by Laura Stahl

Created on: November 16, 2008

Why not relieve some stress and bond with your child earlier? Not knowing the sex of your baby residing in your womb can be a stressful thing for you and the father.

He wants a boy, you want a girl, or vice versa and if you know what the sex of the child is prior to its birth then you and the father can plan on things much easier and be less stressed. This makes for one less thing to worry about when having a child, because there certainly is enough already to be anxious about.

What about the surprise factor one may ask? When it comes to finding out the sex of a baby it is a surprise, either at 22 weeks or 40 weeks. Heck, it can even be more a surprise after the baby is born and it turns out to be a different sex then what your ultrasound showed (but let's hope that that won't happen). The chances of that happening are pretty low if you have an experienced person performing the ultrasound. The accuracy rate on ultrasounds done at approximately 20 weeks is almost 100%.

Knowing if you are having a girl or boy makes the planning of your baby shower that much easier for your guests and hosts. They will thank you and things will go much smoother (at least I know it will in my circumstance). Not to mention that once the baby shower is over you don't have to worry about taking half the gifts back because they were geared toward the wrong gender, or were a mint green or yellow.

If you are possibly receiving hand me down clothes from a friend or family member then knowing the sex of your future kid will help you make arrangements on obtaining clothes and other baby items earlier. Again, one less thing to worry about after the baby is born.

Then there are names. Making a list of a bunch of girl's names and a bunch of boy's names is something that is fine early on, but wouldn't you want to be narrowing those names down by the time the baby arrives?

There was never a question when my husband and I decided to find out the sex of our child before it being born. This child, being the first of the grand children for my husbands parents, it is especially important. They really want a girl because they raised two boys. Yet, if it turns out to be a boy then everyone can be ready for what to come. We actually haven't found out yet what the sex of our baby is, but come late January we should know, and I know I'll be so relieved and surprised, because at this point I'm going crazy not knowing!

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