I love your honesty.

Leigh- You will be a terrific mentor for a young girl someday. Every child needs an adult "friend" other than a parent, who cheers them on and enjoys time spent with them. I recommend the Clarke County Mentor Program. I started with 2nd graders. You can spend one hour a week with them during the school day and they blossom like a flower!

I can relate, I think. I mourned the peaceful, blissful baby I thought I would have. When my son was born as fussy as fussy could be, hard to soothe and difficult to sleep and eat, I felt sad. Sad for him, and upset that things were not going the way I had imagined they would go. All the feelings you mention of embarrassment and shame were present for me. Wasn't I just supposed to be able to handle anything that came my way? Besides, my little guy was not having failure to thrive; he was just really unhappy for many months. It's hard to face yourself.
I, too, love your honesty, and appreciate your willingness to share from your heart!

Your article sheds light on an important topic. You love your boys and wouldn't trade having them for the world, but you also have that childhood dream to also have a little girl that needed to be addressed.. not pushed way down out of mind and out of sight. i love your solution! It's a great inspiration to so many of us who have had to alter a childhood dream. I heard a mom of a child with asbergers syndrome say one day, "I had to give up the child of my dreams in order to love the child God gave me." Ahhh.. more truth than poetry to that statement! Thanks for your honesty and bringing up a heart-felt topic. I hope others who have dealt with the same issue with comment.

It took getting to my second pregnancy for me to discover the book, Birthing from Within. This is the only pregnancy/childbirth book of which I am aware that has a chapter that deals with the "death of self" in relation to the birth of a child. Your article reminds me of this. I love your honesty because I think it is through being aware of and at peace with our feelings, can we work through them and find blessings in life. That is awesome that you plan to mentor a girl ~ I know so many kids in our county who would eat up the attention you would give to a mentee. I think too, that your future possible daughters-in-law will really enjoy your love. My husband is one of three boys, and his Mom has been so good to me. She makes me feel cherished and appreciated, and that is divine.

when I found out the sex of my baby, I called my mom and said "We got a boy". I couldn't hide my disappointment. I always thought I would have a girl. But now I lovemy little boy sooooo much that it doesn't matter. And I have realized now that I am scared to have a girl, if I choose to get pregnant again, because I hear that they can be way more emotional than boys. My almost two year old boy is so emotional that I can hardly stand it sometimes.

My little girl is not more emotional than my little boy, who wears his emotions on his sleeve, but she is more observant of MY emotions. Which makes it difficult sometimes, like when I am having a bad day, she absorbs some of my negativity and then I have (the dreaded) Mommy Guilt.
I appreciate this perspective from moms who have children of one sex. Having one of each is interesting, but I grew up with a sister, no brothers, and sometimes I am sad for my daughter who only has a little brother but no sisters to do girly stuff with. But she sure does love the little guy, and he loves her too!

I always wanted all boys. When I found out #3 was a girl, I was a bit excited b/c I knew how badly my mother wanted me to have a girl (as did my grandfather whom she was named after). However, when #4 came along, I truly from the bottom of my heart wanted another boy. I got my wish. And all truth be told, my spunky little girl is everything I imagined it would be, haha! She is twice the work of all three of my boys put together! I'm sure I deserved this! ♥