Old Wives Tales

22 Aug 2012 2 Comments

by Bethany in Life In General, Pregnancy Tags: , , , ,

Whether or not they are true, these ideas and advice have permeated our lives and especially when it comes to pregnancy. A lot of these are completely unfounded and sometimes absurd, but they are still fun to think about. 🙂

So, since our baby is currently playing hide-the-goodies, J and I looked up some old wives tales regarding the gender just to see what they said. Here’s what we found out:

  1. If you’re carrying baby low or out front, it’s a boy. Carrying higher up or wide, it’s a girl. Well it’s still a little early to really tell where baby’s going to be poking out just yet, so this one is inconclusive. Boy – 0, Girl – 0
  2. Pee in a cup and mix it with Drano (pipe cleaner). If it turns green it’s a girl and if it turns blue it’s a boy.OK this one wins the dummy award. No need to expose yourself to dangerous Drano fumes for no good reason. Not to mention, its and inconclusive test anyway. Boy – 0, Girl – 0
  3. A heart rate less than 140 means boy and more than 140 means girl. So this one we’ve actually considered. Our very first heart rate around 7.5 weeks was in the 130s. Next heart rate at 14 weeks was between 128 and 135. Both of these point to boy. However, our most recent heart rate at 15.5 weeks was 140 on the nose. Apparently, there’s no indicator of what 140 means, only higher or lower than that. Again inconclusive, but we’re leaning slightly toward boy on this one so far. Boy – 1, Girl – 0
  4. More headaches means boy. J has been having a headache almost every single night, not to mention the migraine just last week which is not a common occurrence for her. This could be due to dealing with stress at work, or it could mean it’s a boy in there. Boy – 2, Girl – 0
  5. You crave chocolate and sweets if it’s a girl and sour or salty foods if it’s a boy.J has been loving Cheez-its, black olives, and hot wings so far, so we’re leaning toward boy on this one. Especially since anytime she’s eaten chocolate so far it makes her want to throw up. Boy – 3, Girl – 0
  6. Clumsy vs. Graceful – if you are clumsy during pregnancy it’s a boy, and graceful means it’s a girl.J has definitely NOT been graceful lately. She keeps almost falling over in the store, when getting dressed, and even just walking from one room to another (mind you, we have a very small house too). Another point for boy, here, and we might need a Life Alert button for her (in case she’s “fallen and I can’t get up!”). LOL Boy – 4, Girl – 0
  7. Girls cause acne and a larger left breast (told you some of these were crazy!) and boys cause dry hands and cold feet.J’s been breaking out a little more than usual, and she’s been having really dry skin. She’s burning up all the time and as far as I know there’s no uneven breast size going on! So – this one is again, inconclusive, and really awkward. Boy – 4, Girl – 0
  8. If your partner gains weight with you, it’s a girl. Well this one definitely points to girl in our case. I’ve gained about 12 pounds since J got pregnant! Boy – 4, Girl – 1
  9. You have more morning sickness if it’s a girl, and less or none if it’s a boy.J didn’t have any morning sickness whatsoever. The only time she threw up was from a bad roast beef sandwich. Other than that – nothing. This one points to boy. Boy – 5, Girl – 1
  10. The key test – if you pick up a key from the top (fat) part, it’s a boy, and if you pick it up at the skinny part it’s a girl. Somewhere in the middle means twins!Well she definitely didn’t pick it up at the middle and instead picked it up at the top part. Like a normal person. I really just don’t think this one has any merit whatsoever, so this one is inconclusive. Boy – 5, Girl – 1
  11. The Mayans said to add Mom’s age at conception to the year of conception and if its an even number it’s a girl, odd number is a boy. Since 32 + 2012 = 2044, this one points to a girl. Also, the Chinese gender chart also points to it being a girl based on J’s age at conception and the Chinese year at conception, so this one gets two points for girl. Boy – 5, Girl – 3
  12. Many pregnant woman get the “linea nigra” – a dark colored line on the skin that runs up the belly. If this line stops at the belly button, it’s a girl. If it goes up past your belly button it’s a boy.As much as belly buttons gross J out, this is one that’s not hard to miss. She got her linea nigra early and its always been up past her belly button. Boy – 6, Girl – 3
  13. You always have a 50% chance of guessing if it’s a boy or a girl correctly. However, a study indicates that pregnant women guess the gender of their baby correctly 71% of the time! Ask J what she thinks she’s having, and as much as she wants a boy she’ll tell you she thinks she’s having a girl because she wants a boy so much! I don’t know if this really counts, but I’ll give the point to the girl on this one. Boy – 6, Girl – 4
  14. Tying your wedding ring to a string and hanging it over your belly will tell you baby’s gender. If it swings back and forth it’s a girl, if it swings in a circle it’s a boy. We actually tried this one just last night. At first the ring would swing back and forth, then in a circle, then back and forth again. What does that mean? Does that mean we have a gay-baby in there? This one was seriously inconclusive.

So after all of those old wives tales were analyzed, the final score is:

 Boy – 6, Girl – 4, Gay Baby – 1

It was fun to read some of the crazy things out there about predicting the gender and I hope you laughed some too. It was just a bit of fun but still left us wondering who’s in there – is it Jaxson or Madilyn? I guess we will just have to wait and see in a little while…as long as the little one cooperates at the ultrasound next month!