Worth the Wait

As many of you already know, we chose not to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. This is something I always wanted to do....I just never really cared. However, when we went to our 20 week appointment and they turned the ultrasound screen around so we couldn't see anything, it about killed me! The technician took a picture and wrote the gender and then sealed it in an envelope for us to take home. She suggested that if we found ourselves really wanting to know, that would could go out to dinner one night and open the envelope together. Well, we took it home and left it on the counter....yes...in plain sight, we actually looked at it, sitting there for a few days. Then it got moved to a drawer, and then locked in the lock box.

We rented What to Expect When You're Expecting...the movie. It was great, I loved how they represented so many different types of pregnancies, and symptoms, etc. But you know what? They didn't represent me and TJ...those people who are surprised by the gender when Baby is born. And they also only named one baby in the movie.....the name happened to be Emersyn. We both stopped still, and then watched the part again to make sure we were hearing things correctly. We knew we wanted to name our little girl Emersyn (if we ever had a little girl) and had never heard anyone with that name. We couldn't believe it. I was tempted....I got out the flashlight and the envelope and tried to figure out how to see through. Thankfully I stopped myself....I really did want to be surprised. That is how the envelope ended up in the lock box.

I was tempted a few more times in the following months but never touched the envelope again until we packed for the hospital. Yes, we took the still sealed envelope to the hospital and opened it after the Baby was born. Why? Yes, it does seem silly since by that point we knew we had a daughter. Well, because it was fun! We had resisted temptation for months, and even some pressure from others, but we did it, we had made it (plus an extra week:)

After we opened the envelope I asked TJ if he regretted not finding out. We both agreed...no. It was so worth the wait. I remember thinking as she came out and was placed on my belly. "What is it? What is it?" And then the emotions I felt when the doctor announced, "it's a girl!" TJ had his phone ready to text our parents and tell them simply..."it's a girl!"

I can only imagine how other family and close friends felt waiting to hear the news. It was so exciting. All the thoughts of "what will your baby wear? and how will you decorate the nursery? and how will you be ready?" didn't matter...and trust me, this little girl won't go naked anytime soon!!! To all you that waited patiently with us - thank you. We love her and that moment when she arrived will be forever etched in our hearts.