As promised, I will again be doing my Gender Prediction Project with this pregnancy. I had a lot of fun with this last pregnancy. While the other mommies in my pregnancy group are anxiously awaiting their 20 week (or earlier) ultrasounds to find out if they are welcoming pink or blue into their lives come October, (and many have already found out due to blood tests and early ultrasounds!) I won't find out if I will be adding to my house of blue or welcoming our first little breath of pink for another 6 months or so. However, in that time I can try out as many gender predicting old wive's tales as I can find to see how they stack up against reality when the time comes.
I am going to re-do all the old wive's tales I did during my last pregnancy, plus any new ones I can find. If you know of any old gender prediction tricks, please let me know so I can give them a whirl.
So, without further delay, let's get started with a method that is tried and true:
Mother's Instinct
My mother's instinct didn't kick in until around 25 or 30 weeks with my oldest. I had no great pull either way for months, and was starting to worry that maybe I had no instincts at all. I was fully confident in my husband's belief that we were having a little girl. (After all, in almost 27 years of predicting genders, he had never been wrong, even correctly predicting my OB's triplets. To this day, he's only been wrong that one time too.) Once my instinct did kick in, I was sure that we were having a little boy though, and that instinct proved to be right.
Two years later, I was 100% sure that we would be welcoming a little girl. If ever a doubt did creep into my mind, it was quickly squashed by my confidence that we would soon be welcoming a little miss into our family. The very detailed dream I had about our daughter, Josephine Katherine (we called her Josie Kate), which had never been a name option before, just fueled my belief. (I had other dreams, about both genders, but that was the most real! I can still feel her in my arms to this day.) No, it wasn't until I was actually pushing and the midwife said "She's almost here!" that a loud, strong voice in my head said: "That's not right. Not 'she'. It's a boy!" Yes. My moment of clarity came mid-push! Sure enough, our youngest son (who my husband accurately predicted this time) entered the world only moments later. Mother's instinct was incorrect until the zero hour with him.
With a prior accuracy of about 50%, I'm not sure how correct I will be this time. However, my initial thoughts when I found out I was pregnant with this little (literally, this "instinct" hit me while I was still squinting at the test strip trying to figure out if that was really a pink line or just my imagination) were that, while Parker is desperate for a sister (and I am pretty sure Michael is too), I think we're having another little boy in October. Bash wants a brother desperately. There have been fights over this in our house, and all I can say with certainty is that someone is bound to be disappointed.
Mayan Gender Test
Though I hadn't heard of this before my last pregnancy, apparently the ancient Mayans had a gender test that uses the year of conception and the mother's age at the time of conception to determine what you are having. If both numbers are even/odd you will be blessed with a daughter. For example: A 26 year old who conceived in 2012 or a 29 year old who conceived in 2013 would be expecting a little girl. However, if one of the numbers is even and the other odd, like a 27 year old mother who conceived in 2014, you have a little boy in your future.
I was 24 when I conceived our oldest in 2008, which should have meant little girl, but gave us a little boy instead. I was 26 when I conceived our youngest (now middle child) in 2010, which should have also meant a little girl was on her way. As you know, another little boy arrived in August of 2011.
Given the 0% accuracy of this prediction system for us, I don't hold out much hope that my conceiving at 30 this time in the year 2014 means that we'll be having a little girl this Fall.
The Ring Test
This one is really easy to do if you are feeling lazy and have no desire to get up. :) All you have to do is take your wedding ring and hang it from a chain, string, or even your hair. (The ultimate lazy!) Then you dangle it over your stomach and let the gender prediction magic begin. Make sure that it starts out still, then watch. If it starts swinging from side to side you can expect a boy. Is your ring swinging in a circular motion over your tum? It's a girl!
I did this test with our oldest, but have never been able to remember what it did. (Sorry, Parker.) After trying it three different times with our little man it came out as a little boy every time!
So far, it's had a 100% accuracy rate for us. (Unless, of course, it was wrong for Parker.) Given that it is one of the few things I did during the last Gender Prediction Project that did have 100% accuracy, (though you will see several 100% tests on this post today) I was excited to try it again. I was only 3 weeks and 3 days pregnant when I dangled my ring over where my little pumpkin seed was growing, but the ring already had a very specific circular motion going on. According to the ring, we'll be having a little girl this time around. :) 100% has to mean something, right?
First Word
I must apologize to all the first time mommies out there in blogger land. This test only works if you already have a child. Sorry. The way this one works is simple. If your previous child's first word was "Mama" you will have a girl. If it was "Dada" then you are expecting a boy. Easy, right?
Both of my boys betrayed me with a hearty "Dada" long before "Mama" passed out of their lips. I get no respect. :) However, it meant that this was correct when it predicted that our little man would indeed be a little man.
Another prediction with 100% accuracy, the first word test says that we'll be having another little boy come October. (And come hell or high water, he will say "Mama" first. Not so much because I want a girl. I just want to be someone's first word!)
The Breast Test
Take a look at your girls, ladies. If your left breast is the larger of the two, a darling little girl is on her way. If your right breast is the dominate breast, a little lad will grace your life with his. If you are one of the lucky few whose breasts are exactly the same size...Well, who am I kidding. You don't exist. ;)
Anyways, last time, I asked my husband's opinion on this. After all, I wanted him to feel involved in the process. ;) According to the husband, my right breast was "much larger" then, and "it always is". Because of that, both of my littles should have been little boys, and they obviously are. :)
So far, this one has had 100% accuracy rate, and my right side is still, by far, the largest of the girls. Based on that, another little boy is on his way!
Anyways, last time, I asked my husband's opinion on this. After all, I wanted him to feel involved in the process. ;) According to the husband, my right breast was "much larger" then, and "it always is". Because of that, both of my littles should have been little boys, and they obviously are. :)
So far, this one has had 100% accuracy rate, and my right side is still, by far, the largest of the girls. Based on that, another little boy is on his way!
The Bread Test
Okay, this one is pretty random. I have no idea what the part of the bread you like to eat has to do with the gender of your baby, but I have to include it for the sake of this obviously very scientific blog series. The theory goes that if you love eating the heel of the bread you are expecting a boy. If you prefer your bread from the middle of the loaf you will have a little girl.
I have never been a "heel of the bread girl", always preferring my bread from the middle of the loaf, which makes this test inaccurate for both boys. And, believe me, I ate a lot of bread with my oldest, because toast was all I could keep down for several weeks.
With a 0% accuracy rate so far I'm not quite ready to paint the nursery pink yet, (not that I would in a Harry Potter themed nursery) even though a little girl is predicted for us this time around. I'm still not a heel of the bread girl. I am not sure that I ever will be.
That's all for this post. So far we have three boy predictions and three girl predictions. It's a 50/50 split!
Remember, if you have any old wive's tales or gender predictors you want me to try, let me know! I'm open to almost anything! :)
*Disclaimer: This, and all posts for The Gender Prediction Project, is something I am doing for fun. I am not a doctor, and I make no claims that these methods of sex prediction work. This should in no way shape or form be taken seriously. Please do not go out and buy clothes, furniture, toys, paint, or wallpaper based on any of the prediction methods you see here. These blog posts should be taken with a grain of salt, and if you choose to participate in them along with me, realize that there is no way to know the sex of your baby 100% until they are in your arms and you are looking at the evidence with your own two eyes. Even ultrasounds can be wrong, so join in at your own risk! ;) Happy predicting!*
