We did not find out with our first ( a boy).
We loved the surprise of it… Not much surprises in life anymore. So we are doing it again the 2nd time.
I don’t have to buy much clothes for the first year this time as most of it is gender neutral.
Me and my partner have discussed this a lot and we are both strongly not know until birth! There are very few true surprises in life and this is one thing you can truly keep a surprise.
In terms of preparing for the birth and coming to terms with being a parent I think can be done without knowing the gender. [name_m]Little[/name_m] nicknames used before the gender scan allow parents to bond with baby in utero. As for buying clothes/decorating rooms/choosing a name - for me definitely don’t outweigh the surprise. Gender neutral things are just a beautiful as the pink/blue, plus friends and relatives will probably go crazy on gender items once you have announced so no need to worry that you hadn’t prepared this. As for the name, just choose one of each and you’ve still been able to be organised!
As with some people, we both have our gender preferences. We’ve decided that if we were to find out before the baby was born there could be disappointment if the gender isn’t what we would prefer, followed by guilt that we were disappointed - at the end of the day a healthy baby is the only thing that matters to us. We also thought that finding out at the birth would alleviate any disappointment, as the emotions of having just given birth after what could be a long and painful time would take over from disappointment in the gender.
This is all my own opinion and by no means do I think that you be wrong to find out. I just wanted to add thoughts to the ‘not know’ camp!
Good luck!
Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts!
I am still not sure of my feelings on the matter, but many of you made a good case for keeping it a surprise. I feel like I am a little more comfortable now with not knowing until birth. Maybe it will help teach me to let go and let God, and just be happy and surprised with our little person… however they come!