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Showing posts with label 4th Baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 4th Baby. Show all posts
(I made these ice cream cone pins so guests could wear their guess - blue for boy, red for girl.)
It started with the fact that we decided to try doing this party at a park - I thought, "Self, won't that be so much easier on me, not having to clean the house for a party?" Ha! It was a lot more complicated trying to figure out a park location than I thought. We finally picked one that was first-come-first-serve, with plans to get there several hours early to claim our spot.
Then we got there and our park was taken!
Enter 15 minutes of internal panic for me as we drove around to find another location. We finally settled on a park shelter that we thought was our only option. It honestly didn't look to impressive from the road, but when we walked over there we realized it was actually a perfect (and quiet!) location!
(Our color scheme ended up being aqua and red, since those seemed like good ice cream social type colors - and the black was just a necessary evil because of how we wanted to do the reveal, but in the end I felt like it worked.)
Derek and I got the park set up, and I figured since we started about 3.5 hours early we would be sitting around bored for a couple hours - I was wrong! We took that entire time just to set up and eat lunch. It's a good thing we thought we had to get there so early to claim a shelter!
(We provided basic vanilla ice cream and toppings.)
(Ice cream floats, of course.)
Guests started arriving, and we had them pin on their guesses! Initially when we were planning our party we didn't know how many people would be there, or if everyone would know each other, so we prepared some games. We almost always have a couple games at our parties, because it breaks things up if some of the guests don't know anyone, and it keeps things from lagging - but we honestly didn't end up using any of them, because it was a smaller group and everyone ended up knowing each other! The visiting was going so smoothly that we didn't think we needed to interrupt it with games. But I'll include our ideas anyway, just in case you want to use them.
Gender Reveal Party Game Idea 1: Sticking with the ice cream theme, we were going to give everyone slips of paper with an ice cream flavor on it (some common, some obscure). Everyone would be allowed to ask each other yes/no questions to try to figure out each person's ice cream flavor. They could write their guesses down on a piece of paper, so be entered into a drawing for a prize (in our case, $5 Cold Stone gift cards).
(Prizes for the people who guessed the gender correctly. And I didn't get around to coloring them all because my pink Sharpie was a nightmare, and I didn't have time.)
(I sewed up this bunting one day, since I had fabric on hand that matched our color scheme! I thought we would use the bunting as a "finish line", but we didn't end up needing it for that, so it was just a cute decoration.)
The park ended up being perfect, because there was hardly anyone there except us. The kids ran around and played on the playground, and the adults visited, and we all ate ice cream. My dad kept saying he thought it was really twins, and he even pointed out one of the ultrasound pictures that kind of looked like it - I kept telling him that they told me there was only one!
Gender Reveal Game Idea 2: Since this was an ice cream social/picnic type thing, we thought we would do traditional picnic races! We would divide the guests into Team Boy or Team Girl (according to their guess), and have them pick representatives from each team for the races. We were thinking of doing a sack race, a three-legged race, and possibly an egg-and-spoon race. We would keep score, and give prizes to whichever team won the most races.
Gender Reveal Game Idea 3: One of our contests did actually work out - on our invitations we told guests they could bring ice cream to share if they wanted, and the most interesting flavor would win a prize ($5 Cold Stone gift cards)! Since we had an extra prize, I picked two winners - my friend Brianne brought a custom ice cream flavor based on my favorites, and my friend Ashley brought Marionberry Pie ice cream!
I don't have any pictures of the confetti because I realized during the race that my friend's child was sitting under THE balloon, and I hurried over there to move him so he wouldn't get confetti in his eyes.
Then the confetti balloon popped . . . and all the confetti just kind of fell to the ground. When we tested it out at home the confetti flew everywhere, so that wasn't quite what we thought would happen.
Then some of the glitter confetti we used kind of looked blue in the sunlight, and it mixed in with the red confetti. After all the twin talk, everyone just kind of looked at me and Derek since the colors were a little confusing...
So we called out "It's a GIRL!"
Yeah, not exactly how we planned it, but it turned out okay!
We are so excited to be welcoming a sweet little girl into our family! It'll be so fun to have another baby girl to dress up, and I'm already scheming on how to buy all the headbands I want (because it just seems like she should have some brand-new ones)!
