The Royal Issue

Chapter 21: Boy or Girl?

"Eli."

"Erin."

"Michael."

"Sarah."

"Pascal."

"Jessica."

This has been going on for the past two weeks since I hit 26 weeks. My doctor told us that we could come and find out the baby's sex at our next appointment. So we've decided to pick a good boy name and girl name for the baby. We haven't chosen the perfect ones yet but we're getting there.

I was over at Max's house and we were sitting on his couch in his room. With Max's hand on my belly and me holding a baby name book reading.

"Hey! What about Elijah?!" Max blurted out.

"Ew no, how about Sam? It's gender neutral." I asked.

"Nah, I'm not feeling Sam, what about Alexis? It sounds cool and edgy for both girls and boys." He asked.

"I like Alexis....put that one down on the list." I paused to think about it. He nodded and wrote the name down.

For the next couple of days Max was just popping baby names out of everywhere. When I'm in the kitchen:

"What about Thomas?" He popped his head in the kitchen.

"No, the kids will call him Thomas the tank engine. I'm not putting him through that." He sighed and walked back out the kitchen.

When I'm sitting on my bed:

"How about Nicole or Nicolas?" He asked while lying down on my lap.

"Maybe, I don't really like Nicolas." He nodded and went to pick up the baby book again.

Even when we were in Michael's, trying to pick out a photo album to put together for the baby, since we had been taking belly shots and we had sonograms and ultrasound pics:

"What if we choose the name Edward?" He asked.

"What? No he's not a vampire. Twilight totally ruined that name for me." I turned back to look at the photo albums. He sighed and then went to go look at paint colors. I walked over to him and saw him pick out yellow, green, lavender, and light blue.

"I like the yellow and lavender color. What about you?" He turned to look at me.

"Well the baby isn't going to be sleeping in their own room until almost a year, but I like lavender and yellow too." He nodded and put the colors back. We grabbed an album and went to pay and then went home.

I was in my bed cuddling with Max, just talking about anything. I could tell he was getting drowsy but still tried to keep a conversation going.

"So we've decided on a boy name and a girl name right?" Max yawned.

"Yup, we're totally ready to name the baby." I ran my fingers through his hair, as he laid on me.

"What do you prefer? Boy or Girl?" I asked looking down at Max's face.

"I think even though I've been on team boy for a while, I want a girl." He sleepily replied.

"What? Why?" I questioned.

"Well if we have a girl, she'll be just like you. You know smart, pretty, a wonderful human being in all. She'll basically kick ass in the world." He chuckled. I looked down at his face, shocked. I didn't know he felt this way about the baby. That was a really sweet thing to say.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, but my parents know about the baby." Max cleared his throat.

"What? What did they say? Exactly when did they find out?" I panicked.

"They found out during our two week not talking break. I was practically a mess. They had to sit me down and talk to me and they were supportive. They say they want to be involved in the baby's life." He nodded.

"Oh, ok, they can, I just thought they would ban you from seeing me. But ok." When I looked back down at him, I saw that he had fallen asleep. I giggled and then kissed his forehead, before yawning and getting comfortable so I could sleep.

Today was the day! Me and Max had alerted friends and family that we would have a gender reveal party today because we got to find out the gender! Our friends and family were planning on wearing the colors they thought the gender of the baby would be.

Me and Max had gotten up early and went to the doctor's. We were in the doctor's room and just waiting for the doctor to come in. She finally walked in and shook both Max's and mine's hand.

"So are you guys ready to find out the sex of the baby?!" She exclaimed happily.

"Yeah of course! We're super excited." Max and I smiled.

"Ok! Let's get started." She pulled over her seat to the ultrasound machine. She placed the cool gel on my stomach and then used the wand to move across my stomach.

"The baby looks very healthy... I can see the heartbeat beating very strong... Ok do you guys want to know the sex of the baby?" She smiled at us.

"Can you write down the sex of the baby in a card in an envelope? We don't want to know just yet." I asked. She nodded and got up to go get the baby pictures and to write the gender down.

We got back into the car and drove to Party City to go pick up a huge black balloon that would hold the confetti of the color for the gender of the baby. We gave the employee the envelope and waited for our balloon.

When we got back to my house we saw that all our friends and family were there, talking and laughing all around. I saw people dressed in pinks and blues. There was a bunch of fun party games and then it was time to find out the sex of the baby.

"I would just like to thank everyone here for being so supportive of Max and I during this time. It's been wonderful to be around amazing people and I know this baby is truly blessed to have people like this in their life." I spoke.

"I truly thank everyone for coming here to help me and Elle celebrate the baby today. So without further ado let's find out what the baby's gender is!" Max yelled. Everyone clapped and came closer as Max and I stood by the balloon ready to pop it.

"Ok, on 3!" I said excitedly. Everyone started counting down.

"1!"

"2!"

"3!"

On 3 we popped the balloon and out came pink confetti.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!

I quickly jumped into Max's arms and hugged him tight.

"We're having a little girl!!" I cried, tears streaming down my face.

"Yeah a little baby girl, who's going to be incredible just like her mom." Max gazed into my eyes.

All around the room people were cheering and laughing, some even crying. They all came to congratulate us on the baby girl and I couldn't be happier. I know that having a child this young can come with many problems, but just like my grandma said, I wouldn't change it for the world.