Everyone else: We just want to talk about balloons and cakes!!!!!
I am pretty sure at this stage and when babies are born they wil not be able to self identify their 'gender' so for a pregnancy sight to post sex and gender interchangeably shouldn't matter... If someone gets offended they probably do about a million others things too... This is not a scholarly sight it's for the public.
It's an Internet site. Sight= the power of seeing with your eyes. Two different meanings- kind of like sex and gender but obviously this conversation's been had before and it's late to get into it now!
Many people tried to steer this conversation back to reveal parties- I hope the next poster will do the same! I didn't have a reveal party. We were too excited- the tech told us and we told everyone! Haha. I made a cute photofy picture of the ultrasound and announced that way
I told my family, and sent them the sono pic that said "I'm a boy". My Dad was yelling to his whole office "My girl is having a boy!" and my Fiance was proudly telling everyone his first born is a boy. So yeah... Sex reveal cutesy stuff is out. Lol my aunt was pissed at me and my cousin for telling us and told us we were shit heads. So I told her that I'm actually having twin girls, and asked if she'd still be surprised... Ahh memories.
You ladies had some pretty cakes though...now I want cake....
Ahh yes...sight and site are not one in the same. Neither are there, their and they're...I'm just saying. Also, in regards to the whole standard deviation and population percentage thing...that may be true, but I think ppl are more sensitive to the "it is sex not gender" topic in light of the recent Gay marriage right changes. Just putting it out there.... ya know before ppl come to debate me.
We did ours Friday and had so much fun. I just couldn't wait to tell everyone we were having a baby girl - I was freaking out during the countdown!! We got clobbered but it was the most amazing thing ever!
Hi! We had a gender reveal party and it was great. Our OB gave us the sex of our baby in an envelope, then we passed it off to our local baker. We had the reveal part with close friends and family and had a blast. It was very exciting.
Once the cake was cut, the inside revealed whether we were having a boy or girl.
Hi! We had a gender reveal party and it was great. Our OB gave us the sex of our baby in an envelope, then we passed it off to our local baker. We had the reveal party with close friends and family and had a blast. It was very exciting.
Once the cake was cut, the inside revealed whether we were having a boy or girl!
It's a boy!
We had one also this month. We did a cake cutting but , a little different. We took my sister in law to the appointment and she found out what he was and we had a cake made. We cut the cake open and blue m&M's flowed out.
With my son we did the balloon out of box, this time we are doing silly string. My first we just found out from tech, it was way before reveals were a 'thing' lol
I actually just had mine a week ago. We happened to be having our ultrasound appointment a few days before my birthday so what better day to find out what we were having? We waited a few days and mailed the sealed results to my mom who lives about two hours away she took it to the local party store and had them fill a box of the color corresponding balloons. So on my birthday we opened my big birthday gift in front of my our immediate family. It was very simple. BTW I'm a huge breakfast at Tiffany's fan so we had some inspiration from there for my birthday/reveal party. Good Luck!
I'll probably be hated for this comment but since we all are allowed to have our own opinion, I will say it. The constant argument about gender and sex is kinda over the top. I understand that there is a dictionary difference with the two words but I believe, have always believed and will always believe that those 2 things are intertwined. This is a religious belief and I know most don't agree with this thinking but my baby girls "sex" is and will always be the same as her gender. That is how God created us. I don't judge anyone who doesn't agree or chooses to think otherwise and I respect you for your understanding and beliefs but I wish others would respect mine and others beliefs that even though by definition they are 2 different things, they are connected one to the other. I know this is a very unpopular belief but we do have a freedom of religion and speech so I feel that all the hatred towards those who don't agree with the separation of those two in life is wrong. You want respect for how you feel and so do we.
I threw one for my brother and his wife. I made red velvet cupcakes with pink filling and white icing on top with blue and pink sprinkles. It was a blast to plan and to be a part of. They were so excited to find out like that. We found out at 18 weeks and just called a few people and tagged the rest of the family in one ultrasound photo. We weren't patient enough to wait. Lol
@praying41 until it's not? Or are you saying that if she grows up not sharing your belief (identifies as a man) (s)he will no longer be your child? Who is being 'over the top' here?
The rationale behind separating the words is to STOP the spread of hatred-- to give each individual the respect and acknowledgment they deserve, regardless of anyone's belief.
@praying41 In the spirit of trying to understand your point a little more clearly, is it that you don't believe in transgender? Or that you don't believe that sex and gender are different? I don't mean my question to be snarky, just genuinely curious about your point of view.
