To find or not to find

Well, as my tummy grows, so does the pressing question in my mind. Is it a boy, or is it a girl? Is it going to be pink, or blue? Coming to think of it, this is a million-dollar question for any mom-to-be. Are you going to cave in or hold up with this unrelenting curiosity all bundled up in your big fat brain? Is it alright to go with the latest technology and find out the gender of your baby before time, or go the traditional way, hold it up and be surprised as all our parents and ancestors have been?

 

Some say, finding out whether its 'pink with flowers or blue with trucks' is like opening your christmas gift before christmas. I would partially agree with this. Some mysteries are best left at fate to be unravelled at the pre-ordained 'right' time. But do you have it in you to hold up? Does it make you comfortable that the ultrasound technician or the doctor doing your scan knows it but you don't? In short, are you patient enough to wait it out or you'd rather kill the surprise and be more content with finding out which color to pick for your nursery?

 

I have to say that there are some pretty good reasons why finding out will be more of an advantage than not finding out.

1. First would be to know the color of your nursery. Green and yellow colored-rooms indeed look very dull.

2. Picking out baby clothes. The pink and blue ones are unbelievably cute. Looking for unisex onesies can be quite a task.

3. Cuts your name-finding efforts into half. Picking a name that both mom and dad like is certainly not easy.

 

But are these really sound reasons to motivate you, or just plain lame? Afterall, the color thingy is just for the first couple of months. Once you have your bundle of joy in hand, you can go shopping again.

 

Well, Jignesh prefers 'getting surprised' as this can be one of the life's biggest surprises. I, for that matter, just find it extremely difficult to hold myself and wants to jump at the very slight instinct of knowing what it is. However, this time, I have led myself to follow Jignesh's path and find out how exciting can the climax really be. I would then be able to compare the 'i-know-it' with 'i-don't-know-it' and whether it's really worth it. The chinese calendar says it will be a girl; however, whoever I have met so far, everyone, from complete strangers to your friendly aunties, everyone has guessed it to be a boy. So its the ancient gender-predicting relic against the people. We'll see who wins.

Surprise baby shower

Giving a surprise baby shower party to a mom-to-be entails careful planning, plotting dramas, selection of menu, and some spygiri and not to forget, the chaotic conference calls. I have been a part of this devious scheming on previous occasions. However, this time, I was the victim. I shouldn't really say victim, lets say, the fortunate one, who got home to a lovely decorated house, complete with fully prepared big dinner and a great cake. Last Saturday, my NOVA gang decided to team up and make me cry. Well, they were partially successful. I was surprised, but I didn't cry. In fact I laughed coz of a last-minute discrepancy. Jignesh didn't give them a warning miss-call and so when I turned on the key, everyone was so busy with each other that they were more stunned on seeing me rather than the other way around. And why was I not so stunned? Coz truly speaking, I was kinda expecting them to give me a surprise shower. I just didn't know when and how. And Jignesh did a marvellous job at completely misleading me and throwing me off the tracks all thru the day that by afternoon, I was pretty sure there is no party today.

 

The last time, I was in Kansas where I had very few friends, my mother-in-law did do the traditional godbharai and we went to the temple, but thats abt it. I yearned for a baby shower with friends and fun. Well, this time, it happened. Not that I don't enjoy the traditional ones. Its just that the traditional ones can be more meaningful and 'traditional' with family and tonnes of relatives around. With friends, you just wanna have fun.

 

The guys did an amazing job at trying to pretend that they were pregnant with pressing balloons under their shirts. Though they ended up looking like they are 15-20 months pregnant which was hilarious. Mohan also suggested oh, this is so easy. You big-bellied girls just make a big deal out of it. Ya, try pressing a 20 pound bowling ball instead of a balloon and then speak. They also tried to guesstimate my burgeoning waistline with only a couple of them doing an accurate job. And to top the games, there was so much food, we could go on all night. They all left with a messy house but loads of wishes, though I have to say the wishes made up for the mess. My friends are very clever, aren't they?

 

I just want to thank all my friends. You didn't disappoint me.