From the moment I learned I was pregnant, I wanted to know what the sex of my baby was going to be. I knew I was not going to be able to wait. Luckily, Nick wanted to know too.
At first, I thought we might be able to find out at 10 weeks. There are blood tests like MaterniT21 that tell you if your baby has down syndrome or other chromosomal disorders but will also tell you if you are having a boy or girl. However, they are not covered by most insurance companies until you are 35 years old. I know people who still had it done younger than 35 but it just wasn’t offered to us.
We then thought we might find out at 12 weeks but no – we had to wait until the anatomy scan that takes place between 18 and 20 weeks. Between 12 and 18, I was so damn impatient I scoured the internet for every old wives tale for a clue as to what we were having, I even bought a $40 test at CVS to tell me what I was having. It’s only $25 if you buy it on Amazon and can wait 48 hours for shipping.
Allegedly, the box claims it is 86% accurate. My sister said it was accurate for many women “she knew” aka women on message boards. I followed the directions exactly, which many do not. If you do, your chances of an accurate reading are they say 86%. Still, the reviews on Amazon were not promising. It had 3 out of 5 stars.
My results said that I was having a baby boy.
This calendar, allegedly is also “very accurate” but I places zero credibility into it. It said that I was having a girl on one calendar and a boy on another. It takes into account your age and the month the baby was conceived. The Chinese calendar says you are a year older than you are but the charts are supposed to take that into consideration hence the varying answers.
Cravings
Prior to 12 weeks, old wives tales say if you crave salty foods like burgers or pizza, you are probably having a boy. Since I LOVE sweets and wanted nothing to do with them in the beginning, with the exception of gummy worms, I was convinced I was having a boy. The say if you are having a girl, you crave chocolate and ice cream. I just wanted cheese, chips and red sauce.
Morning Sickness
Allegedly this isn’t just in the morning but morning sickness, lasts ALL DAMN DAY. Luckily for me, I only had it for about 5 days around week 6. Statistically, girls cause more morning sickness than boys. I read into this one pretty extensively. While some women do have pretty bad morning sickness with boys, more people who experience little to none do in fact go on to have boys vs girls (based on my highly scientific reading of message boards and blog posts). I found little posts where women had none and went on to have girls. Many women were sick with both boys and girls but few experienced little with girls.
The Ring Test
Place a ring at the end of a piece of string and hang it above your belly. If the ring goes back and forth or around in a circle, it tells you what the sex of your baby will be. Again, another tale I put little faith into but it did say I was having a boy. I did this one just for the sake of writing this post.
Baking Soda Test
I did this one for the sake of writing this post as well. Put baking soda in a cup, and use your first morning pee to pour into it. If it fizzes, it’s a boy. If it does nothing, it’s a girl. Mine said girl.
Looks
Based upon the knowledge from my sister, my nose or face hasn’t gotten fat. She says this means, you’re carrying a boy. They say girls take your looks making your nose appear wider and give you acne. Kate Middleton, again according to my sister, had a wider nose when pregnant with Charlotte than George so she knew the Princess was having a girl. I hope I look this good the day after giving birth! Who wants to come give me a blow out before I leave the hospital???
Carrying Low vs High
Most old wives tales say if you carry low it’s a girl and high it’s a boy. However, I found conflicting advice on this one. I think I am carrying low, so this one would say it is a girl. They also say though if it is a girl, your hips widen right away. Allegedly from behind, you can’t tell if a woman is pregnant if they are carrying a boy. I guess I’ll have to take a picture from the back for you guys.
Ok – so what am I having?????? You’ll have to watch the video of course ๐ Fast forward to the end if you don’t want to watch.
Share Your old wives gender predictions below! Were they accurate?
Since I was crazy researching the internet for other old wives tales, I’d love to hear below if they were right or wrong for you! Which ones were right or way off? Did you try Intelligender?
How exciting! Congratulations <3
All of the tests said both of my pregnancies would be girls. And guess what? I have a girl and one girl on the way. I didn't use Intelligender, but I did do the rest!
We are having a girl in about 4 weeks, and for me the most telling signs were the dreams I had, and my natural gut feeling! I had 4 very distinct girl dreams, and my gut feeling from the get-go was very strongly girl. No idea why! The old wives tales were for the most part split for me, I craved salty things like crazy! The Chinese Gender Calendar was actually right for me, so apparently the Chinese know what’s up!
I’m having a girl and it was about half half with old wives tales…chinese calendar said girl…cravings boy…hips girl….skin girl…lack of m.s. boy…
We found out at 12 weeks via blood test (my dr has an agreement with the lab so it costs as much as your insurance is willing to pay so they do it for everybody even if under 35!)
P.s. I also just had a strong feeling it was a girl, despite lack of morning sickness and savory cravings instead of sweet, I just knew it in my gut!
I’m having a girl (due Nov 21) and had ZERO morning sickness! I was hoping you were the one of the very very like me but I did guess boy! Chinese calendar was right for me… and cravings mostly pointed toward girl… but I was CONVINCED it was a boy for whatever other reasons. Fun surprise though! Excited for you and I enjoy following along in your journey as I did with Julie from PB Fingers’ blog! ๐
Great post! I think that all those “predictions” are just nonsense, to be honest… They all have 50% chance to be right, which is a lot.
I’ll be having a girl, although I’m carrying high and don’t look pregnant at all from behind and my nose and skin are the same as always. ๐ I never had any cravings and while I was feeling nauseous quite a lot, I never actually had to throw up. That ring rest sounds funny though, but I guess now that I know what I’m gonna have, it’s not that reliable anymore ๐