To know or not to know

Tomorrow I have the 20-week scan when, apart from checking the overall health of my baby, I can also find out if I'm expecting a boy or a girl.  With both my daughters I opted not to know the sex and had two lovely surprises. I think it certainly made the birth more exciting.

Rather like opening a surprise Christmas present instead of something you’ve asked for. I didn't actually feel tempted to find out on either occasion and having recently arrived in Spain from the UK, where a fair amount of people choose not to know, it felt quite normal.

This time, however, I’ve been living Spain for a few years now, and I'm starting to think I might do things the Spanish way......I don't know a single person here who didn't know the sex of their baby before the birth. Even the royal family find out, they just keep it a royal secret until the birth.   From a practical point of view of course there is much to be said for knowing the sex of the baby. If I find out then I’ll only have to lug half the baby stuff home, either the bag of pink clothes or the bag of blue.

Of course none of this would be enough to convince me on its own. I was adamant I didn’t want to know and I wouldn’t be having this debate with myself had my five-year-old not pleaded with me to find out, so she could tell her friends at school. Though, judging by all the pictures she’s been drawing of babies with skirts and bunches, she’s hoping for  another sister.  But what if it’s a boy? Perhaps it’s better that she finds out now and gets used to the idea instead of building herself up to have a sister only to have the 'disappointment' of a brother when he’s born.

What a dilemma!