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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Husband disappointed about sex of baby

5 replies

expecting2021 · 04/10/2020 15:23

Name changed for this. For a bit of background - 21 weeks pregnant, baby conceived after struggling with fertility issues (me) and being told I wouldn't get pregnant naturally. Both really shocked and a bit overwhelmed when we found out but excited and happy.
Marriage is good, no problems there.

Had the anomaly scan a few days ago and decided we would like to know the sex of the baby if visible. Baby is a boy. I have said from the beginning of the pregnancy I thought baby was going to be a boy (just had a "feeling") so didn't seem much of a surprise to me and I am very happy and grateful to be pregnant.

Husband is incredibly disappointed. He was hoping for a girl for various reasons but mostly because of his own upbringing. He did not have a positive childhood and his dad is not a nice person so I think he is worried about raising a boy. He also doesn't have the best opinion of boys in general as he thinks boys can be bullies, boisterous etc and I think he's worried about having a boy who is a "stereotypical" boy. He thinks girls are cleverer etc and I have told him so many times that our boy will be different to the young boys you see out on the streets etc who are not nice and clearly aren't raised well. I've also told him boys can be very loving etc and our boy will not be forced into gender roles of boys should be tough etc. But I feel like it's falling on deaf ears. He is still touching my stomach etc but I feel that's more for my benefit and I have been showing him boys clothes etc and he just doesn't seem interested. He is definitely trying to feign positivity but it's getting me down that he's so disappointed when it could be our only child and we have managed to conceive despite my problems and despite a lot of worries.

I am in a couple of groups on Facebook and have read a lot of people posting about "gender disappointment" and thought it was ridiculous and he has agreed with me when I've read things out to him but now he's the same! I don't know how to deal with this and I don't know how long it's going to take for him to come to terms but it's sort of killing my happiness and making me doubt whether a girl would have been better (which is ridiculous I know!). He's making me feel very uncertain and a bit insecure. My family are over the moon to have another boy in the family and his mum and siblings etc have all been really happy about baby being a boy.

Has anyone ever experienced this? Either themselves or with their partner. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

OP posts:
Oneandabean · 04/10/2020 16:56

Sometimes it can take some time to process thoughts, especially if hoping for something else. I’m sure he will love your son just as much as he would a daughter.

curiouscat1987 · 04/10/2020 17:01

Funnily enough im in similar position and posted a thread on it earlier. I absolutely dont want a girl, for various reasons but mostly to do with the fact i think a girl with my genetic makeup would have a much harder time than a boy. Im afraid i dont have anything useful to add, other than maybe keep trying to discuss his reasons and explore them with him. You could also consider therapy to get an outside perspective maybe?

Piccalily19 · 04/10/2020 17:22

My partner swore blind we were having a girl, hes a big softy so I think he always imagined having a daddies girl type relationship with a daughter. He’s also the same as your partner in that his own dad is a tool so they’ve never been close.
I could tell for a couple of days after we found out we were having a boy he wasn’t as excited as he had been previously.
Anyway we talked it out and it basically I think it boiled down to the fact because he’d convinced himself it was a girl, it was more the adjustment to the idea of a son as opposed to disappointment of it.
Plus I reeled off a million reasons we had to be excited about a son, how nice it will be to raise a man as good as he is, how he’ll be able to have the relationship with his son he never had with his own dad growing up etc. Plus as someone who was a teenage girl herself a mere 10-15 years ago I reminded him that teenage girls are generally vile and moody 😂 and protecting them from boys must be a nightmare!
Anyway, long story short after a couple of days he was back to excited and has been ever since.
Talk it out with your partner, try not to judge him for it but try to flip it to a positive. He’ll love him when he’s here either way 🙂

pandafunfactory · 04/10/2020 17:42

Your husband has an understandable anxiety about a boy, based on his childhood experiences. He needs time to adjust and support In Recognising that he can parent differently. Give him some space and wait this out. The baby is much less real to him at the moment than it is to you. He can just see the things to worry about, he will see the joy when he arrives, if not before.

2bazookas · 04/10/2020 17:55

Stop worrying.The moment he sees his baby he will fall in love.

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