Baby Development After Birth

Should you find out the sex of your unborn baby ahead of time?  I consider myself an easy going person who can appreciate all sides in most cases.  I can understand that wanting to know if you are having a boy or a girl can make things easier when preparing for his or her arrival.  However, I think I lean more towards the element of surprise.  Plus, what if you are a rare parent who paints the nursery pink and bring home a baby wrapped in blue?

I am not an ultrasound tech but with my first ultrasound, it was quite obvious we were having a boy.  I had a slight sense of disappointment that the surprise factor was gone.  With my second child, he was not going to let anyone have a peek!  In fact, I carried both so differently, we were almost 100% positive we were having a girl.  After he was born, I remember the doctor saying, "It's a boy!"  I was so out of it and exhausted, all I could say was, "It can't be a boy.  We only have girls names picked out."  In my defense, he was born a few weeks early so we hadn't made it to boys names.

If you look on the market today, you can take an ovulation test to find out the optimum time to conceive.  You can then take a pregnancy test and find out early if you're pregnant.  And now there's a test to find out the sex of your baby ahead of time.  I guess in a society where timing is everything and life must be carefully calculated out, this makes sense.  But what's happened to the fun of a doctor's surprise announcement? 

Maybe I'm old fashioned but in my opinion, the I think the surprise is part of the fun!