A Newcastle couple are holding a special party with a twist on Sunday where the guest of honour will be their new baby born this week. The twist is, it is only then will they reveal whether they have a new baby boy or a girl.
Up until the child's birth on July 21, parents Steph Shotton and Kenny Johns even managed to keep the baby's gender secret from themselves during numerous scans. For the last couple of days they've been inundated with 'boy or girl?' enquiries by friends.
Steph, 27, of Denton Burn, Newcastle, said: "Instead of telling people straightaway we decided to make an event of it and have a 'gender reveal' party.
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"When we told friends about what we planned they said that's a great idea. However after the birth it was hard as we wanted to tell everybody."
Steph, who says she's a spiritual person, already has one daughter with Kenny, 33, called Halo aged three. She said of their new baby: "If it's a girl we'll call her Ocean and if it's a boy we'll call him Zen."
Steph said it was harder for Kenny than her when they went for scans not to find out before the baby's birth what sex it was. "He hoped it would be a boy to keep the family name going, but boy or girl he'll be happy" said Steph. "I've had a miscarriage and just being pregnant was enough for me."
Apart from the couple, the only person to know the secret is Steph's mum who was also her birth partner. "When I took the baby out with me shopping I dressed them in white in case we came across any of our friends so as not to give the game away," said Steph.
The only problem is that they are expecting lots of family and friends to come to the party. "People might arrive in dribs and drabs and we can't keep doing the big reveal. We're still working out how to do it but it'll be great when we do it," said Steph.
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