How many of you found out the sex of your unborn baby and why?

[misspat]

Just wondering how many expecting parents find out the sex of their babies?

Plus if you did find out then why?

What are the pros, if any of not finding out?

[themrs.]

We found out with both of ours, mainly to be prepared (clothes, etc.) is he reason my husband gave. With our first daughter, they couldn't see at our ultrasound so we didn't know until a week before she was born. By then, I could have waited an extra week lol. After that experience I would rather have waited with this baby too, but Hubby talked me in to it

[malk]

I didn't find out with any of mine. I liked the surprise. And I don't like the blue for boys, pink for girls things, so we just bought bright colours and kept everything simple. And it meant I could pass things down from child to child.

I loved not knowing for sure, though I was right with all 3 of my 'feelings'.

[lucykate219]

I did because it made more sense financially to do so. Knowing the gender allowed us to be more prepared than we would have been if we had to keep the gender a surprise.

[greyer]

No kids yet, but I'm loving this thread because my SO and I were just talking about this last night! Several friends of mine are pregnant (two are finding out the gender, one is not) and he wanted to know if I would want to find out or not when we have kids in the future. I'm all for finding out, I just think it would drive me crazy not knowing. Plus unisex bedding and clothing is getting harder and harder to find, and I would want to be prepared. I think it might be fun to have a surprise with the first and find out for subsequent kids.

Of course, he's in the opposite camp. He wouldn't want to know, at all, and he wouldn't want me to know either. Obviously we don't have to worry about it for another few years at least, but I told him if he wanted to carry a baby around for nine months and then go through labor and childbirth, he could decide whether or not to find out. LOL.

But I'm so interested to hear the pros and cons from people who have been there!

[poptart]

I found out with all 3 of mine ahead of time (20, 17, and 16 weeks). I couldn't not know. You're going to be surprised either at the ultrasound or at the birth, so I'd rather get my surprise as soon as possible. I like knowing so I can buy clothes and baby stuff ahead of time. Plus, it is much easier to only have to pick one name rather than agree on a name for each gender.

[chargemom]

We found out with all 3 of ours. I had planned on finding out with the first and was very upset when they couldn't tell. We had several more ultrasounds that did confirm it was a boy. Then we found out at birth that he has a rare syndrome. In all the families that have more than one child with this syndrome they are all the same gender. We wanted to keep our future children a surprise but couldn't because if we were pregnant with another boy we would need further testing. I wish I could have had that delivery room surprise but in the scheme of things, it wasn't a big thing for us to give up. Plus, now I can prepare for our little girl due in 3 weeks by getting out all of our pink girly things!! :-)

[alecto]

I found out with mine. I was too impatient not to The advantages to me, as other people have said, are that it's easier to plan ahead when buying baby stuff, and you only have to worry about one baby names list, not two.

My friend chose not to find out, and the reason for her was that she thought it would make her more motivated during childbirth knowing that there would be a big surprise at the end of it all! (For me, there's still a nice surprise at the end because you get to finally see what the baby looks like!)

[yellow]

We don't want to know BECAUSE of the "it's easier to plan if you know the gender" reason. I strongly oppose this whole gender-stereotyping thing, and I don't want knowledge of the gender to color our choices in what we buy (or what others may gift us). Really, though, infants need so very little that it's not like financial planning should dictate this sort of decision.

I can't think of a single thing that requires true gender specificity, and honestly, sometimes the sonogram is wrong -- which just means you made a whole bunch of purchase decisions based on planning for the wrong gender.

People have been having babies for thousands of years, and parents have only been able to find out the gender in advance for a few decades. If our ancestors did just fine "planning" for an unknown gender, so can we. All I care is that my baby is healthy -- I do not need anything more from that darn sonogram.

[holbs]

I think its better to wait (although I'm not sure I could) simply because it helps you keep your mind more open to possibilities about the baby and what plan you have for them as they grow up. If you find out the gender, I think that makes people tend to begin to narrow the child's future before they're even born, such as if its a girl, you think, 'well, I guess she probably won't be a football star', and as a lot of pp's have said, it also makes a lot of people invest in gender-specific clothing, decor and toys.