Friday, July 12, 2013

Girl or boy? (according to old wives tales)

I have been loving keeping the mystery as to the gender of this baby.  Of course though it is fun to discuss and ponder.  At work this is a MAJOR topic; apparently I am really torturing people!  Here are some of the old wives tales on the subject:

1.  Chinese Gender Chart: Based on mom’s age and conception month this apparently long lived chart boasts over a 75% accuracy rate – GIRL (At least according to the one I found online at thebump.com. which seems a strange way to access wisdom found in an ancient tomb near Bejing.)

2.  Beating Heart Test:  If the heart rate is above 140bpm it is a girl, below it is a boy - GIRL (Started in the 160s—though they used to have a VERY hard time finding it since this little bean moved around so much.  Now he/she is much more crowded and it is easier to get a reading.  I have had readings in the 140s and 150s lately.)

3.  Sweet vs Sour CravingsSugar and spice means girl while salty and sour is a boy – ???  I like sweet, sour, spicy, and salty . . .

4.  Even or Odd?:  Apparently if the year of conception and the mother's age are both even or odd it is a girl, if one is even and the other odd it is a boy – BOY (29 and 2012).

5.  The Breakout - Acne equals a girl because she steals her mother's beauty - GIRL (ugh).

6.  The Wedding Band Test - Circling over the belly means a son while back and forth points to a daughter – yet to try . . . 

7.  Morning sickness - Sick as a dog points to a girl, while easy-peasy makes little boys - BOY (Though I felt more sick then last time—when I didn’t even realize I was pregnant.)

8.  Dry Hands?:  Drier than normal hands means boy - BOY (all my skin is super dry. )

9.  Hairy legs - Extra hair now must mean extra hair later for a little fellow – weird.  GIRL (I guess, since this has luckily not been a problem).

10.  The Spouse Test - Who's the pregnant one here?  If dad packs on pounds it's a girl, if he stays the same then you've got a boy on the way – GIRL Although Brad hasn’t exactly packed on the pounds, he has gained a bit and can’t figure out why.  Maybe this is the reason? 

11.  How you are carrying – high=girl, low=boy – BOY.  This is one I actually somewhat believe in, but I don’t seem to be carrying particularly high or low, kind of in the middle.  However, if I had to say I think I seem similar to last time, though I never took a side view picture last time so I cant really compare.

12. Mom’s intuition – said to be the most statistically reliable predictor!  However, I don’t have any strong feeling towards one gender or another. 

13. Similarity to previous pregnancy: if a second pregnancy is similar to a first they will produce the same gender – Not quite sure about this one.  In the beginning this pregnancy seemed pretty different, since I was somewhat (though not horribly sick) and knew right from the get go I was pregnant (last time not sick at all and didn’t know I was pregnant for a very long time), but now things seem mostly similar.  So I’ll go with BOY.

Sometimes I feel like a bad mom, because there is a big huge baby of one gender or the other in there, but I don’t have any idea which!  Other women are always telling me how they just knew what they were having.  Some days I lean one way, sometimes the other.  Before I had Joseph I used to picture myself with a curly blond haired girl, since having Joseph I have felt much better suited as a boy mom and have pictured another boy.  My dreams are inconclusive as well—the baby is just baby in my dreams, not a boy or a girl.  This is really my favorite part of not knowing: not projecting all sorts of societal crap on an unborn-just enjoying being pregnant and getting ready for a baby.

Less then two weeks till I am full term, and that’s a conservative estimate.  What!?!?!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a nice note, thanks.

RB

JG said...

Well it looks like 4 BOYs and 5 GIRL results, so it must be a girl!!! ;) Haha
YES, it has been TORTURE not knowing. We will know soon, though! Can't wait!!!
And of course you know that I was 100% SURE via my ancient female intuition that my 2nd baby was a boy... so much that the surprise of having a girl might have stolen a nano second of time from my post-birth bonding experience. You are wise to not guess. :) But it sure is fun for the rest of us! :D

Bethany said...

Love this! So much fun to wonder what is to come :)

Meredith said...

The whole "stealing the mothers beauty" was spot on for me. Horrible acne with Henri, and my skin has never looked better in my life than now with this pregnancy. It's fun to wonder and dream, but I don't envy you the thinking up 2 names! Can't wait to hear about the fantastic birth :)

Ruth said...

So much fun to wonder. Maybe your experience Jenn is part of why I am not really trying to predict it at all? I LOVE having so many of you ahead of me having babies this time so I can learn from you. Also, I thought of a new "old wives tale" so now the tally is even. Oh and the number one reason I can see for finding out the gender is so you only have to come up with one name!

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