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

Petrified at the thought of a third boy

342 replies

Tegah · 05/10/2025 11:06

Im 5 weeks with our third baby, and whilst I’m so happy to be pregnant again, I’m also absolutely petrified. We already have 2 boys, who I adore, but they are bloody hard work and high energy. Since I’ve found out I’m pregnant, my thoughts have been consumed by fears of this being another boy which I feel awful about. At the same time, I cannot deny that I am desperate beyond words for a little girl. I have longed for a baby girl for a long time now and I think that now knowing this is our final baby (for many reasons but mainly financially, we live just outside London and house prices are crippling), it has dawned on me that this is my last chance. I know that many people will jump on this post and berate me for even having a preference with gender, and I should just be happy to have a healthy baby, which of course I am and I know I am lucky to even be having a third child. But I think it will take me a while to come to terms with having another boy, and never having that bond with a little girl that I so desperately want. How do I cope with gender disappointment if this is another boy? Please be kind.

OP posts:
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Aethelredtheunsteady · 05/10/2025 19:14

Tegah · 05/10/2025 19:06

Sorry but what on earth are you on about? 😂 I honestly don’t think some of you have read any of what I’ve said. Ah yes, I would totally reject this shaven head version of my daughter and be absolutely disgusted with her decision to play traditionally mens sport. Give your head a wobble! I have not once said I only want a girly girl. I have simply said I would prefer a daughter this time around over a third boy. Goodness me, there are so many people on this thread intent on putting words in my mouth in order to try and make me out to be something I am not!

Edited

But you said you were petrified and consumed with fears at the thought of having a boy which is a little stronger than just a preference.

Blessthismess2 · 05/10/2025 19:16

Tegah · 05/10/2025 12:38

I don’t necessarily want a ‘quiet, calm girl’, more so I suppose a mini me, as my husband has with our two boys. They get to do boy things together, football etc. I also know that there is no guarantee if I did have a girl that she would be interested in the same things that I am as a child. I think it’s the idea of being able to go for afternoon tea and a nice day out as adults with my daughter, as I do with my mum and sister.

Ugghhh afternoon tea. As a girl I can't think of anything worse. I'd be so pissed off if my brothers got to play sports and I had to have afternoon tea 🤢

Aethelredtheunsteady · 05/10/2025 19:19

For what it’s worth I’ve just got back from seeing my mum and whilst I was there my brother called to see when she wanted to meet him in London to look for a mother of the groom outfit and would she like him to book lunch or afternoon tea. Very fortuitous timing with this post!

NeverHadHaveHas · 05/10/2025 19:23

Tegah · 05/10/2025 19:14

Yes petrified to have three boys under three. I think those feeling would hit even the most confident of mums. That coupled with wanting a girl and stewed with early pregnancy hormones can lead to some really difficult thoughts.

But nothing in your first post refers to the ages of the children being a concern 🤷‍♀️ Understandably, people have taken what you have said at face value and understood from your post that you are petrified and consumed by fears simply because it may be a boy, which is quite an extreme reaction.

Wavescrashingonthebeach · 05/10/2025 19:25

This is why I never ever create new threads any more. Because people project and extrapolate too much and everyone's out for an argument instead of a light hearted discussion.
On the plus side, once you have 3 kids your fucks given for what people think and say should reduce dramatically. Without stereotyping of course 😂

JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn · 05/10/2025 19:36

I think you’re been given a very hard time OP. It’s ok to want your 3rd baby to be a girl. I’m sure you’ll love your baby when it’s placed in your arms but I understand your desire for a daughter. I’m an older mum and when I only had the chance to have one child, I wanted a girl. I had a girl. She’s amazing. Nothing like me and nothing like I expected her to be but I adore her and am very happy to have a daughter. I wish you every joy with your baby.

Tegah · 05/10/2025 19:39

JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn · 05/10/2025 19:36

I think you’re been given a very hard time OP. It’s ok to want your 3rd baby to be a girl. I’m sure you’ll love your baby when it’s placed in your arms but I understand your desire for a daughter. I’m an older mum and when I only had the chance to have one child, I wanted a girl. I had a girl. She’s amazing. Nothing like me and nothing like I expected her to be but I adore her and am very happy to have a daughter. I wish you every joy with your baby.

Edited

Thank you, I am so pleased for you that you got your girl. I didn’t realise mumsnet could be such an awful place. I don’t think I’ll be posting again.

OP posts:
FellowSuffereroftheAbsurd · 05/10/2025 19:41

I hope it all goes as well and comfortably as possible, especially with going for three under three. It might help talking to a medical professional soon about getting a full nutritional screening - close pregnancies raises the risks of nutritional gaps even if taking vitamins and low levels of Vitamin D and some other nutritional needs can make obsessive thoughts and emotional lows worse. Getting a full screening and a chat with a nurse practitioner about it made a world of difference.

