Face The Music

Bow Ties or TuTus?

I sat in the dining room with Hudson, working on all the party-planning stuff for tonight. There was a lot we had to do to get everything ready. I still hadn't picked out what dress I was wearing. I couldn't decide.

"I seriously hope it's a girl. I don't know how I'll survive if it's a boy," Hudson said.

"I dunno, we'll just...make it happen. If it's a boy well, then it's a boy. We'll deal with it. It'll be our baby. We'll love them no matter what," I said, taking a bite of the tiramisu in front of me.

"What if the balloon doesn't pop?" he asked.

"Don't worry, it will. You keep freaking yourself out. It's not gonna be like those gender reveal fails we see on TikTok. We're inside, so the balloon's not gonna float away."

"If you say so," he said, looking at all the decorations on the other end of the table. "Your family is so...supportive."

"Most of them, yeah. I'm sorry that yours isn't."

"It is what it is," he said.

As the rest of the morning turned into the afternoon, the house started to come to life with the decorations of our Bow Ties or Tutus themed gender reveal. We chose the theme because I was a dancer, obviously.

I was so thankful that I had an aunt who had her own practice, because I was able to get my anatomy scan so much sooner than everyone else. I was beyond thankful to find out what my baby was at thirteen weeks.

For decor, my mom hired a party planner to do all sorts of stuff. She came in with a whole crew to do balloon arches, banners, streamers, and everything else we'd need. She set up a whole table full of different cupcakes and candy that were pink and blue. We had a board with the old wive's tales for guessing the gender, and I was pretty much even all the way down, so that didn't help at all.

After lunch, the bakery stopped by to deliver the custom two-tier cake my mom ordered. It was either going to say "Welcome Baby Girl" or "Welcome Baby Boy," and we'd be serving it up after we did the big reveal. I wished so badly that I could take a peek at that cake box. I really wanted to know before everyone else.

Around three, Natty came over to hang out with us. We invited Easton too, but he politely declined. It would be kind of awkward to be dating someone who's expecting a baby with someone else and be around their family. I didn't blame him.

Around four, my whole family started to shuffle in. My aunts, uncles, and cousins were filling up the whole house, which for us, wasn't easy to do. We had seven bedrooms.

I went upstairs and finally changed out of my sweatpants and into my gray long-sleeved dress. Hudson and I didn't want to do the stereotypical thing of having me in pink and him in blue. Especially since he really wanted a girl and I literally didn't care which one I got. I just wanted a baby.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I chose this dress because it was form-fitting, and my baby bump was actually visible. It was super tiny, but it was there. I know that I normally looked great, but even though I was tired and still feeling sick a lot, I also felt and looked amazing. I was growing a baby. That's incredible.

The catering company arrived before dinner and layed out a buffet of all my favorite stuff. I loved Italian food, so there was an array of pasta. There were stuffed shells, lasagna, baked ziti, fettuccine alfredo, and spaghetti with meatballs. We also had eggplant parm and chicken parm, too.

It felt so good to be around my massive family. There was hardly ever any drama, even though there were so many of us. Meanwhile, poor Hudson's family was so small and they were tearing eachother apart over the fact that he was a teen dad. His grandma wasn't speaking to him or his parents anymore because his mom and dad weren't throwing him out of the house.

Once we were all completely stuffed, we made our way to the living room, where Hudson and I took a lot of pictures in front of the balloons and the banner. Then, my mom brought out the balloon we'd be using for the reveal. She handed me one of her big sewing needles, which I'd be using to pop the balloon.

"Are you ready?" I asked Hudson.

"Hell yes! Let's get this show on the road!" he said.

Everyone counted down from ten, and then I stuck that needle into the balloon. It popped right away, showering Hudson and I in pink glitter and confetti.

"Holy shit! It's a girl!" I said, suddenly embarrassed because all my little cousins were sitting only a few feet away.

"Thank goodness. I'm so happy!" Hudson said, hugging me.

Everyone cheered for us and took lots of pictures on their phones. I couldn't believe it. I was having a little girl!

My mom took out the cake from the bakery. It was pink and white and had the big "Welcome Baby Girl" written in bright magenta cursive on the top tier. Again, there were more pictures of Hudson and I with the cake. Then, we finally cut into it. It was dark chocolate, just like I asked for.

I sat down on the couch with my family and the few friends I had left, just enjoying the cake and the company and relishing in the fact that my little baby was a girl.

"So now that you know it's a girl, any names in mind?" my aunt Abbie asked me.

"Uh...I have no clue," I said.

"Same here. I have no idea how we're gonna decide," Hudson said.

We exchanged glances with each other. Naming this baby wasn't going to be easy, that's for sure.