i chose to have a surprise, but at the 19 week mark, i was told i had to have an amniocentesis test, and when i got the results, inspite of telling the specialist of my wish not to know the gender, the gender was spelt out, on the page of results (for the amnio).

even though i knew i was carrying a girl, i kept stocking up on gender neutral baby stuff, girl or boy, my baby was going to be wearing purple. i just bought white, blue or pink baby clothes at opshops, dyed the whole lot purple. You have to have the time, to sort thru lots of crappy stuff and go on special days, so it was time consuming, but low cost.

if people give you baby clothes, let them know you would prefer the tags left on, so you can exchange easily if needed. it often happens, by the time the baby is that size, the clothing is the wrong season etc. So many things you just don't know until baby arrives (what size they will start off in).