Gender Reveal…It’s a GIRL!!!!

It’s something we’ve been guarding closely, a big part of our journey that my husband and I have kept to ourselves. We’ve known the gender of our baby for the past two months, but after experiencing premature birth and the loss of two children, we wanted to wait to share the news. We decided to surprise our daughter, Peyton, with the gender and we’re thrilled to announce…we’re expecting a GIRL!!!

It’s been fun to hear everyone’s opinion on whether it’s a boy or a girl and I’ve spent many nights pouring through messages and comments on social media. I never quite had an inkling—my husband said girl, I said boy. But I should have known. When you look at both sides of our families, this baby will make grandchild number eight. Of all the babies born or on the way, seven are girls. Our son, Parker, is the only boy of our extended family.

When we first became pregnant, fear far outweighed the joy. There were no happy tears, only shock and fear. Pregnancy after loss can feel like a sinking ship at times. You spend every waking moment wondering what could go wrong this time around. You wonder if the same fate will happen again, if you will actually bring a healthy child home this time. But as the weeks go by, happiness and excitement creep in. The fear is still there, but you find glimmers of hope and optimism.

Today, I woke up full of excitement. It felt so different from last month when we shared with the world that we were expecting our rainbow baby. That day triggered a range of emotions, memories from when we announced our triplet pregnancy on the news. But today was different. At this point in our triplet pregnancy, I was on bed rest and each day was full of anxiety knowing that we could deliver at any moment. Six years later, I woke up feeling happy to share our exciting news with the world. Even though I’m at the same gestation as the last time, I feel so much hope…and a lot of that is because of all of you. The support from people around the world has provided us not only comfort, but so much hope. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To watch our live gender reveal, click here

And a quick story on the beautiful cake. We decided to do a gender reveal cake because we knew Peyton would be ecstatic. We asked Three Twigs Bakery to create something unique and they didn’t disappoint! As we cut into the cake, thousands of pink sprinkles poured out. When I went to pick up the cake today and pulled out my wallet, Emily the owner said, “It’s already been paid for.” I was confused when she told me that a man came in and paid for the cake. I hadn’t told anyone about our order, but suddenly I understood. This man wanted to do a random act of kindness–paying for someone’s else baby cake around a certain timeframe. I began to tear up when I realize why. Often times, families will honor a child who has passed by paying for a cake for another family. I cried today when I thought about it–of all recipients to receive an act of kindness like this, it meant so much to our family. We understand what it’s like to lose a child, or two in our case. So to the family who is honoring their child, thank you for your sweet gesture. We were thinking of your child as we cut into the cake.

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