4 Reasons to Be “Team Green” During Your Pregnancy

Team Green Pregnancy
©SACheckley from Getty Images on Canva

Move over gender reveal parties, it’s time to experience the “TEAM GREEN” movement — the ultimate gender reveal party!  You often hear people saying they are Team Pink if they are having a girl or Team Blue if they are having a boy, but what is Team Green?  Team Green is when the parents decide not to find out the sex of their future bundle of joy until the birth.  Now my Type A planners — please lift your jaw off the floor, open your mind, and let me explain why you should be Team Green during your next pregnancy.

This is the surprise of a lifetime

With all the new technology, future parents can find out whether they are having a boy or girl within the first trimester. They also can have 3D ultrasounds sharing what their child looks like in utero.  Although bringing a child into the world is the most exciting and greatest gift, doesn’t it seem like we need to know too much? 

For both of my pregnancies, my husband and I were Team Green.  I will forever remember my husband announcing, “It’s a girl!” with one glistening tear rolling down his face when our first daughter was born. For our second, I will forever remember him laughing with conviction while saying “It’s another girl!” (He always thought we were having another girl and I thought we were having a boy.)  Precious memories like these make life worth living.  

It’s a guessing game

During our anatomy ultrasounds, not even the medical professionals looked to see what we were having.  So no one knew.  We only had the inklings based on how I was feeling, or what old wives tales and the Chinese Predictor Calculator believed to be true.  

This made it the world’s best guessing game.  I had friends and family join a pool to guess the gender, date, height, and weight for the first child.  Whereas, during the second pregnancy, I constantly sent pictures to friends to have them guess the sex because doing a pool again seemed like too much work while pregnant and chasing a toddler.  Sure, some of my friends hated not knowing- one bestie even threatened to call the nurse to find out what we were having prior to the birth– however, everyone was simply ecstatic when they finally found out what we had ..nine months later!

Also, because we knew nothing we kept our list of names to ourselves.  We wanted to see the child before giving him or her a name.  No one could critique or put in their two cents about what we were planning to name our children.  I have mistakenly shared names before that my family or friends did not like, which left me heart broken.  This strategy was perfect for us!  

Things are actually purchased from your registry

I know this one sounds snobbish, but people LOVE buying baby clothes.  I know this because I have that problem.  It’s so fun to think of a fresh baby in tiny overalls and adorable bows.  Being Team Green, my loved ones bought the items I needed and wanted from my registry instead of buying a ton of gender specific clothes.  I did get many gender neutral outfits (which I am forever thankful for) so I would be ready for the arrival of the little one.  However, I have been to baby showers where the mother to be gets a hundred 0-3 month pink or blue outfits.  This is slightly problematic for then she has to return a bunch of clothes because no baby (not even Beyoncé’s) needs that many clothes in their first three months of life.

You save money

As I admitted before, I am a sucker for baby clothes.  However, when you do not know what you are having you cannot buy super gender specific items.  With my first born, I only bought two outfits for the baby.  One gender neutral take home set (with a bow and a hat), and the other was a plane themed onesie set.  I also bought a bassinet banner to hang in the hospital. While pregnant with my sweet second child, I only bought three outfits for the baby.  The first was dinosaur themed (blue and green), and the other two outfits were gender specific coming home outfits.  

Additionally, on the off chance I did have to buy bedding or some other necessary item – I made sure to look into whether the item was gender neutral or not.  It was helpful because it was something I could use over and over again with each child, which eliminated wasteful spending.  

So what do you think?  Could you pull off being Team Green?

*This post was originally written in 2019.

Jillian Henry
Born and raised in Wisconsin, Jillian has called many states home since she left the beer and cheese state five years ago. Currently, she resides in Derby with her husband, one-year-old daughter, and four-year-old “Boshih” (Boston Terrier Shih-Tzu mix). Jillian has a bachelor’s degree in Education and a Master’s Degree in Psychology, but her favorite role is taking care of her daughter as a stay-at-home mom. When Jillian is not moving across the continental United States, she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, singing the Moana soundtrack in its entirety, exploring nature, catching up with friends, and eating any gluten-free dessert she can get her hands on. Jillian is looking forward to learning more about Wichita while experiencing life on the plains.

2 COMMENTS

  1. My husband and I were Team Green for our first baby born on June 24th. The entire pregnancy our families, friends, and even us suspected a boy. Decorating the nursery and registering “gender neutral” was easy and refreshing. Hearing my husband announce during the birth “It’s a girl!” was such a fun surprise and a special moment we will never forget. 🙂

  2. My husband and I split the difference on this. He wanted to know, I wanted the surprise. So he found out via blood test (emailed only to him) and I made sure to let doctors and techs know I didn’t know and wasn’t finding out. It was a lot of fun, and like you I got so many things off my registry and then later was given boy clothes. Having my husband tell me it was a boy was a special moment. We are one and done for a few reasons so it was my only chance to hear “It’s a _____.” I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.

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