It's a Baby Girl: Gender Reveal with Julia Dzafic of Lemon Stripes

It’s a baby girl! When the doctor called to tell us the gender of our baby, I was so beyond excited I could hardly breathe. Or maybe that was due to the fact that I’m pregnant and can hardly breathe on most days, ha! The call consisted of her telling us first and foremost that our baby has a very low chance of chromosomal problems like Down Syndrome and Muscular Dystrophy. We were able to, for the first time in my pregnancy, feel a bit of relief. This happened at 13 weeks, so it was just at the end of my first trimester.

After she gave us that wonderful news, she said, “Are you sure you want to know the baby’s gender?” I shouted, “YES!” and my heart started thumping. I was convinced that it was a boy, and thought that I knew for sure, but was still excited to confirm my suspicions. When she said, “Congratulations, you’re having a little girl!” I just about fell out of my seat. Anel knew all along, but I was shocked.

We cried tears of joy, and I finally felt truly connected to my baby for the first time. For some reason, being able to picture a baby girl made it all more real. Finding out the gender has been one of my favorite parts of pregnancy so far. I honestly have no idea how people wait until the birth to find out. That takes some serious patience skills that this mama just doesn’t have!

Growing up with a sister, I always hoped to have baby girls, just because we were so close and I wanted my kids to have that same relationship. But as I grow older and have more friends who have boys, I would have been truly happy either way. Watching my baby brother grow up has been magical, and maybe that’s why I was so convinced that I was having a little boy of my own.

But now that I know she’s a baby girl, I’m making all kinds of plans for the pinkest nursery you ever did see. Everyone keeps telling me to make it white and grey with “pops of pink” but you better believe it’s just going to be pink AF! In fact, I’m teaming up with one of my favorite home decor brands of all time to create a gorgeous space for my baby to sleep in, and can’t wait to share details of that with you soon.

In other news, it’s taking every ounce of my willpower, not to buy all of the cute baby clothes I see like this pink eyelet dress and this sweet little swimsuit. The baby swimwear really kills me! Luckily Eva gave me a bunch of her daughter’s old baby clothes including pink Converse Chuck Taylors and so much more incredibly gorgeous stuff, so that’s holding me off for a while. I’ll do a little Snapchat or Instagram story showing you some of them this week!

Although the nursery and clothing are two exciting aspects of learning the gender of our baby, the absolute best part has been to see Anel’s reaction. He always wanted boys, but I think he was even more excited than I was to find out it was a girl. He’s going to be the best daddy in the whole world (I tell her that every night), and it’s a beautiful thing to see how much he loves her already. Every night when he gets home from work, his first question it, “How are my girls?” It’s too sweet!