When I was pregnant with my first we did not find out the gender until the birth so we loving named the baby “piña” (aka “pineapple”) while in utero not only because it’s cute and I once loved traveling to tranquil turquoise destinations to eat fresh tropical fruits, but also because I ate a whole heck of a lot of pineapples (yes, including the core) throughout my IVF experience to conceive Hudson. If you’ve been through fertility treatments yourself, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Pineapples have been dubbed a symbol for the trying to conceive (TTC) community and a symbol of friendship and strength for the infertile. Through hardship, pineapples stand tall and have pointy defenses to protect them, yet are bright, positive, and sweet. I love the analogy.
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I love surprises! One of the greatest gifts I have ever given myself was keeping the gender of our baby a surprise. Despite it being torture for my poor husband who would have preferred to find out the gender at 20 weeks, he humoured me and we waited. The wives tales, guessing, and anticipation was exciting and I waited anxiously for one of the greatest surprises of my life. Few things in life are surprises, but I knew this would be one worth waiting for. By not knowing the gender, I also found that preparing for the baby’s arrival (who we lovingly referred to as “baby”, “piña” – pineapple in Spanish, or “they”) was easy and enjoyable.