What the Old Wives Have to Say

There are generations of Old Wives Tales about predicting the gender of a yet to be born baby, dating back long before it was common practice to identify the sex of the baby with an ultrasound. Since I have given birth to a girl and we are very confident that I am carrying a boy (he showed us all his goods and didn't leave much room for doubt!) I feel that I am somewhat authorized to comment. The bottom line is, in my not-so-scientific study, in which I am the only test subject - I think the Old Wives might just be on to something! Here are my test results:

1. High or Low? The tale goes that if you are carrying low it's a boy, and high if it's a girl... well I think we can all see from the pictures that Bro' is LOW! So low, in fact, that I think I may end up tripping over him if he drops too much before delivery! RESULT: BOY!
2. High or Low Part 2? It's said that if the baby's heart rate is below 140 it's a boy, and over, it's a girl. Brudder has been coming in around 137 bpm whereas Norah was consistently in the mid 150's. I will note however that Brudder was higher in the earlier months, but has been pretty consistent over the past month. RESULT: BOY!
3. Sweet or Sour? This is a bit of a strange one for me, as I ALWAYS like sour... my cravings were poutine with Norah and Guacamole with Brudder, neither of which is sweet OR sour... I have had a hard time with any kind of candy, sweet or sour, due to heartburn, until lately though. RESULT: INCONCLUSIVE
4. Sympathy Weight Gain? If your husband gains weight at the same rate you are, the Old Wives say it's a girl. Sure enough, last time around Matt kept pace with me up until the third trimester, and I never did catch him on the scale... this time, let's just say I'd rather not talk about it (but please, bear in mind Brudder is BIG) RESULT: BOY!
5. Fat Face? The Old Wives say that if the mother's face is 'round and rosy' it means you're having a girl. Well the pictures don't lie people, I think we can all see I gained a lot more face fat with Norah than I did this time around. RESULT: BOY!

So there you have it, even though we know, with a certain degree of scientific certainty, that we're having a boy, the Old Wives would seem to agree!

One other one that I heard that the ultrasound also shows to be true is that a lot of heartburn means a hairy baby... with Norah, no heartburn until the very end, and the poor girl barely had hair at a year, never mind when she was born! With Brudder, I've been having it all along, sometimes quite bad, and this week's Ultrasound showed he did in fact have plenty of hair!