When I was expecting my first child, I was convinced the baby was a girl. I was so convinced, in fact, I spent weeks making a pink blanket and tucked a pink coming-home outfit for the baby in my suitcase.
I was shocked when the doctor announced “it’s a boy,” and I referred to the baby as a girl for about two weeks after we came home from the hospital.
Knowing the sex of the baby 30 years ago was impossible. We guessed, of course, and I performed all the folklore remedies around. I held a needle over my tummy, watching which way it spun, and dangled my wedding ring to see if it swung back and forth or circled over the unborn baby.
Both wives-tale procedures indicated a boy, but I said I’d wait until modern science came up with a sure-fire way to discover the sex of the baby before I’d believe predicting the sex was possible.
We came close with my second child. I had an ultrasound early in the pregnancy as we weren’t sure when the baby was going to be born.
I can still picture that black screen with a white form moving around, but comparing that picture to what’s out there today is like playing the early “pong” game versus today’s realistic “Call of Duty.”
And what’s out there now is 4D Ultrasound technology.
My son and daughter-in-law invited the grandmothers to go with them to see the ultrasound for their baby who’s due in December. I was expecting the old grainy black-and-white image.
Instead, a 4D ultrasound allowed us to see facial features, a leg and a tiny fist curled up underneath a developing chin.
We also found out grandchild number three is a girl, and it’s a mixed blessing because the wondering if it’s a boy or a girl is eliminated. Science has removed the waiting game.
Today, it’s possible to know within minutes whether or not a woman is pregnant. As a baby boomer, most of us grew up listening to our moms and aunts talk about waiting for the rabbit to die.
I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, but I knew it had something to do with all the maternity and baby clothes my aunts were dropping off at our house.
Over coffee, they’d toss around boy and girl names and it seemed everything in the nursery was either light green or a pale yellow. Once the baby got here, aunts came around with the right gender clothes, but not until the baby got here.
Back then, there were two ways to feed a newborn – breast feeding or glass baby bottles my mom put in a big pot and boiled for 10 minutes. Today’s bottles are plastic, scientifically angled and come with an assortment of accessories.
Baby shoes were easy years ago – kids went barefoot until they were big enough for the big white shoes with the hard tan soles. Today’s infants are wearing couture Mary Janes retailing for $31 a pair or Skechers black boots selling for $55 online, both for kids who can’t even walk yet.
Even though technology allows us to know what sex the baby is going to be almost before the baby itself knows what path it’s heading down, I miss the old days of playing the guessing game and waiting for the doctor to say “it’s a girl” or “it’s a boy.”
But now that I know, instead of stocking up on pale green Onesies™, it’s time to start buying some pink Mary Janes and frilly bows for Miss Katherine Elizabeth Adams.
Baby girl, we can’t wait to meet you.