The One with the Big Reveal
I’m not a huge fan of surprises. Roller coasters, jack-in-the-boxes, and surprise parties all sound more like a nightmare than a fun time to me. I mean, I don’t even like it when the doorbell rings unexpectedly.
If you read this column regularly you probably know that we’re expecting our seventh child this summer. That’s old news (very 2022) and not a surprise but I have some additional information regarding that impending birth. And it might just be surprising.
No, it’s not twins.
My wife wavered for a while about whether she wanted to find out the sex of the baby prior to birth. For one, there’s something special about finding out in the moment. Secondly, finding out and naming the baby “early” invites a host of comments about names that doesn’t happen after the birth, and thirdly, she already knew we were having another boy. Come on, six boys in how could this NOT be a boy?
Then, suddenly, it was time for the 20 week ultrasound. I’ve been known to lobby one way or the other in the past, but this time I was perfectly fine either way. However, in the weeks that had passed my wife had gone from wavering to not wavering at all: she wanted to know now.
I’ve sat through a higher than average number of sonograms. I still can’t identify 75% of what comes on the monitor, but I have always been able to pick out a hand, or face, or boy parts when directed by the sonographer.
Yet this time I couldn’t. That’s right. After 12 years, six boys, and multiple accusations that I only have Y chromosomes -- surprise! We’re having a girl!
A collection of scenes from the movie Father of the Bride immediately paraded through my head when I heard the sonographer say it was a girl. While I had fast forwarded a couple decades, my wife was in the moment, albeit disbelievingly. She looked at the sonographer and said, “are you sure?”
The sonographer repositioned and pointed out the tell-tale “three lines” on the screen and said she was sure. The sonographer did a great job and didn’t even take offense the next half dozen times my wife asked her if she was sure. We’re two days in and I still don’t think she quite believes it. But believe it or not, we’re having a daughter.
The boys are all super excited to be getting a sister. I imagine some readers are just as excited as this will add some variety and new material to the Daddy Days column. I mean we’re going into uncharted territory here and there are bound to be some surprises.
But you know what? Sometimes surprises are good.