Overall, I am really happy with the way the party turned out - it was fun, and even though I was more stressed during the planning phase of this party, the party itself was one of the most enjoyable for me! It ended up being the perfect group of people, and we had a great time.
I have to mention though, that Wyatt was really disappointed that he didn't get to take a turn racing, so we might have to invite some of his little friends over soon and remedy that.
(Note: I also picked a winner for my Starbucks giveaway for guessing the gender correctly - and Kristy H. won! Thanks to all of you who played along - I had so much fun reading all your reasons for your guesses!)
We are so excited to be adding another little GIRL to our family!
Stay tuned for a post about our ice cream social gender reveal party!
This pregnancy I was this close to trying out a birth center.
My thought was that I have given birth naturally twice before, so I could do it again, right? And I've heard lots of good things about our local birth center. And it would be cheaper, probably half the cost of a hospital. All good reasons to check it out.
So I called and realized that there is a required orientation before making your first appointment. I registered, Derek and I worked our schedules out, dropped the kids off, and we drove to the birth center.
We parked. It was dark. We walked across the street to a little building that looked like it used to be a motel. We went with the flow of traffic into a room crowded with pregnant women and their support people.
The person who greeted us was friendly, and the presentation was informative. We went on a tour of the birth center, I asked a couple questions, and I returned home without returning my paperwork. I had to think.
And I thought about it. For a week. I called my insurance to see how much was covered, got the all clear. I talked about it with my mom. And I thought about it.
And I decided to go with the hospital after all.
It's not because the birth center made me nervous in case there was an emergency, because their procedures and transfer times seemed very cautious and efficient. It wasn't because I didn't like the lady who gave the presentation, because she seemed fine. It wasn't because I thought I might want an epidural, because I know I don't need one.
It was because every time I thought about the birth center, I felt torn. A large part of me thought it would be fine, and I'd have a fine experience, and I'd save money. But there was just a little, tiny part of me that felt uneasy. I can't quite pinpoint why.
I might be in the minority, but I actually like hospitals. Many people feel like they are so cold and sterile, and they smell funny. But I like sterile - maybe it has to do with working in a healthcare field, but it makes me feel comfortable. I like white halls and bright lights - it makes me feel cheerful, and as if the place is clean. I like hospital smells - they remind me of giving birth to my babies. I have only good memories in hospitals.
When I thought about whether I would rather give birth in a hospital environment, or in the bedroom-like environment of the birth center, the hospital won for me, hands down.
When you give birth in a birth center, you go home right away, within 4-6 hours. This could be a definite advantage. There would be more peace. We could sleep in our beds. We could relax in our own home.
But I know myself, and I know it would be hard for me to relax at home. I would be worried about dishes, and dogs, and I'm afraid those first days with my precious baby might feel like any other day of my life. There would be less interruptions by nurses and visitors, but it's kind of fun to have so many people coming in and out of your room, fussing over your beautiful baby. It started to seem like going home so quickly, though perhaps more restful, might also be rather anti-climatic.
And I realized that as silly as it might sound, hospital births are just my style. I like hospitals. I like my doctor. It started to feel like the birth center wasn't my place, and the midwives weren't my people. I want to look back on this, my last birth experience, and know that it was as good a fit for me as it could have been.
So to the hospital we shall go. And ever since we made that decision I haven't felt a twinge of unease, so I know it's right.
Is it the trendy decision? Maybe to some, but not in my circles of friends. The birth center is a popular choice in my little corner of the world, and a few even dare to suggest that going with an OB and giving birth in a hospital is a poor choice. But this, like so many things in raising children, is not a right or wrong sort of issue. There are things that are absolutes for raising healthy children, and there are things in child-rearing that are up for debate. I think part of growing up is sometimes throwing the trendy new thing out the window, and being brave enough to confidently move forward with what you know is the right choice for you.
If the last four years of motherhood has taught me anything, it is that the onslaught of trendy things does not stop after your baby is born, and everyone has an opinion. Motherhood has also taught me that if you let everyone else try to make these choices for you on subjective issues, you will probably be miserable with all the trying to measure up. When you pray about it, and think about it, and know you are making the best choice for your unique personality, and your unique family - then you should proceed with confidence. No one can make you feel inferior with your consent, even the ones who seem to be actively trying.
So we are just not birth center kind of people. And that is okay.
We are adding one more little arrow to our quiver! Baby #4 coming September 2015!
Check back soon for more details!
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