wait to find out our baby's gender at the time of his or her birth. We like surprises, and we thought this would be a really fun adventure for 9 months. It's fun to hear each person's theory about what they think I am having and why, and we would be overjoyed to have a boy or a girl, so why not be surprised?
Well. Yesterday, October 19, was my mid-pregnancy sonogram, and we knew that this would be the sonogram where we would need to be vigilant with reminders to the sonogram technician (etc.) to keep the gender a secret. As we walked down to the sonogram room with the tech, we reminded her of our preference, and she was great about it. We were with her, looking at our precious baby, for a solid half-hour. She took tons of measurements, showed us all the baby's different organs and limbs, and we were amazed at the beauty and miracle of it all. We took our pile of pictures from the sonogram to the doctor's inner waiting room, and sat down to wait to see the nurse and then the doctor.
My doctor had just come back from vacation, and was working in several patients (including us). She was behind schedule, and so we sat...and sat...and sat
for an hour! I had forgotten to bring a snack, Jeremy was concerned he would be late to see his 1:00 dental patient, and we were both getting hungry and frustrated. I saw the nurse walk by, and asked her if she knew how much longer it would be. "You're up next!" she replied. A little while later, hungry and annoyed, we followed her into the exam room.
As I took off my shoes to prepare to step on the scale, she greeted us with, "So, you're having a ____!" and blurted out our baby's gender. We were shocked. We stared at her with our mouths open, not knowing what to say. It was obvious to her that this was, in fact, news to us, and she immediately panicked. "Oh my gosh! You weren't finding out, were you?" She fumbled with my file, then said, "Oh, I was just kidding!" But obviously, it was too late to take back her words or play it off in any way.
She then began to apologize profusely, and explained that the sonogram technician was
supposed to circle "undetermined at parents' request" on my file with the paperwork following the sonogram, but instead had circled our baby's gender. She continued to say how sorry she was to ruin our surprise and that she had never done that before and felt really badly about it. After she weighed me, took my blood pressure and asked me a few questions, she left the room, again apologizing to us.
Jeremy and I stood alone in the exam room not knowing what to say. It wasn't BAD news to find out the gender, and we had already had GREAT news that day that every single measurement and scan the sonogram technician had done of our baby looked absolutely perfect-- praise God!
Still, it felt to me like someone had opened my Christmas present early and told me what it was, and I was disappointed. I sincerely wanted to be surprised, and I was sad that the surprise was now spoiled. Jeremy had to leave to make it back to school in time to see his patient, so I was left alone in the exam room, processing.
Finally, my doctor came in, also apologizing about what had happened. She discussed all the details of the sonogram, and was very positive and encouraging about the health and development of the baby. She examined my belly and told me it was looking just right for 21 weeks, too. We discussed the usual pregnancy questions and updates, but as she spoke, my mind was somewhere else, very preoccupied.
Later, the sonogram technician came up from downstairs to tell me how sorry she was that she had mistakenly indicated the baby's gender on my file. I told all of them (the nurse included) that it was fine and that I knew it was an honest mistake. I wasn't mad at them or anything, just disappointed and really, REALLY surprised. I guess it's true that "it's a surprise no matter when you find out," because I don't think I have ever been so speechlessly shocked!
As I was finishing up my appointment, my doctor commended me on handling my "first crisis of motherhood" very well. She told me I was being a really good sport and that I was staying calm and being kind to everyone, so that means I am going to be a good Mom. :) I appreciated her encouraging words...but I think I would rather have had the secret KEPT!
Stay tuned...perhaps tomorrow we will tell the rest of the world what we so unexpectedly discovered yesterday: the gender of our Little One!