@VegDumpling I will love my child no matter what. But I will raise her to believe as I do that the two are intertwined. I understand that one day she will have to make a choice of her own but I hope and pray that she will understand what I have taught her and make the right choice.
@spottedginger I am saying that I don't believe in transgender and I feel like on this board there is extreme prejudice for those of us who feel that way. That's why I wrote this.
Thanks @spottedginger That means a lot to me and it's why I wrote what I wrote. I am not against anyone who doesn't agree with me but wish there was more respect for us that do believe this way.
I would like to respect everyone's opinion, but it's not in fitting with my moral code when that opinion infringes on individual freedoms that are not hurting anyone else. I just can't. But I will say, I know my opinion isn't going to change yours. I realize that. But to say I respect your opinion would be like saying I respect the opinion of someone who 'doesn't believe' in interracial marriage or something.
I don't believe it is a "choice" to make (gender) and telling children and young adults that they are wrong and making the wrong choice is why so many lgbt children take their own lives I'm not pointing fingers, or trying to put down other's parenting beliefs- you can raise your child however you like and I hope everything turns out great! But I'm just illustrating why i disagree with your belief. As said, we can all disagree respectfully, and I hope this is taken respectfully as I mean it.
Edited because my first sentence maybe wasn't respectful and I wanted to keep this respectful
@VegDumpling I think interracial marriage is in a very different category from transgender views. Especially with regards to what I'm saying my beliefs are. When I speak of my beliefs, I speak of believing what the bible says with regards to what is and isn't sin. I have absolutely nothing against interracial marriage. I think it's awesome and makes us more diverse and nowhere in the bible does it ever speak against that. But it does talk about transgender and that is what I am disagreeing with. I don't hate or judge someone because of their lifestyle or choice. I have no right to do that and believe those who do are very wrong for doing that. But that does not mean I agree with the action itself. I know I won't change your mind about this topic just like you won't change mine. But I do hope people can respect the fact that I do have a right to speak my opinion and share my beliefs just as they do. I've read many posts where this comes up and just feel like it's become a "it's my way or the highway" topic instead of people agreeing to disagree on how they see things.
By saying it is wrong you are absolutely judging and inadvertently spreading hate. That is the point I am trying to make. I do respect your right to have an opinion, I just think that this particular opinion is damaging. And I know you are not trying to tell me you interpret the entire Bible literally.
@praying41 not you, personally. But it contributes to a societal outlook that looks upon a person's intrinsic nature as evil and wrong, which leads to hatred of that person (and within that person-- assimilation of others' judgments is a major cause of depression and mental illness in transgender individuals, like PP said). It's not the same as saying you disagree with someone who eats pork. This is someone's identity, their sense of self that you are invalidating. To say they are 'wrong' for being who they were born to be is setting them up as objects to be hated.
We had a reveal party and we did a big, 36", black balloon with confetti in it. The ultrasound tech wrote if it was a boy or girl in an envelope and we have the envelope to the balloon store. I made sure they knew it was a surprise and also we had them give us back the envelope (just to confirm).
0.3% of the U.S. Population is transgender... Meaning that 99.7% of the time, we are finding out our child's gender when we discover whether it has an X or Y chromosome. In the mathematical world, 99.7 is three standard deviations and describes the data "with near certainty".
Yes, there have been numerous topics on this board where others have strongly voiced their opinion on which term they believe is best to use. Other people will continue to use gender for reasons that are political, religious, or simply because they would prefer to describe it as gender, especially when they know that what they are describing is the same thing "with near certainty".
My point is: the debate has been discussed numerous times and no one is changing their minds at this point. We really don't need the politically correct police swooping in over and over again. The original poster was just wanting to see and hear cute ideas for gender reveals. That's all this thread should be about.
THANK YOU. Btw, I said the same thing and got my face eaten off.
WE ALL GET IT. Nobody here takes issue with the transgender community, I would hope. I would also hope that we are all prepared for our children to be exactly who they are and will love them as much as ever we loved them.
And that those who DO have some sort of issue with people who are transgendered would wisely remember that this board does NOT share your views.
I think there are certain people who just need to be seen arguing about this topic because picking fights over it is chic to do. If I use the wrong word, it's because transgenderism is just not a big deal to me. I'm not from the USA so it's not a huge hot debate topic. It's just how it is sometimes. Nobody who isn't sort of crazy makes a big deal out of it. And i find a lot of americans, no matter what side of this unnecessary "debate" they're on, have to be as loud as possible and pick effing EVERYTHING anybody says apart. I get that the USA is in the middle of making some very positive changes and that always makes everybody a little crazy but... seriously. Come on. people need to ctfd.
