Anonymous wrote:I get it, OP. I have two boys, and they are stereotypical boys at that. Sometimes I get a pang of disappointment when I see cute holiday dresses in the store or come across my old dollhouse in the attic that I was saving for a daughter. But my boys are wonderful and I love them to pieces!
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:That’s a heavy burden for a child to bear. To know that they were such a disappointment that the thought of having another one like them was devastating to their parents.
I would do therapy. You aren’t going to be able to hide that disappointment from your kids, even if you don’t openly say it.
If I had a nickel for every friend who felt this way after an ultrasound I’d have a lot of nickels. It’s common. The feelings don’t carry over post birth. It’s all a fantasy at this point, imagining the child, and gender is the only peg to hang the fantasy on.
Except they have carried over for the OP as she already had a boy and has found that to be such a bad experience that she doesn’t want another one.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:That’s a heavy burden for a child to bear. To know that they were such a disappointment that the thought of having another one like them was devastating to their parents.
I would do therapy. You aren’t going to be able to hide that disappointment from your kids, even if you don’t openly say it.
If I had a nickel for every friend who felt this way after an ultrasound I’d have a lot of nickels. It’s common. The feelings don’t carry over post birth. It’s all a fantasy at this point, imagining the child, and gender is the only peg to hang the fantasy on.
Anonymous wrote:I get it. Mom of boys. All the moms of multiple boys in my baby playgroup felt the same when pregnant with a second boy. But as I’m sure you realize, and will realize more once you actually have your child, all boys are not alike. My first boy has a lot of typically boyish traits that can be hard to live with. My second boy is completely different. He is a total joy.( My first is s joy too but a more challenging kind of joy).
Also, I’ll just repeat something my OB told me, which didn’t console me at the time but which now seems true: that little boys are often harder to handle than little girls, but teen boys tend to be a lot easier. No guarantees of course but I do feel having teens now that our life is easier in certain ways than that if some families with girls. Probably doesn’t help you but I do get it now.
You’re going to be fine!
Anonymous wrote:That’s a heavy burden for a child to bear. To know that they were such a disappointment that the thought of having another one like them was devastating to their parents.
I would do therapy. You aren’t going to be able to hide that disappointment from your kids, even if you don’t openly say it.