Our First Gender Reveal on Steemit

Last week we were excited to reveal that we will welcome our second child in December. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and wished us well on that post! As we are new to Steemit, this was the last social media platform to which we posted. We thought we would switch it up for the gender reveal and share it on Steemit first.

This post is picture heavy because well, really, we enjoyed the outcome of the photoshoot. Derek did a great job and, of course, Shalom was just too cute! For those just curious about the gender, here’s our favorite picture of the shoot:

We're having a GIRL!!!

If you’re interested in the behind the scenes story, keep reading.

We found out the gender a over a month ago at a local ultrasound clinic. I was 14 weeks on the dot – I’m certainly not someone who likes to wait when I don’t have to. Since finding out I was pregnant, I was a 100% sure I was having a girl. Confession: I really wanted another girl – a little sister for Shalom. In my mind’s eye, I can see that they will be each other’s best friend and confidant. Just as I did with Shalom, I cried when the ultrasound technician announced that we were having a girl! The clinic had props so we took a couple of impromptu pictures after the reveal. Such happy memories!

As part of a non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) I had scheduled the following week, I knew the results would confirm the gender with 100% certainty. We decided to wait until those results came back before announcing. I got them back a month ago but then we could not decide on how to share the news.

Derek mentioned that he thought a beach shoot would be fun so off to Pinterest I went, of course! Shalom was to be dressed in a white dress running barefoot on the beach with pink balloons. From the picture above and those coming up, you can see it did not quite turn out the way I planned.

We made our way to La Jolla on the 4th of July weekend. I had her dress ironed and waiting by the door. I dressed Shalom in some old play clothes for the drive. We were going to buy balloons on our arrival. We all packed into the car and an hour later we at our destination. Balloons were purchased and then I started to get Shalom ready. That's when I realized....

I forgot her dress at home.

Pregnancy hormones were in full effect and I had my first meltdown. I slowly recovered as we headed to the beach. Of course, it was insanely busy. Yes, we should have known it would be packed with it being the long weekend but it was early evening so we hoped to get a small patch of sand. No luck. I had worked out every detail to the tee and my plan was unraveling. Second meltdown.

Derek would not give up.

We ended up at Torrey Pines as the sun was setting. I always keep extra clothes in the car for Shalom and, thankfully, I had a white top with jeans. Not my ideal outfit but I went with it because I was not going to try this again!

As I said, Derek did an excellent job taking the pictures and we were both so pleased with the results. In the end, everything worked out just the way it should and I should have known it would but hey, give this mama-to-be a break.

We can’t wait for Baby GIRL Turner to arrive!

• Kareen

PS: Enjoy a short video!