We did a homecoming party for our son about two weeks after he was born instead of a baby shower or gender reveal to avoid some drama and it went without a hitch!

We've done genetic testing with this baby as well as per their suggestion because of a loss with no understanding and they want to take every precaution they can. ( So thankful for the OBGYN I see. )

I'm currently waiting for the office to call me sometime the end of this week or the beginning of the following to let me know the results of the genetic testing but I'm going to have them call my MIL for the gender. ( She asked us to be the first to know since she didn't know about either pregnancy first, we agreed as this is our final baby. ) So, she's been thinking of ways to tell us what to do to tell us when she comes home that day or something.

Which brings us to finding out during a gender reveal ( keeping it small, just a few people. ) or doing a homecoming like we did with our son. ( celebrate the baby, meet the baby! ) The problem I'm having with the homecoming is that this baby and DS' birthdays are going to be -SO- close. If this baby appears to be about 9lbs again they think they wouldn't let me go pass 39 weeks. ( DS was 9.2 without anyone even knowing or having an idea he was going to be that weight. )

Baby's due the 6th of April, DS was born the 11th of April. @_@

We're so torn on what to do because we don't want to foreshadow our son with the welcoming of the new baby at all.

I personally would go with a gender reveal and skip the home-coming party bit. But that’s because I think I’d be too overwhelmed holding a party with a 2 week old new born and a toddler to care for.. Obviously if it’s something that you would be completely comfortable with, then it might not matter so much.

I can’t talk from experience yet, but so many parents say that it was really tough on the first born when bringing home a new baby, and that it took some time for them to adjust to not having all the attention solely on them. I’ve also got a lot of advice given to me about trying to really include your first child in everything to do with the baby, and making it as much about them (ie: this is YOUR baby brother/sister etc), and letting them help out/be involved as much as possible/appropriate.
With that in mind, a party that centres purely around the new baby (everyone would be swarming around the bubba and wanting a cuddle etc), could definitely make your first born feel like they’ve been pushed to the side a little bit..

Not every kid is the same though, so it could also be totally fine. Especially if you found some way to make the party a little about them too..

Good luck! You’ll have to let us know what you decide to do .

We did a traditional baby shower for dd1 and with dd2 we requested to not have a bunch of visitors at the hospital and chose to have a 2 hour meet and greet after we got home. We had never done a gender reveal before but whose to with ds so we could tell our daughters. The timing worked out that we had some family around while we were on vacation and had the girls open a gift bag with an outfit that was blue to tell them we were having a boy which we got a video of and photos.