Baby Newton is a ...
- Ryan & Rachel
- May 19, 2020
- 5 min read
What a whirlwind these last couple of weeks have been! We hope you enjoy the roller coaster that is this blog post...
Before we were ever expecting, we knew we wanted to recreate our favorite wedding photo as a gender reveal for if/when the time came. Back Story: Our bridal party suprised us with confetti cannons right after our officiante (aka my little brother) said "You may kiss the bride!" It was perfection.
See? We told you it was the perfect moment, and therefore created the perfect picture!
Well, COVID-19 obviously put a damper on having any kind of real gathering to celebrate the gender reveal of Baby Newton, but honestly, that was okay for us. We aren't big into gender specific parties anyway. BUT, we were determined to recreate the picture even if it was just with a few members of our immediate family.
We found out on Tuesday, May 5th, so we planned to have family members join us for a Saturday afternoon photo op.
Before we get into the small gathering stuff, we should probably add some context around how we found out Baby's gender...
Obviously, everyone knows Ryan had to awkwardly wait out in the car to be video chatted into our Anatomy Scan. Which, honestly, went really well! The sono tech was amazing and talked with him just as much as me and made sure he could see everything. Our baby was wiggling around like crazy, but not so much that we couldn't see all the necessary things. It was so fun to just watch Baby Newton for 30 uninterruped minutes! Gah, we're already so in love.
When the tech announced she was heading for the money shot, neither of us could look away from the screen even though we had decided we'd found out together afterwards via an envelope with the results. Luckily for us, we had no idea what we were looking at so when the tech announced she got what she needed, we were like oh... good, because we definitely still have no clue!
After the Anatomy Scan, I had to head back to the waiting room since my doctor was running a bit behind on her appointments. No big deal, right? As I walked out of the sono room, I asked the tech how sure she was of Baby's gender. Her response? "100%, no doubts," as she handed me the sealed envelope containing the news. Wow, okay!
So, I sit back in the waiting room and pan through all of the sono pictures they sent via text (ah, technology)! Baby Newton has cheeks to DIE FOR, and just re-living the sonogram kept me preoccupied for a few minutes along with the anticipation of finding out Baby's gender FINALLY. But then those minutes kept ticking by... I ended up waiting for over an hour to see my doctor and by the time they brought me back to an exam room, I was so anxious I thought I was going to throw up and/or burst into tears. Thoughts raced through my head, and Ryan text me similar things as he was still waiting for news in the car about how our scan had gone. It's not just about finding out the gender you know!
Thoughts like, "What could be wrong that it is taking this long?" "Could the doctor really be THIS far behind?" "What is she trying to figure out how to tell me?"
None of these were productive, and made the mask on my face feel like a muzzle that was slowly suffocating me.
But finally, my doctor came into the room and I got to pull Ryan back up on video chat to be told that our baby was PERFECT! Perfectly developing. Perfectly health. And in the 61st Precentile for weight measuring in at about 14 oz at 21 weeks - not surprising. Ryan is 6ft5in afterall! We were so relieved and overjoyed and all the things. And also hungry. So very hungry, because we had reserved a great carryout meal aat one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate that we were now late picking up...
As soon as I was released, I ran out to the car with the envelope and ripped off my mask probably before I should have, but I really didn't care. Because we were already running late to pick up our dinner, we decided to wait to open the envelope. TORTURE.
We arrive at our restaurant for pick-up, only to find that they were running WAY behind - we should have known... Mexican restauraunt on Cinco de Mayo... so while we waited in our car, Ryan perks up and says, "Should we open it now? We aren't going to be getting our food for a bit... We've got time..."
I didn't need much convincing.
We had the forethought to setup our phone to record our reaction, and then took a deep breath before tearing open the envelope...
To be greeted with...
Well, we'll get there.
Side Note: COVID-19 totally sucks, and has impacted our first pregnancy journey together in some not fun ways. BUT we are SO glad that we found out together, alone in the car, and not in a dark sono room while my stomach was being aggressively rubbed by a stranger. 10/10 would recommend. It was SO much more intimate and precious!
So, after our precious intimate moment, we immediately ordered confetti cannons that were promised to arrive on Saturday morning. We snagged our tasty mexican food and went home to soak in our insurmountable joy that we had a perfectly healthy baby AND we knew what gender we were expecting! Our cup runneth over.
Flash forward to Saturday morning, and we get the notification that our cannons have been delayed and will not arrive until Monday. No can do, commander. So off we went to find gender reveal confetti cannons in the middle of a pandemic where EVERYWHERE is closed. Luckily, I had done some research beforehand juuust in case this happened, so we knew a few places to start... but it ended up being a circus.
We spent HOURS driving all around the KC metro area looking for cannons or literally anything we could make work. We had been dreaming of this gender reveal image for forever and the idea that it wasn't going to work out was devastating. Yes, I acknowledge that this is such a minor problem compared to others. But tell that to a sobbing masked pregnant girl in the middle of the third Walmart after having visited multiple Targets, a Hobby Lobby, and calling a handful of Party Citys.
Right as hope was fading, I got through to another Party City that had the EXACT number of confetti cannons available for us to pay for over the phone and pick up curbside. I thought I was going to die of happiness, and cried again. So. Many. Tears.
We had just enough time to run by the house, get ready and make it out to my parents' house along with our immediate family to recreate this picture. My sweet friend, Katie, is an amazing photographer and just creator in general, and she had graciously agreed to snap the picture for us. WHAT A WHIRLWIND!
This was the result of our emergency replacement cannons being shot off by my parents, my two grandmothers, my brother, Ryan's brother and my future sister-in-law (also named Rachel), and Ryan's sister.
MONEY SHOT! WE'RE HAVING A LITTLE GIRL!!!
On top of capturing this picture moment, Katie also put together this small reveal video announcing Baby Girl's gender and name. It makes me cry every time I watch it.
We promised you all a rollercoaster with this blog post, and I think that's what we delivered! It has been such a wild ride, but wow. Our blessings are countless.
We can't wait to welcome Miss Ember Grace in September!
All our love,
Ryan, Rachel and Ember
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