A tiny, yet significant, confession.

Today is one month until the due date of baby #3. I am choosing to write this post now, and save it to the archives for posting later, only for the sheer fact that I know once the baby arrives I will be busy and most likely unable to gather my thoughts as effortlessly as I can right now.

For 24 weeks, Greg and I confidently boasted to everyone that we saw about how we did not know the sex of the baby. At our ultrasound, which took place a few days before Christmas, both of us diligently closed our eyes as the ultrasound tech determined the gender.  Life, was great.

When we arrived back from Wisconsin late on a Friday afternoon, right before NYE Weekend, I checked the machine and saw I had TWO missed calls from the doctor’s office. Immediately I began to panic, as I knew it was something about the ultrasound.  It was sooooo hard waiting until Monday to call them. But, once they opened that Monday, I called right away. The nurse who left the message took my call immediately.  This is how it went.

• Hi, this is Sarah Patten returning your call.
• Oh yes, Mrs. Patten, I was just calling to tell you your ultrasound results.
• (confused)…Oh really, I have an appointment with the doctor on Friday – I didn’t know you had to tell me over the phone.
• Oh, well I was just calling to tell you that everything looked great.
• Okay, well thanks.
• Yes, congratulations, everything looks perfect for your healthy baby girl.
• ………..well thank you, but you know that we didn’t want to know the sex, right.
• Oh my gosh!? Really, you have to be joking right now, my heart is racing.
• Nope, DID NOT want to know. Thanks a lot.
• Well, the doctor wrote on here to tell you…
• Well, considering this is my 4th ultrasound with him and he never told me before, someone messed up. Thanks a lot for telling me.

And that was that. I hung up the phone and immediately began to cry. I felt so robbed of something so sacred to us. We truly DID NOT want to know, and in one instant some stupid nurse took that away from me. That was the last time I ever saw that doctor/nurse as I began my appointments in Bloomington, IL from there on out. And honestly, I can say that made me happy.

So there you have it. For the first 24 weeks, we did not know. And for the last 16 weeks of the pregnancy, we did. It was really easy to come up with the name. Something so perfect popped into our hearts that night and we knew she was meant to be a part of our family.

The sad part about everything is now, we had to live this secret for the remainder as we really believe that it is special for all to find out after the baby arrives. And also, it is so hurtful when people would say, “Betcha want a boy, hey.”  Because that is NOT TRUE. We wanted a healthy baby – and that is what we got. And who’s to say that our three girls are any less of a blessing than if we have two girls and a boy. Poor kid would have been doused in tutus, dolls and nail polish for sure anyhow.

We are grateful for our blessings. We are grateful for our three beautiful children. And we are proud to say that for 16 weeks we kept this secret without spilling the beans to anyone, lol. And yes, it was incredibly hard