Experience the raw emotions of a mother grappling with gender disappointment.
Pregnancy

Navigating Gender Disappointment

Follow my path from grief to acceptance as I learn to love the unexpected joy of a baby boy.
Photo taken by the author

Hey there, Blunt Bumps community. I’m sharing a piece of my soul today – the raw, unfiltered emotions that have been swirling within me since our gender reveal party this past Saturday. We went with an anchor theme to play on my life as a Navy Sailor.

The Setup

Prior to last Thursday’s OBGYN appointment I painted two onesies with anchors—one pink, one blue. At the ultrasound, the sonographer had us look away before scanning the genitals. Once the ultrasound was finished, she tucked the correctly colored onesie into a gift bag for our baby’s gender reveal. Throughout the week, I also painted a few wooden anchors for us to make our ouwn guess, painted a sign, and made cookies in the shape of an anchor.

The Anticipation

We kicked off our gender reveal party by publicly making our guesses. Both of us chose a pink anchor, setting the stage for an unexpected twist. Online polls echoed a majority predicting a girl. Excitement buzzed as we reached for the gift bag, revealing a blue anchor – it’s a boy!

The Struggle

I won’t lie; my heart was set on a girl. Earlier that week, I realized that and consciously opened my mind to the possibility of a boy. My fiancé even pointed out my attachment to girl clothes, thinking that was the root of my potential disappointment. However, it has nothing to do with that, but goes much deeper.

The Hidden Grief

Here’s the unspoken truth—I always imagined naming my first son after my childhood best friend, Adam Michael. His tragic passing at a young age left an indelible mark on my heart. I was only 8 years old when he passed away and his death is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to get over in my life. For years, no guy could measure up to him, holding my ideals to a standard set by a friend I lost too soon.

Since his death, I’ve known that I wanted my first son named either Adam Michael or Michael Adam. If my significant other was opposed, bare minimum, part of my friend’s name had to be in my first son’s name.

Forced Letting Go

As my fiance and I discussed names, nothing of Adam was woven into the chosen boy’s name, despite the fact that my fiance knew of my desire and knew the backstory of the loss of my precious friend. Letting go of the dream to name my son after him feels like I’m being forced to release a part of my best friend.

Having decided on a boy and girl name together, I yearned for this baby to be a girl. Besides simply seeing myself as a girl mom first, I knew the way to hold onto my dream of my first son’s name was to not have a son.

Yes, I was disappointed when that blue anchor unfurled, but the heartache runs deeper.

Grieving Dreams

It’s okay to grieve the loss of the dream you held onto, the dream you created in your mind. Gender identity disappointment is real. It’s okay to feel that pang, to mourn the death of your ideals. I’ve been there, grieving the loss of Adam, and now grieving the loss of naming my son after him.

The Journey Forward

Yet, here I am, picking up the pieces. We’re not yet going public with the name. However, I’m repeating the chosen boy’s name to my baby bump. My hope is that by saying his name over and over, I’ll come to love this little boy for who he is, not who I spent my life dreaming I’d create. It’s a process, a journey of letting go, embracing, and ultimately, loving.

Closing Thoughts

If you find yourself in this space of gender disapppointment, know that it’s okay. Grieve, let the tears flow, but then begin the journey forward. Acceptance doesn’t mean erasing the disappointment; it means acknowledging it and choosing to love what is, rather than mourning what could have been.

Here’s to embracing the unexpected joy of a baby boy and navigating the beautiful chaos of motherhood, one heartfelt step at a time.

You may also like...

35 Comments

  1. Good web site! I truly love how it is easy on my eyes and the data are well written. I am wondering how I could be notified whenever a new post has been made. I’ve subscribed to your RSS which must do the trick! Have a nice day!

    1. Thank you! I appreciate the kind words and you being here. Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed!

  2. Thank you for writing this post. I like the subject too.

    1. You are welcome! Thank you so much for reading! I am glad you like it.

  3. Thank you for your articles. They are very helpful to me. May I ask you a question?

    1. You are welcome. I am glad my articles are helpful to you. Feel free to ask any questions.

  4. Can you write more about it? Your articles are always helpful to me. Thank you!

    1. What questions or concerns do you have that you would like more information about? I am happy to write more. I am glad that my articles are helpful to you. Thank you for reading my articles!

  5. May I request that you elaborate on that? Your posts have been extremely helpful to me. Thank you!

    1. I am happy to elabotarte further. What quetions or concerns do you have that I can address? I am so happy to hear that my posts have been helpful to you. Thank you for reading!

  6. Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed reading it, especially because it addressed my problem. It helped me a lot and I hope it will help others too.

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed it and that it helped you. My hope is that it will help many more people.

  7. You’ve been great to me. Thank you!

    1. That is so great to hear! You are most welcome! Thank you for the kind words.

  8. Your articles are extremely helpful to me. Please provide more information!

    1. I am happy to hear that my articles are helpful to you. Thank you so much for reading my articles. What questions or concerns do you have? What additional information would be helpful to you?

  9. How can I find out more about it?

    1. What questions or concerns do you have? I can provide more information or offer additional resources.

  10. Thank you for being of assistance to me. I really loved this article.

  11. I’m so in love with this. You did a great job!!

    1. Thank you so much!

  12. The articles you write help me a lot and I like the topic

    1. I am so glad that they help you!

  13. Can you write more about it? Your articles are always helpful to me. Thank you!

    1. I will gladly write more about it. What questions do you have that I can specifically address? I am so glad that my articles help you. Thank you so much for reading!

  14. Thank you for your help and this post. It’s been great.

    1. You are welcome! I’m glad that you enjoyed it and that it helped you.

  15. Please provide me with more details on the topic

    1. What further questions or concerns do you have on this topic that I can address?

  16. Thank you for your articles. They are very helpful to me. May I ask you a question?

    1. Thank you for reading my articles. I am glad that they are helpful to you. Feel free to ask questions related to the the topic, pregnancy, or motherhood.

  17. Your articles are very helpful to me. May I request more information?

    1. Thank you for reading my articles. I am glad that they are helpful to you. What would you like more information on?

  18. I feel this is among the such a lot vital information for me. And i’m satisfied reading your article. However wanna observation on few normal issues, The site taste is wonderful, the articles is in point of fact excellent : D. Excellent activity, cheers

    1. Thank you for the kidn words! I am glad you found the information to be vital for you. I hope you continue to read my other posts.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *