My wife and I decided not to know the gender of our soon to be born baby. Despite the scans, we told the gynae not to tell us the sex. Partly we want it to be a surprise, but mostly to discipline ourselves to buy only gender neutral products so that we could recycle it for our following babies (after all how long does a newborn wears his clothes before he outgrows it?)
Much to our amazement, we discovered that there are so many theories in determining whether the baby is a boy or a girl used prior to the scanning technology. Methods used by oldwives to deducing gender of babies in the womb. It seems that whenever we meet some aunts or experienced mothers, they all have their ways in guestimating our baby’s sex. And here are some of them.
The most popular way is by looking at the shape of the mother’s tummy. If it grows big pointing forward it’s a boy. I it goes mostly sideways, it’s a girl.
Then there is this way of deducing by looking at the way the mother walks towards the end of pregnancy. If she walks normally then it’s a boy. If she walks a bit sloppily it’s a girl. A boy will make the pregnant mom look pretty and sweet. A girl would make it… Let’s just say not as pretty and sweet.
Another way is by looking at the face of the mother. If she glows, it’s a boy and if looks a but haggard, it’s the fairer sex.
Then there is this theory about the morher’s aperite. If she eats a lot and doesn’t pick what she eats, it’s a boy. But if she’s a picky eater during pregnancy — it’s a girl.
Some say the mother will dream of the gender of the baby. And the gender will be as the dream is.
Another school of thought says that whatever the dream is, the opposite is true. Confusing ain’t it?
One method we discovered from a new mom is by having the pregnant mom lift another baby. If the baby rests it’s leg on mummy’s tummy, the sex of the baby in the tummy is the same as the one she’s holding.
Another method says the gender is opposite the baby the mom’s holding. Again very confusing.
Some say carrying a baby boy is much more difficult. Worse morning sickness and all. So if you don’t have any sickness, it’s likely that you’re carrying a girl.
Well that’s some of what I could remember. And I think that’s a quite a bit and it could get a bit confusing. What if the mommy has a pointy tummy ( a boy) but doesn’t eat that much ( a girl)?
As if it is not bad enough, my wife had a friend who initially said that my wife is going to have a boy based on the shape of the stomach (pointy) but changed her mind two months later cause she said the tummy now doesn’t look as pointy.
Another lady confidently said that the baby is a girl, again due to non-pointy tummy, just to have it changed a few minutes later after discovering that my wife has a healthy apetite and no problems eating.
So there you have, so many ways to tell the gender of a fetus. After all you stand a good 50% chance of being right. For us, all we hope for is a health and happy baby. The gender is not important.
On that note, Baby, when are you coming out? You are already 3 days past due.
