Old Wives’ Tales

A lot of pregnancy is just waiting. I am so not good at waiting. I’m not a patient person. This experience has definitely been a lesson in learning how to be patient (or at the very least, live in denial about things to keep from obsessing!).

I was excited to find out what we were having; mostly for the planning aspects. But part of me felt like knowing the sex was going to be helpful with bonding and visualizing the little baby before it gets here. Michael and I were definitely not the “we want to be surprised” type of parents.

I didn’t put a whole lot of stock into the whole old wives’ tales thing but I played along out of curiosity anyways. 🙂 I didn’t really have a good idea of what we might be having until around 9 or 10 weeks. The sex organs weren’t even formed yet, but still I started to have a “Feeling”.

We had 2 ultrasounds and both times the heart rate was 168. Doc said that was a great heart rate. Of course my first thought was “that means it’s a girl!” Apparently one of the predictions was a heart rate over 140 meant girl, under that meant boy.

As for the morning sickness predictor–I was a little on the fence on what to guess for that one. I had morning sickness from week 6 on and it fluctuated. It was pretty bad for the first few weeks, in the morning only, then it moved to all-day-long-sickness, then it was just in the evenings. But I never actually threw up–so does that mean girl?! I’m putting it down as a girl because while it was mild, I still felt sick.

The acne predictor is a little iffy too, because I was already prone to acne before I got pregnant. Craving sweets? Again, sweets were always my go-to craving so not much changed. What did change? I no longer craved salty, pickled things. As Michael likes to joke, pickled foods were a staple of my diet. When I got pregnant? I suddenly didn’t want any of it! Which was a shocker to Michael for sure. Why don’t I crave the pickles, the kimchi, the pickled vegetables, the sauerkraut?? I have no idea. BUT I was craving sour foods. Lemonade became my go-to drink for months!

For a few months I was sure it was a girl. That was the “feeling” I got. Then in the 2nd trimester I started leaning more towards boy. I don’t know why my feeling changed. But basically now I’m in the “I have no idea” camp. 😉

I don’t know how much stock I put into these old wives’ tales…I know a lot of people swear by them and say they are accurate. We’ll see. Michael and I have an ultrasound this week and if the baby cooperates, we’ll find out what it is!

What about you? Were the old wives’ tales accurate if you have kids?