Any truth to old wive's tales?

[boogiebearlove]

We haven't found out the sex of the baby, and I'm almost 38 weeks pregnant. I'm SO excited to wait until the birth to see what it is, but I'm getting anxious and impatient! Everyone I've seen this last couple weeks (strangers and men, oddly enough) have said it's a boy because I am carrying so low (and I am carrying really low - it's my third, so I'm not sure if that's the only reason, but the baby is pretty much sitting on my lap).

I know they're not actually reliable, but for fun, have any of these things panned out for you guys? My midwife held a strand of my hair tied around my wedding band over my belly early on and said it would be a girl because the "aura" or something was making the ring spin in a circle, and if it were a boy it would swing back and forth (she tried it on me and I was amazed, I tried it on my husband and it sort of worked, sometimes).

What else have you heard?

[Nicole730]

My butt was a lot wider with my girl. My cousin said she knew it was a girl because of that, she said that's what our family does though, so I'm not sure if that one is an old wive's tale or not.

I did carry higher with my daughter than with my son. She still sank low near the end, but it was still higher overall, if that makes sense.

I had less morning sickness with my daughter than with my son - I think that is opposite of what people say.

Deep down though, I knew my first baby was a boy, we had an u/s confirm. And deep down I knew my second baby was a girl, but I tried to convince myself otherwise so that I wouldn't be disappointed if I was wrong. I did not have an u/s with her.

What does your instinct say?

[boogiebearlove]

No clue

I have no instinct I had an ultrasound to find out for both my daughter and son, and I was hoping to have some sort of maternal inkling about this baby, but I really don't. I use "he" and "she" and "it" interchangeably. I have had sever hyperemesis and heart burn, but I had it for both of my others, and since I've had a boy and a girl before there's nothing in this pregnancy that stands out to me as different or the same as either of them.

Personally, I would prefer a girl. But I feel bad for saying that.

[WifeofAnt]

I've noticed that most of the time (obviously not all the time) it seems like there's less morning sickness with boys than girls. I just had some mild nausea and food aversions, didn't get close to throwing up.
My belly also got really hairy in the beginning. That was my first 'maybe its a boy' moment.

[Nicole730]

Originally Posted by boogiebearlove

I have no instinct I had an ultrasound to find out for both my daughter and son, and I was hoping to have some sort of maternal inkling about this baby, but I really don't. I use "he" and "she" and "it" interchangeably. I have had sever hyperemesis and heart burn, but I had it for both of my others, and since I've had a boy and a girl before there's nothing in this pregnancy that stands out to me as different or the same as either of them.

Personally, I would prefer a girl. But I feel bad for saying that.

Don't feel bad for saying that. You know you will love your baby no matter what, it's okay to have a preference beforehand.

And my boy and girl pregnancies were a lot different. I will list some of the other differences (mostly since I'm kind of bored and it will be fun to list )

Boy:
Naturally moistured skin/hair
Carried lower
No heartburn
Had that line on my stomach
Was very warm
Lots of kicking/movement
Nauseous for weeks

Girl:
Dry skin/hair
Carried higher
Heartburn
No line on my stomach
Not warm
Little kicking/movement
Nauseous for only 2 weeks
Stronger gag reflex

With both I gained over 50lbs, but with my daughter I didn't look like I gained as much...if that makes sense.

[Jenne]

Pregnant mamas of girls prefer to sleep on their right sides...

Jenne

[Chloe'sMama]

Everyone thought that I was having a boy with my last pregnancy (great hair, carrying only in the belly, lower weight gain....) and I had a girl. My acupuncturist said that based on my pulses he would be surprised if it was not a boy... it wasn't.

So, didn't quite work with me.

[Super~Single~Mama]

I don't know about old wives tales, but when my ds was born he was a surprise - and I looked to see! I told my midwife before hand NOT to tell me, and everyone in the room knew that I wanted to be the one to announce it. Most MAGICAL moment EVER! I totally forgot to look (I was busy taking him in!), and a few minutes after he was born my midwife asked me if it was a boy or girl - it was amazing!!

[Family4Christ]

I've proved every wives' tale wrong

[Annemarie42]

Mine are always mixed, it seems. I am about to have #3 (haven't found out with any of them) which should be the tie breaker. I was sicker with my girl than boy (somewhere in the middle with this baby), but that was also my first pregnancy. No heartburn with either of those pregnancies; terrible heartburn with this one. I always crave a variety of foods with no real pattern. I have carried really high all three times, although looking at pics now, I think I am higher this time than last (the boy). I had a line with the boy pregnancy, but not the girl-- no line this time.
Here's hoping I can report back on the gender... soon. I am impatient to meet the new little one!

