After seeing a thread regarding the ideal gender of your DC and people's perception it got me thinking.
Why am I suddenly allowed an opinion just because I've now had a daughter...My opinion has never changed and I feel strongly about it so why is it seen differently now despite my previous protests.
I have two wonderful sons (aged 7&4) and of course people just loved saying the whole "Oh I'm (as in them) lucky because I have both genders" even through pregnancy and when my youngest son was first born I got "Oh how disappointing" and "I feel sorry for you but it's not your fault you had a second son, some are just more lucky than others" Seriously!? This caused a lot of upset and felt like people were trying to force gender disappointment on me. These comments were made by many different people so not just a one off, it was constant and became exhausting. I've always been very much of the mindset that I adored my boys, loved having two sons and felt incredibly lucky. We were ecstatic, my husband always wanted a brother and it was amazing but people never believed I could possibly be happy about it...they just gave that pitying look like I was just trying to put on a brave face and even said as much "Well you HAVE to say that" like I was inferior and just making the best of it. It frustrated the hell out of me and still does. I accepted their subjective perception of luck but somehow I wasn't allowed to be happy or consider myself lucky!? It's not about caring what they think, it was more exhausting and something I definitely could have done without especially as I was suffering with HG throughout the entire pregnancy. I could never even have an opinion that I felt lucky and was happy with my boys without being shut down and met with "Oh you're just saying that because you're jealous" and "You just don't understand because you aren't as lucky to have both genders" It was just crazy talk.
However, all of a sudden, now I had my daughter 7 months ago I suddenly am allowed to have that opinion without having nasty digs being made at me and being called jealous. Now it's suddenly obvious that each child and situation is different and feeling 'lucky' is subjective. Now my boys being close in age is understood as my version of 'lucky' and that's okay...now...Why is it only now i'm believed when I've stated I feel very lucky that I have my wonderful boys close in age all along!? Of course I love my daughter beyond belief as well but it's the whole response to myself feeling lucky about my boys that has suddenly changed... ridiculous.
Has anyone else experienced this? I just find it very odd how people react now when I say that as opposed to how they did prior to my daughter's birth.