While you're emotions on this are running high at the moment, and will likely, hopefully pass. How to handle the disappointment depends on how you generally handle disappointments. I know some mothers where it was barely a flicker at a scan, quickly passed without any further thought; others who - having been pretty wrapped up and convinced of an idea - it took a bit more focusing on the positives and joys and working on not ruminating on what they think they might have missed.

It's normal, human, to have dreams and hopes -- and as adults, we realise that reality is never going to be exactly like we imagine so it's better not to get too stuck into our imaginations, as appealing as they can be.

I also know mothers who never got over it. I understand why some have reacted so firmly - this mindset can have serious consequences. I'm a child whose mother never got over what we now call gender disappointment. I can advise that her solution and the solution of mothers of her time that I knew -- openly discussing her disappointments in front of their kids, strongly dividing 'boy activities' and 'girl activities', hyper-masculinity and hyper-femininity as ideals, a lot of conversations around what boys and girls should do & picking at faults, and self medicating did not work well by any measure. It was very common at the time, and may be why more than a few are sore about it.

My mother and her mother were very close, up to her my grandmother's death. I was close with my grandmother, but I never got to have that with my mother, because I was, am, and always will be my mother's disappointment - not the son she was convinced she was having and not the kind of daughter she could love.

But are you honestly trying to say that boys and girls have the same amount of energy? Because if so, it’s scientifically proven that they do not. And that’s down to hormones (testosterone, estrogen etc).

There are various scientific suggestions on averages, but that means little to individuals and really, it's goes far beyond sex hormones - all of our hormones work together in that.

I've two of each sex. My sons will quite merrily sit most of the day, and did since being small. My older daughter cannot get through a day happily unless she can spend a significant amount of time stomp-pacing in peace - she's autistic and it's how she decompresses. My younger daughter volunteers as a farmhand and was the baby who would not stop kicking during the night to the point we had to move her to a bed far sooner than any other child.

My brother was the calm, placid, very academic type pushed into sports & treated like a disappointment for not excelling at that. I was the nervous energy type pushed to be more graceful, more performative & was a major disappointment at that. It's really not helped to push the 'scientifically backed' way we're supposed to be anymore than the cultural way we're support to be, especially when working through accepting the reality that your next child might not be how you're dreaming of.

MrsSkylerWhite · 05/10/2025 19:42

Tegah · 05/10/2025 19:39

Thank you, I am so pleased for you that you got your girl. I didn’t realise mumsnet could be such an awful place. I don’t think I’ll be posting again.

Is it? Or perhaps your post just upset parents of boys or people who would be grateful to just have an healthy baby?

NeverHadHaveHas · 05/10/2025 19:48

Tegah · 05/10/2025 19:39

Thank you, I am so pleased for you that you got your girl. I didn’t realise mumsnet could be such an awful place. I don’t think I’ll be posting again.

You posted using very hyperbolic language about a topic that always invites conflicting and strong opinions. I’m not sure why you’re surprised that you have received some blunt responses.

RainbowBagels · 05/10/2025 19:50

MrsSkylerWhite · 05/10/2025 19:42

Is it? Or perhaps your post just upset parents of boys or people who would be grateful to just have an healthy baby?

Maybe there should be a 'gender (sex) disappointment' section, maybe of 'pregnancy' where everyone can just have a pity party together about how upset they are already about their unborn babies.

Bobnobob · 05/10/2025 19:50

It’s ok to feel like this OP. There is something about the shared experience of being the same sex as your offspring. I can only speak for myself and the people around me but my close friends are predominantly female (a few males but mostly gay). People typically have more in common with others of the same gender and that is ok.

What is important is how you deal with these feelings.. will you find out the sex before the baby is born? I knew that being passed a healthy baby would be such an amazing feeling and a relief that I would feel happy either way. Whereas finding out when I had months of pregnancy left would have compounded any feeling of disappointment. Or you may prefer to find out as soon as possible… you may get your wish for a girl and problem instantly solved. If you are having a boy you will have months to deal with these feelings and perhaps get some therapy.

sittingonabeach · 05/10/2025 19:51

@Tegah you complain about posters talking about stereotypes but you started with stereotypes with females doing afternoon tea and males going to football

Wavescrashingonthebeach · 05/10/2025 19:53

Tegah · 05/10/2025 19:39

Thank you, I am so pleased for you that you got your girl. I didn’t realise mumsnet could be such an awful place. I don’t think I’ll be posting again.

Dont take any of it to heart. I remember when my early pregnancy hormones were raging I had literally physical reactions to some scathing posts! I always use this as an example but after I got pregnant very quickly (yes, recklessly) with my first I had a "good grief" comment that reduced me to tears and made me quit MN for a long time.
Just remember, theyre all just strangers, theyre all entitled to their opinion and to voice it as bluntly or even offensively as they like.
None of it matters. I appreciate you were just musing and anxious.
If it helps with my 3rd I dreaded it and thought I wouldn't cope. Hes amazing. You know as well as I do that you'll love this 3rd baby just as much as your other two whether its a boy or a girl. You'll be fine x

MrsSkylerWhite · 05/10/2025 19:54

RainbowBagels · 05/10/2025 19:50

Maybe there should be a 'gender (sex) disappointment' section, maybe of 'pregnancy' where everyone can just have a pity party together about how upset they are already about their unborn babies.

