Baby Thomas Already Has to Meet Expectations

As soon as people find out you're pregnant, the worst part comes: everyone has their own patent-pending way to tell if you're having a boy or a girl. All they'll need is a few bits of information--Sara's blood pressure, baby's heart rate, what foods Sara is craving, her sleeping habits, how the baby seems to sit in the womb, was it cloudy outside when you found out?, and did the day of conception end in "y"? Look, random lady at Target, we don't know what we're having. You asking if Sara's belly button is an "inny or outtie" is not scientific. That's why we put a poll up on our blog, to help us figure it out.

I'm going on the record, I'll be happy if it's a boy OR a girl. There are advantages to both, and disadvantages to both. I just want it to be healthy. And have some sort of talent that can be parlayed in to a College Scholarship.

When previous generations in a family have done something, there is the natural expectation that the next generation will follow. Sometimes it is natural--if you live in a city dominated by one industry, it's easy to have four generations of coal miners/steel mill workers/GM factory workers. Other times it's difficult to expect the next generation(s) to follow that same path. George Bush Sr. never pushed (or in some accounts, wanted) George W. Bush to become President of the United States, but he followed in his dad's footsteps just the same.

The Mannings are a rare case. Archie Manning played Quarterback in the National Football League for 12 seasons. He didn't win a lot of games, and definitely didn't win a Super Bowl, but his career was still successful. When he and Olivia had three boys, I'm sure it was very easy to try to push football on all three and hope they would all be second generation NFL players. As it turns out, both Peyton and (to a lesser extent) Eli would become more successful in the NFL than their dad. Not often does the next generation copy and then improve upon what those before did. And for every time that the pattern repeats, more pressure is put on the next era to "continue the streak". It's not fair but it's human nature, can't be helped.

And then there are those expectations that you can't hope to live up to. Since 1890, every first born child on my Dad's side of the family has been a boy. That's not an old wives tale, that is historical fact. I found this out last night, and my first thought was that our child isn't even the size of a loaf of bread and it already has an unrealistic expectation to meet.

Two times is a pattern. Three times is an interesting story to tell at Church. Four times is a pattern, but FIVE generations in a row?! That's something you can go to Vegas and bet on. The odds of that happening are 1023 to 1.

The sex of our baby has already been determined, and there's nothing I can do about it now. But now I feel unintended pressure to make sure our child is the sixth generation first born male.

Glad I'm an administrator on this blog, so I can change my vote on the poll without anyone knowing.