It's quite exhausting, frankly. As somebody with a trans loved one (not to mention two close family members, one who is a lesbian and one who is a gay male) I really appreciate the barking dog string section of people who will help me to stand up for people who identify outside the sex they were born with or love the same sex or anything that falls into the LGBTQ spectrum. But nitpicking is the wrong way to do it.
I am not doing one. My husband and I find out tomorrow, hopefully, during our anatomy scan. And we plan to do a video that we will share out with our friends and family - we got the idea from the bump. We will release either pink or blue balloons from a box saying "Boy or Girl?"
@groovylocks 99% of statistics are wrong! I'm not sure where you got those figures but it probably has something to do with the fact that transgender people the world over are forced to hide and or stifle their identities (not unlike rape statistics for lack of a better analogy). Something that may 'just not be a big deal to you' is a very big deal to others. I don't know where you're from, but the hardships that transgender people face here in the US are very real. Not everyone is Caitlyn Jenner.
eta: the fact that you suggest it's 'chic' to advocate for transgender rights is ridiculously abasing and offensive.
@groovylocks 99% of statistics are wrong! I'm not sure where you got those figures but it probably has something to do with the fact that transgender people the world over are forced to hide and or stifle their identities (not unlike rape statistics for lack of a better analogy). Something that may 'just not be a big deal to you' is a very big deal to others. I don't know where you're from, but the hardships that transgender people face here in the US are very real. Not everyone is Caitlyn Jenner.
So first of all, i didn't post the statistics. That was me quoting somebody else.
Secondly, i'm not saying that it's not a big deal. I'm saying the debate is alien to me because where i come from, nobody makes a big deal out of it.
But thanks for proving my point exactly. You know, about how right now in the USA, it's a huge change you guys are dealing with so you're all being freaking knee-jerk about it no matter what side of the debate you're on.
Not everybody in the world is dealing with this weird tension right now. Some of us got over that years ago. So i get why it's so sensitive for people. It's just that again, where i come from it really isn't a huge deal unless you're uneducated trash. That's a GOOD thing, that places like my home city exist, not a bad thing.
I guess what I mean is... For lots of us, nobody ever made it into a big thing. But for you guys, it is being made into a big thing by a surprising number of bigots. So "no big deal" sounds offensive to you when in reality, it's the ideal state. And i guess you guys aren't ready for that yet.
@groovylocks sorry if you think I'm being a 'loud' American. I do come from the school of thought that dialogue is the best way to learn (women's studies classes prob). I wasn't trying to say that it was 'your' statistic, just that it doesn't sound accurate. Idc who posted it, I just saw it in your post so decided to address it.
Also I'm not sure if your nationality is what makes it alien to you; plenty of Americans don't pay attention to that sort of thing (despite it being in the news because one famous Olympian-married-into-the-Kardashians came out as transgender) or, like PP, 'disagree' with it on principle.
The way to spread awareness is not to be silent, or to shush people who are being vocal about it because you think they're trying to fit in with the mainstream. I mean, what the heck? I don't see how that's logical. 'Nitpicking' is a way of deconstructing ideas that have been hard-set for too long so we can analyze what the pieces are and why they were put together in a particular order, so that we can change those (damaging) ideas.
I'm not entirely sure what your point was in the first place.
eta: in Anthropology of Sexuality at my university, sex v. gender was literally the first thing we talked about. Day 1. Intro chapter.
@groovylocks your edited post makes a lot more sense, thanks for clarifying.
eta: while I love my country, I know it has A LOT of work to do. A major problem with the US is that people that live here assume that it is a 'super power' and is ahead of other countries when it is very clearly behind in some respects. I.e., women's and LGBTQ rights (maternity leave is a great example).
The statistic I quoted was an estimate from a scholarly article from the ucla school of law. It seems to be the most commonly referenced statistic in other articles.
@jenichael1217 thanks! While that is a reliable source, this article focuses heavily on problems with survey methodology. Like I suggested, the numbers of individuals are probably underrepresented for a variety of factors. But, again, thanks for the article!!
Sorry I didn't stay around for the debate- but I think you expressed yourself much more clearly than I would have! I just wanted to say, very nicely said, all of it!
Stopped reading the comments after the first page. I had a gender reveal BBQ with close family and friends and we had a cake made with the gender inside. It was awesome and I'm so glad I did it. After we cut the cake we sat in the living room and watched the DVD I have of my 3D ultrasound. It was nice to be able to include everyone in the pregnancy excitement since men don't typically come to baby showers.