Edited

I’m afraid if MN resorted to that, I’d be off! Been here since the beginning.

DramaLlamacchiato · 05/10/2025 19:56

I don’t think anyone has been “unkind” to you. It is surely hardly surprising that some people find your post and language distasteful. Disagreement is not unkindness

Bringyourfoldingchair · 05/10/2025 19:57

I’m a mum of 3 boys and I can honestly say I wouldn’t change it for the world. They are hard work and I’m exhausted, my house is a mess but the bond they have is just so lovely. They will never be lonely and are so so close. I also have a lovely bond with all 3. I know it won’t help how you feel but I hate a late miscarriage with another very loved little boy. Don’t underestimate how lucky you are to have a healthy pregnancy and a gorgeous baby at the end of it, no matter the sex.

CuriouslyMinded · 05/10/2025 20:17

Early pregnancy is such a riot of hormones, and knowing this will likely be your last baby, it makes complete sense that your longing for a daughter has surfaced.
Give yourself a few days to feel these feelings, but if you think your thought patterns are escalating, or if you start to feel worse about the possibility of another son, do talk to your midwife or HV. Or even an independent counsellor. Sometimes talking these things through can help, actually voicing them and letting the panic flow out.
This little baby will surely be well loved, but do take care of yourself as well 💞

Thisiswhatitsoundslike81 · 05/10/2025 20:19

Blessthismess2 · 05/10/2025 19:16

Ugghhh afternoon tea. As a girl I can't think of anything worse. I'd be so pissed off if my brothers got to play sports and I had to have afternoon tea 🤢

I hate afternoon tea too! But my husband loves it... So there you are, OP... You may get your afternoon teas yet.

viva343 · 05/10/2025 20:20

Tegah · 05/10/2025 19:11

I didn’t ask for opinions, I asked for advice on how to overcome gender disappointment. Not once have I asked to be belittled, berated or spoken to the way that some people have on this thread. I did not start the stereotype rubbish, which you will see if you actually look back to the beginning of the thread. I simply defend myself against the stereotype brigade. Do you not think I am more than aware as a stay at home mother of 2, who spends more or less every second of every day with them, that every child is their own unique person? You’re just stating the painfully obvious and trying to pass it off as some profound statement.

I think you have just deemed the vast majority of the population shallow then in that case!

No I really haven’t.

You’re using dramatic, emotive language to describe a situation that many people could only dream of being in. And you’re getting pissy because people are putting other views across.

I really do hope you get your girl. For the kids sake.

Toomuchtooearly · 05/10/2025 20:31

Tegah · 05/10/2025 16:34

Three boys under 5 wouldn’t have scared you a tad? You’re lying if you say otherwise! 3 boys so close in age would be pure and utter chaos, that’s what I’m frightened of the most.

I had three boys under 5. I really wasn't scared. Well, I was scared by the idea of having 3 under 5 but not by the fact they were all boys. Three children that close in age is fairly chaotic, whether they're boys or girls is irrelevant.

Haribomum7 · 05/10/2025 20:41

So many judgemental people. Gender disappointment is a real thing and people don’t choose to be this way. This is supposed to be a safe space. I hope you get your girl but I am sure you will love your baby once it arrives. You are still allowed to say that you’d prefer a girl this time I think most people who have 2 of the same gender are lying if they said they wouldn’t mind the same gender again. Boys are fab though and I have 3 myself. I really wanted a girl but I think I got what was best for my family.

MrsSkylerWhite · 05/10/2025 20:43

Haribomum7 · 05/10/2025 20:41

So many judgemental people. Gender disappointment is a real thing and people don’t choose to be this way. This is supposed to be a safe space. I hope you get your girl but I am sure you will love your baby once it arrives. You are still allowed to say that you’d prefer a girl this time I think most people who have 2 of the same gender are lying if they said they wouldn’t mind the same gender again. Boys are fab though and I have 3 myself. I really wanted a girl but I think I got what was best for my family.

Edited

Because it’s a “real thing” doesn’t mean it’s valid. I can’t imagine being anything other than delighted at the prospect of a new life of whatever sex.

Tegah · 05/10/2025 20:50

MrsSkylerWhite · 05/10/2025 20:43

Because it’s a “real thing” doesn’t mean it’s valid. I can’t imagine being anything other than delighted at the prospect of a new life of whatever sex.

Just because that’s how you would feel, doesn’t mean it’s universal and everyone has to feel that way, or it’s right or wrong. Please don’t be so close minded!

OP posts:
lebopbop · 05/10/2025 20:51

I feel like maybe Mumsnet should have a designated ‘gender disappointment’ topic as there currently seems to be at least one or two per week on this topic.

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