It helped me when we found out DS. Hubby and I already have his two son's from a previous marriage that live with us, so we tried to gender sway for a girl. We found out the gender at the 19 week scan because I was terrified that if we waited until bub was born and it was a boy, that my first thought about my newborn baby would be "oh, but we hoped for a girl". I didn't want to feel anything negative towards my baby. So we found out he was a boy. My first thought was a happy "oh my gosh we're having a son", but I'll admit that for maybe half an hour after that I was a little sad that we weren't having a girl. I knew I wanted to parent both a girl and a boy, and hubby was definitely only going to have two babies with me (yes, I'm pregnant with a VERY surprise bub, haha), so I was terrified that with the first being a boy, and DH already having two, that our next would also be a boy. I then got used to the idea and very quickly became super excited about having a son. I could then buy all the gorgeous little boy clothes, and plan his "going home" outfit and all that fun stuff.

We now have a baby girl too, but we went through quite a bit to get her. I'm now pregnant with our "Baby Boo" and this time I want the surprise "It's a ....!" moment after the birth. Hubby wasn't hoping too well with the thought of yet another baby, so his way of getting excited was to find out the sex at our 12 week scan. He now knows the gender with 80% certainty and he has to keep that a secret, lol. It's amazing how knowing the gender can help with coping under certain circumstances. I think for hubby it's brought him emotionally closer to the baby and made things more "real" for him.