Stress-Free Baby Gender Reveal and Name Reveal

Me, Christina Chitwood, at 25 weeks pregnant, and Tom. Photos taken by my mom, Deb Chitwood and my husband, Tom Parkin. Photoshoot in San Diego, California.

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Gender Reveal Photoshoot

We went to the La Jolla Shores Beach in San Diego, CA with my mom and niece, Zoey. It was a lot of fun to watch the sunset at the beach for the first time with Zoey in addition to having my mom, Deb Chitwood, take our photo. Tom took the photo of me.

This photoshoot was such a special way to record the memory.

Here I am at 25 weeks pregnant!

Makeup I’m Wearing:

Tinted Moisturizer: Josh Rosebrook Tinted Nutrient Day Cream SPF 30 | Foundation: 100% Pure | Concealer: 100% Pure | Powder: 100% Pure | Blush: 100% Pure | Highlighter and Eyes: 100% Pure | Eye Liner: 100% Pure | Mascara: 100% Pure | Lip Pencil: Au Naturale (Color: Marrakesh) | Lipstick: Au Naturale (Color: Marrakesh) | Lip Gloss: Au Naturale (Color: Magnolia)

Baby Gender Reveal

Tom and I are thrilled to share with you the gender of our baby expected early March 2018.

We’re having a boy!!!

We both are so excited, and we couldn’t wait to start shopping for boy clothes as soon as we found out the gender! This is one of our favorite outfits for our baby boy so far.

Name Reveal

Tom and I are naming our son …

Caleb Joshua Parkin!!!

We both love this name. It isn’t based on a family name. The names Caleb and Joshua were in our favorites for a boy, and we really liked the combination of names together. Plus, we also like the meaning of the names.

Caleb means devotion to God or faithful. Joshua means a savior or a deliverer or alternatively God is my salvation.

How We Found Out the Gender of Our Baby

We got the blood test from my OB that would reveal the gender of our baby at the earliest opportunity possible with 99% accuracy. Our OB recommends the test for all pregnant women anyway (with the option of finding out the gender) because it tells a lot of other information that can be helpful in monitoring the baby’s safety before and during the delivery if certain risk factors are found. We tested at the soonest date my OB said we could, which happened to be the day after our 8th wedding anniversary. I was 9 weeks pregnant. We received the results online from my OB when I was 11 weeks pregnant. Tom and I made sure we were together when we opened the results and shared a huge hug!

It was such a special experience to find out the gender early. Even finding out as early as we did, we couldn’t wait to find out the gender and were checking online every day for the results. We would definitely do the early gender test again and recommend it to anyone.

At our 19 week ultrasound, it was confirmed that we are having a boy. Although we didn’t have any doubt, it was nice to have a second confirmation. 🙂

Choosing Baby Names

When we started trying for a baby, we began researching baby names right away. We’d already decided on a boy name and a girl name before we’d found out the gender. It was interesting that we ended up having a favorite boy name first. We had a lot of fun choosing names. We ended up doing all of the research online and in bookstores. We were planning to buy a baby names book or two, but we already had our chosen names before we ever bought a book.

For us it was a memorable and exciting event in the pregnancy.

How-to Do a Stress-Free Gender Reveal

This is what Tom and I did, and it definitely was a stress-free, wonderful way to do a gender reveal.

Revealing the Gender to Close Family

We were so happy with how we ended up telling our family the gender. It felt intimate, and it was a great experience.

We went to my parents’ house to tell them in person, since we’re lucky they live in San Diego.

We Facetimed our other parents (my in-laws) who live in England, and it was just like being able to tell them in person despite the long distance.

We Facetimed our siblings (my brother, Will, & sister-in-law, Chea and Tom’s sister, Katy, and brother-in-law Gareth).

We already had a trip planned to visit my grandparents and relatives that live near them about a week after we found out the gender. So, we got to tell them in person, which was a great treat.

Photoshoot

We had my mom take our photo, which was definitely stress-free. It was special that way, and it was nice not to have to set up a professional photoshoot.

Nice and Simple

We didn’t want to have a gender reveal party or do anything too extravagant. This was the perfect mix of special, intimate, and stress-free. The photoshoot made it all the more memorable.

If You’re Having a Second Child

This worked really well for a revealing the gender of our first child. For a second child, we would probably do it similarly but look at the personality of the first child and how they would respond. Reading a book with just the mom and dad present about having a new brother or sister might be a stress-free way for a first child to find out the gender of a new sibling. I hope this helps if you’re looking to have or plan a gender reveal!

Favorite Pregnancy Memories

Discovering the gender and choosing baby names have been some of our favorite pregnancy memories! There are so very many wonderful pregnancy memories, and it’s awesome to be able to share some of the highlights with you.

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