So, We're Having A...

All photos in this post are courtesy of my amazing photographer Lew D'Souza of Engaging Images. 

As soon as I discovered I was pregnant, I pictured myself having a girl.  I knew right away what I wanted to name her and Corey and I agreed on our girl name long before we found a boy name we both liked (which I hear is common) so the thought of a girl became very real to us.

During our first ultrasound at 10 weeks, we kept saying "she" and "her" and then it suddenly hit me:  What if she was a he?  Would I feel disappointed?  Corey and I had both been sort of hoping that our first child would be a girl but, while I was certain that Corey would be thrilled either way, I was terrified that I would feel a little... sad.  Almost as though I had lost the girl I'd been picturing in my head.

To guard against this, I started imagining a boy.  For most of my pregnancy, I used masculine pronouns when I referred to Singleton and when we would browse baby clothes, I would only allow myself to look at baby boy clothes.  Seeing my friends with baby boys also made me realize in time that a boy would also be a perfect fit for us.

Knowing this, I wanted to surprise Corey with a really special gender reveal.  He had been so patient waiting for me to be sure that I was happy with either gender before finding out.  At our 20 week ultrasound, we had our ultrasound technician write down the gender of our baby and seal it in an envelope.  We then promptly mailed it to my brother so that neither of us would be tempted to open it prematurely.  Corey and I decided to open the envelope during a special private dinner we had booked in the cloud forest on our honeymoon... but I had already made another plan.

Corey's always surprising me and I feel like I don't often get to catch him by surprise (Except, I suppose when I got pregnant so quickly,) so I wanted a really special gender reveal for him and I thought our wedding would be the perfect time for it since we'd be surrounded by friends, family and our photographer...  After our speeches, I grabbed the microphone from Corey and explained that I had a wedding gift for him.  My brother had opened the envelope and wrapped either pink or blue balloons and if he chose to open his gift, we could both find out together.

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

I was so swept up by the excitement of the day and I was still nervous from giving my speech that it actually took me a second to comprehend that pink means girl.  You can actually see the OMG I'M HAVING A GIRL moment.

Immediately after, we had our first dance to Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World' and the news made for an emotional and beautiful first dance.  I think I cried the entire time.  Happy tears!