I think the whole buying-an-heirloom-for-a-fetus is just plain bizarre. I really cannot relate to that kind of thinking at all. ( Like when my daughter had her Confirmation, we and the godparents stopped for brunch at a nice restaurant after. Another young girl there later told us about the humongous party, like a wedding reception, that was thrown for her. Dozens of friends and relatives, a huge cake, money gifts, dozens of crosses on chains, bibles…
I don’t get it.) I say, let the child first be born, alive and well, before piling on the festivities. Plant a rosebush if you must. Or a hydrangea, don’t they sell pink and blue ones?
Somebody gave my sister a little sterling silver cup when she was born. We used to keep spare change in it. It was very pretty. That would be a nice gift.
Seems silly to me.
Then again, I’m transsexual so my parents thought I was a boy, and ended up a woman << >>
I think its a wonderful idea. You came up with a beautiful new celebration for your family. As you can see from your responses, most people choose to remain in the comfort zone of more traditional celebrations. I really don’t understand how celebrating the sex of your child is imposing gender restrictions. I suppose the choice of a gift could do it, but not the celebration itself. I really don’t have any ideas for gifts, I just wanted to post in support of the idea.
I’m not going to go anywhere near any of the other stuff in this post, but I will cover this one. “Not believing in something” is a common way of saying you don’t believe in condoning it, especially by owning it yourself. In this case, someone “who doesn’t believe in jewelry” is someone who believes that it is unethical to purchase jewelry, either due to it being vain or something about how it is procured or marketed.
A good example would be the Dopers who could say they do not believe in diamonds, as they are against the diamond cartel and the artificial supply problem.
Hmm. I’ve read some of the diamond threads (and threads where people argued against other things, like owning firearms or watching romantic comedies or whatever) and I’ve never noticed anybody saying they “don’t believe in” these things. Not that it’s never, ever happened, it just didn’t stick out for me the way it did here.
It just strikes me as a really stupid way to convey the idea of being opposed to doing something.
I should start telling people I don’t believe in sweeping. I hate sweeping.
I asked Ben the other day if he had ever heard of push presents, since we’re having a baby in the fall*. I explained what they are (“Oh yeah, typically jewelry. You know, I read this article that said some guy got his wife a $1500 bracelet. Apparently it’s expected…”) and he got quieter and quieter until his response was basically limited to “Uhh…” until I told him I thought it was a dumb idea. The look of relief on his face was priceless. 
*Probably by scheduled ceserean though so I have to wonder if a “surgical procedure resulting in offspring” present is more or less extravagant than a push present?
I forgot to report: the results of the level 2 ultrasound indicate he has very healthy organs, nice bone structure, hands that open and close, and a fairly obvious penis. My wife thought it right for each brother to get some variation of the same thing. My son helped pick out his future brother’s gift (an absolutely beautiful Case knife in chestnut bone). It was a special day for us, especially considering that we are fairly certain this is going to be our last one. Thanks for all the gift ideas.
Humm - well the only REALLY boy thing we’ve got for Junior is Weeny Beanies. I think we were kind of planning on waiting to find out what sorts of things he actually likes (i.e. does he like football? hockey? ballet? chess?)
And I’m getting a push present. My husband has already gone out and picked it up and it’s just waiting for the actual pushing. Yes, I realize this means that I’m a horrible, bad, selfish mother who doesn’t deserve to have a child and you should probably just call CPS now, but MEH - Junior is stuck with me, so there you go. (FWIW, it’s NOT jewelry and it WASN’T $1,000)
Yeah, I agree. In a way you’re treading on tenuous ground, here. I’m a girl who would appreciate a pocket knife, but had I been gifted a cross pendent… well, I’m not sure I’d have the heart to actually give it away or throw it out, but it would be stuck in the back of a junk drawer somewhere, and certainly wouldn’t be passed on as an heirloom to my (hypothetical) children (which is a whole 'nother pile of presumption – I have no desire to have kids, so nothing would get “passed on” anyway). The whole Catholic thing never “took” with me, so it would be a rather meaningless bit of jewelry.
Giving an adult-style gift to a baby presumes an awful lot about their future personality. You’ll likely be disappointed, and your kid probably won’t really appreciate the pressure to conform to your expectations, either.