My husband and I are doing a gender reveal for ourselves. Living in SoCal where the beaches are plentiful, although I'm sure it could be done anywhere, we are going to wear white and have a family member fill water guns with the associated gender color paint and all at once have friends and family spray us with the color! That way we aren't gonna know as well as everyone else. A little more fun for us instead of a cake or balloons or something (:
We found out at 14 weeks (thanks, Panorama test!) and happened to be going on vacation with a big group of family around 16 weeks, so we decided to do a little reveal cocktail party. We invited some friends who were going to be in town as well, and I ordered blue/pink mardi gras beads off of amazon.
When people got there they had to pick a necklace for their guess, and then for the actual reveal we bought cute baby girl clothes at Target and gave each of our moms a giftbag to open. The reactions were amazing when they pulled out the tiny dresses! It was a fun event and very low-key in terms of planning. It felt exciting to celebrate our baby girl, especially with friends who won't be able to make it to our showers later in the fall!
We aren't doing a reveal party, but we do want to do something fun for our 2 daughters since they aren't allowed in the ultrasound room. After the ultrasound, they will each get a cupcake, piped inside with either pink or blue icing.... Because cupcakes make everything a little more fun.
Re: Anyone actually doing or did a gender reveal party???
Many people tried to steer this conversation back to reveal parties- I hope the next poster will do the same! I didn't have a reveal party. We were too excited- the tech told us and we told everyone! Haha. I made a cute photofy picture of the ultrasound and announced that way
Once the cake was cut, the inside revealed whether we were having a boy or girl.
Hi! We had a gender reveal party and it was great. Our OB gave us the sex of our baby in an envelope, then we passed it off to our local baker. We had the reveal party with close friends and family and had a blast. It was very exciting.
Once the cake was cut, the inside revealed whether we were having a boy or girl! It's a boy!
We tried once to find out, and baby wasn't cooperating! I will try again on the 3rd. My sister started asking half an hour before my appointment!!
Good Luck!
We found out at 18 weeks and just called a few people and tagged the rest of the family in one ultrasound photo. We weren't patient enough to wait. Lol
@spottedginger I am saying that I don't believe in transgender and I feel like on this board there is extreme prejudice for those of us who feel that way. That's why I wrote this.
Edited because my first sentence maybe wasn't respectful and I wanted to keep this respectful
WE ALL GET IT. Nobody here takes issue with the transgender community, I would hope. I would also hope that we are all prepared for our children to be exactly who they are and will love them as much as ever we loved them.
I think there are certain people who just need to be seen arguing about this topic because picking fights over it is chic to do. If I use the wrong word, it's because transgenderism is just not a big deal to me. I'm not from the USA so it's not a huge hot debate topic. It's just how it is sometimes. Nobody who isn't sort of crazy makes a big deal out of it. And i find a lot of americans, no matter what side of this unnecessary "debate" they're on, have to be as loud as possible and pick effing EVERYTHING anybody says apart. I get that the USA is in the middle of making some very positive changes and that always makes everybody a little crazy but... seriously. Come on. people need to ctfd.
It's quite exhausting, frankly. As somebody with a trans loved one (not to mention two close family members, one who is a lesbian and one who is a gay male) I really appreciate the barking dog string section of people who will help me to stand up for people who identify outside the sex they were born with or love the same sex or anything that falls into the LGBTQ spectrum. But nitpicking is the wrong way to do it.
I am not doing one. My husband and I find out tomorrow, hopefully, during our anatomy scan. And we plan to do a video that we will share out with our friends and family - we got the idea from the bump. We will release either pink or blue balloons from a box saying "Boy or Girl?"
Secondly, i'm not saying that it's not a big deal. I'm saying the debate is alien to me because where i come from, nobody makes a big deal out of it.
But thanks for proving my point exactly. You know, about how right now in the USA, it's a huge change you guys are dealing with so you're all being freaking knee-jerk about it no matter what side of the debate you're on.
Not everybody in the world is dealing with this weird tension right now. Some of us got over that years ago. So i get why it's so sensitive for people. It's just that again, where i come from it really isn't a huge deal unless you're uneducated trash. That's a GOOD thing, that places like my home city exist, not a bad thing.
The statistic I quoted was an estimate from a scholarly article from the ucla school of law. It seems to be the most commonly referenced statistic in other articles.
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Gates-How-Many-People-LGBT-Apr-2011.pdf
Sorry I didn't stay around for the debate- but I think you expressed yourself much more clearly than I would have! I just wanted to say, very nicely said, all of it!