Did You Feel Disappointed When You Found Out the Sex of Your Child?

So you're pregnant and you and your significant other are hoping for a boy. You go through the first few months of your pregnancy just knowing you're carrying a boy. Then the big day of the ultrasound comes and the doctor asks you if you want to know the sex of the baby. You say yes and lie back and anxiously wait for the doctor to confirm what you've known all along-that it's a boy. The doctor then says, "Well, it's a girl!" and immediately you feel your heart sink. A girl? You were so sure you were having a boy. Then you begin to feel guilty for feeling so disappointed that you're having a girl instead of a boy and you have to keep reminding yourself that it's okay and it doesn't matter what sex the baby is as long as it's healthy.

Yeah, I know those feelings all too well as I just experienced them a few weeks ago and I'm here to tell you that I've learned that it's okay and perfectly normal to feel that kind of disappointment and guilt.

I am 6 months pregnant with baby number 4. My three other children are all girls, so of course, my husband and I hoped we would be having a boy this time, especially since this will be our last child, and I completely expected my doctor to tell me that we were having a boy during my ultrasound, but he didn't. He confirmed that we were indeed having another girl.

For the past few months I had only been envisioning bringing a boy home from the hospital, buying blue clothes instead of pink. We even had a boy's name picked out already and hadn't even thought about girl names, so the moment my doctor said it was a girl, I felt all of those visions exploding into little pieces and my heart did sink. Then the guilt set in. Here I was pregnant with my fourth baby girl. I should have felt lucky and blessed that I could even have four kids when so many people out there can't even have one. I should have been happy that the doctor also confirmed that baby number 4 was healthy and growing right on schedule, but all I could think about was the fact that I wasn't having the boy I'd so desperately wanted.

I felt like a horrible person for feeling this way, but after coming home and talking to other pregnant mommies on the parenting/pregnancy site I belong to, I was relieved to know that I wasn't alone in feeling disappointed about having a girl instead of a boy (or vice versa as the case may be) and, what's more is, I learned that it is normal to feel that way.

So, if you, like me and many other women, feel that disappointment when finding out the sex of your child, don't beat yourself up over it because it's perfectly normal.