I See You are Pregnant Again
Hoping for a Boy this Time ?
Pregnant for the second time, I was with my two year old daughter shopping. We met a stranger on the street who made over the curly head toddler. I braced myself for the phrase, I knew I was about to hear. I am not clairvoyant, but can almost with certainty predict the upcoming question. "So,you're hoping for a boy this time?" I have attempted to answer this question again and again. I have been pregnant five times. After the fourth girl, and into my fifth pregnancy, it was just assumed by strangers, friends, and even some family members, that my husband and I were "going one more time, for that boy." It never seemed to occur to the average person, that after four girls, we might be 'trying' for another girl. Maybe we wanted an all girl's basketball team. Maybe my husband was one of those guys who embraced his daughters, and delighting in them wanted still one more. It is not impossible.
What is that, "hoping for a boy"? Is it a 'tell' on the part of the one who is inquiring ? Does the question hint that 'really, everybody knows boys are better than girls'? Or, is the stranger telling me, "have a girl, have a boy, be done." The phrasing of the question seems to indicate the latter. So, upon seeing me, very pregnant, with four girls in tow, the stranger takes it upon himself to make an assumption. Certainly if I had given birth to a boy, directly after the first girl, my family would be complete. Maybe I am too hard on the stranger. It is not impossible that he was simply attempting to share in my expectancy. Whatever the reason for the inquiry, I cringed every time I heard it. Especially, when it was uttered in front of my girls. I am willing they assume the only reason they exist, at least numbers two through four, is that we were attempting to upgrade to a better model. Which brings me to number five. Number five was born, a big, beautiful, bouncing, adorable, baby boy! And what a boy! He is just what we needed number five to be. God gives us what we need. It is always best. The first four times,'best' came in pink, number five in blue. Still, as much as I adored him from the very beginning, I dreaded the new comment I was sure to hear. "So you finally got that boy !"
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