[expat_canuck]

before we found out the sex of the baby, my friends were busy trying all kinds of old wives tales out on me, most of them wrong.

The one that was right, was an old Dominican old wive's tale that said that if a baby or small child sits quietly on your lap while you're pregnant, your child will be the opposite sex of that baby/child. My dominican friend's toddler-age son has been drawn to sitting on my lap since I've been pregnant - he sits and tells me stories and stays put for a long time (in 18 month-old time, anyways). She swore up and down that I was having a girl because of that, even though most other old wive's tales pointed to boy.

[MaerynPearl]

ive had 2 girls and 1 boy and it was all mixed between the three. while one time the old wives tales would all be true, the next time they would all be wrong... or whatever.

according to http://www.amazingpregnancy.com/oldw...es/index.phtml my most recent daughter should be a son lol

only thing that held up is the heartburn = hair... and as far as i have seen that is the only one with studies backing it up as true (not all of the time, but most of the time) believed to be due to the increased estrogen production in some women causing their babies to have hair and also causing them to get heartburn easier

of course, due to certain circumstances, there are ladies that does not apply to. but the majority of the time they have found it to be true.

ETA - oh... you CAN tell gender by heart rate but ONLY in labor and at that point it doesn't matter anyway as you are about to find out what baby is.

[AtYourCervices]

I've noticed with each of my pregnancies I took on personality traits of my unborn children. Maybe it's the other way around, I don't know... but I noticed when I was pregnant with my son I was more sexually attracted to females. I know it could still go either way, but I definitely felt masculine during that pregnancy (mentally, not physically).

I also associated colors with my pregnancies. With my first, it was yellow. So, that didn't tell me much about the gender. With my second, it was lilac. Definite girl color. With my third pregnancy, I saw a deep hunter green. Definite boy. With my last pregnancy, it was pink. Definite girl. The colors I associated with each of those pregnancies actually happen to be the favorite color of the child I was carrying at the time.

[lillymonster]

Originally Posted by Jenne

Pregnant mamas of girls prefer to sleep on their right sides...

Jenne

is that an old wives tale? Because I have 2 girls and can't stand to sleep on my side

Both girls I had morning sickness for 26 weeks. My mom was convinced I was having a boy because I was more sick and I couldn't eat sweets this time. #1 I gained 45 pounds, this time I gained 20 so far.

Had linea negra with #1, I haven't had it yet with #2. Had bad heartburn with #1, hardly any this time. #1 was very low, this one is much higher

So maybe it could be a boy, but at 20 weeks I was told they were pretty sure it was a girl. I'll know in a few more weeks with my NST stuff

[nia82]

So... I always sleep on my right side so it doesn't apply

My experiences so far:

Boy:
Naturally moisturized skin/hair
Carried low
heartburn
linea negra
freezing cold
moderate movement
Nauseous twice

Girl:
Naturally moisturized skin/hair
Carried low
linea negra
freezing cold
tons of movement
Nauseous for 16 weeks, lots of throwing up, even now still nauseous on and off
Super exhausted

[Jenne]

It may not be an old wives tale because there has been research done to show that a significant majority of women who are pregnant with girls prefer to sleep on their right side rather than their left *during* pregnancy...

If research says so, does that move it from old wives tale to another category??? Just because research says, as we all know, no one is a statistic of 1...

Jenne

[kittywitty]

Well, the heartrate thing was true for my first 4 kids but I always carry really low, so that doesn't work and this one appears to possibly be a girl so the heartrate one went out the window, too.

[gummibears]

I've been wondering about this a lot, too.

All I know is DS Sick 2x a day (aka actual throwing up) until 2nd tri.
This one: Threw up 3x starting at 10 weeks. NIGHT morning sickness that peaks at 10-11pm or later.

DS: Morning sickness was worse in morning/afternoon. Also, don't recall much acne with him.

This time? Acne seems much more prevalent.

I always prefer my right side to sleep, and trying to sleep on left as it's better for baby throws sleeping off a great deal. I'm also a tummy sleeper, and been trying to stop that as soon I'll get kicked for attempting it. xD

We'll see what it winds up being. Won't get the 20wk scan til the new year.

[CherryBomb]

I didn't carry my son any differently than my girls. The pregnancies were pretty similar, other than my heartburn with him was worse.

[myk]

my 2 pregnancies - this one's my second girl - were COMPLETELY different. most gender prediction quizzes said it would be a boy, but amnio doesn't lie

the only thing that's been consistently true is heart rate over 140 - both girls were 145-150 bpm all the time, depending on activity level.