THE ONE WITH THE GENDER REVEAL

I have been waiting to write this blog post since the very day that I found out that I was pregnant and I am SO excited to share, that I honestly don't even know where to start, so I think I will give you some back story first.

Where it Begins//

One night in 2018, I woke up in the dead of night with the feeling that there was an energy near me. Now, to someone who doesn't believe in spiritual things, this is going to sound kind of insane, but trust me...even I felt crazy at the time.

So, I woke up with the feeling that there was an energy near me. It felt small and excited. I just had a feeling that it was the spirit of my unborn child. I'm telling you, it was the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Like, 3am. I had NO REASON to wake up feeling this way or thinking these things and I was sound asleep, not dreaming, but I did. I felt it. It felt like this baby was really excited to come earthside and be with us and I had a feeling that it was going to be a boy.

The next day, I couldn't shake the feeling of what had happened. My whole life I had felt like I was going to have a girl and I wanted a girl! But overnight, it changed. I just felt it.

I started to embrace that reality and every now and then, I couldn't resist buying little things here and there to save for when the time actually came. Over the course of a couple of years, I bought a pair of halloween pajamas from Wal-Mart, an adorable t-shirt at Gymboree and a wooden toy train from the Backwoods Fest. I kept these things, all the while wondering if I was truly going insane. haha

Then, months after my late night epiphany, my mom had gone to see a psychic a couple of times in Zanesville, for fun. She really enjoyed the first session she had had and felt a connection with her and was blown away by the things that she had told her about her life (and they had no personal connections at all), so she went back and this time she wanted me to come along.

I was hesitant, but curious. So, I went in without having told my mom (or anyone other than Jacob) about the feeling that I had that night, and one of the FIRST things that she asked me was, "are you in the process of trying to get pregnant?".

At that time, we really weren't trying. We were in the midst of looking to buy a house and kind of going through some life transitions, though I had come off of birth control in the hopes that when we were ready (or when nature was ready), we would. I told her that and she said that she felt the energy of a baby very close to me and that the minute we were ready, it would happen quickly. She also told me it was going to be...wait for it.... a BOY.

I. was. FREAKED.

I couldn't believe what I heard. I was in total shock because I hadn't told anyone else that, there was literally no way she could have known about that night. It was insane.

Fast forward to the moment that I found out that I was pregnant and you can imagine my anticipation for the anatomy ultrasound. I was excited and so, so curious.

Leading Up to the Anatomy Scan//

In the beginning days of my pregnancy, I was very worried about having a miscarriage and I didn't feel a connection with the baby yet, which made me a nervous wreck and so I tried to find ways to nurture that connection. One of which being, meditation and tarot.

These are two things that I have done for many years and on the morning of June 6th, 2020, I sat down in the nursery to connect. What happened was nothing short of divine.

I asked the question to the cards/baby "What do you need? How can I support your growth?". It's rainy season in Florida and it felt as though the sun hadn't been out in weeks, so when I heard the response "sun", I assumed it was my own desire for the sunshine to come back and thought to myself, "yea baby, I want the sun to come out too." and didn't think much of it. Moments later, the thought popped into my mind that I should create a playlist full of music about the sun to help boost my mood. I continued on with the tarot pull.

This is the real crazy part...the card that I pulled was the Cheetah. And here's what it means.

How crazy is that?

SOLAR FORCE? MASCULINE ENERGY? ...insane.

It completely solidified my feelings about what I had felt that fateful night....until I had a dream a week before the scan that we had a girl.

Anatomy Scan//

July 29th, 2020. The day had finally arrived when I was 16.5 weeks pregnant. The day that we would finally find out the gender of baby Hooper!

Jacob and I had posted polls on Instagram, Facebook and even at work, asking people what they thought baby would be. The votes amongst family were tied, but other votes were for primarily girl. I started second guessing myself and the anticipation for reveal day grew even more!

I went to the doctor and then rushed home with the little iridescent envelope containing the coveted information. Here's a short, 7 minute teaser from that day.

Gender Reveal Party//

I wish that I could know what you're currently guessing at this very moment. Gender reveals are always a fun event for me. I just love seeing the joy and excitement on everyone's face as they realize they can start shopping! haha

Let me say before I share the gender, Jacob and I were overjoyed at the idea of having either gender and we would have been thrilled with the outcome either way! As the anatomy scan appointment drew closer, we genuinely felt nothing but curiosity and excitement. A happy, healthy baby is THE MOST important thing to us at the end of the day, but the reveal was so much fun and I wouldn't have done it any other way!

Final Thoughts//

That's right, baby Hooper is a boy!! Did you guess right?

Perhaps all of these incidents over the past two years were complete coincidence...or perhaps, it was no coincidence at all. We may never know, but I guess I'd like to believe that this sweet baby boy was making himself known and he is the excited force of nature that's ready to take on the world like I felt him to be that night.

Either way, we can't wait to love this little boy and see who he grows to be! We are so grateful and honored that we get the chance to share his journey and call him, ours.

Baby boy, January can't get here soon enough!

I hope you enjoyed our wild gender reveal story and I'd love to hear what your guesses were prior to the reveal video, in the comments below!