It's that time of the pregnancy again! Tomorrow (Friday the 13th... dum dum dum) is our big ultrasound with Baby #4. And--shockingly--we're not planning to find out what we are having. In fact, we're so indifferent on the sex of this baby that we've nicknamed it BOGSWorth, for Boy Or Girl Same Worth. But, because it's always fun to speculate, here's what we've got:
--Starting off strong for Team Girl is Everyday Family's Gender Predictor. According to their super scientific calculations, each of my previous three pregnancies should have produced a girl. And since they clearly didn't, it only makes sense that because they are predicting a boy this time I should naturally assume that it is, in fact, a girl.
--Baby's heart rate has never dropped below 150 at an appointment nor been higher than 170. Most wives tales will say that a higher heart rate is indicative of a girl, but those heart rates are almost exactly identical to what they were for my three boys, so, I'm going with a vote for Team Boy on this one.
--Supposedly when you are pregnant with a girl they steal your beauty (a "fun" explanation for the somewhat common pregnancy acne that occurs). I had pretty bad acne with William but basically nothing with the other two. Even though William does have super long (and dare I say feminine) eyelashes, I'm still inclined to think that the mostly mild and infrequent acne I've had this pregnancy is still a vote for Team Boy.
--Apparently the Mayans just can't seem to figure my pregnancies out. With William and Garrett, their fancy conception month/mother's age predictor tool incorrectly said I'd be having girls. With Connor, it was actually correct and said I'd be having a boy. It's back to predicting a girl again, but clearly there's no telling what that actually means. Forgive me for playing the odds here, but it's hard not to assume that in spite of the Mayan's prediction I have another vote going for Team Boy.
--If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know that I have a serious sweet tooth. So naturally, the salty vs sweet wives tale has always been a difficult one for me. However, while I certainly still want my sweets, there have been a few unusual things presenting themselves this time around. For starters, fruity, gummy-type sweets have been my jam--I'm talking sour gummy worms, the little fruit-flavored tootsie roll things, Skittles, Star Bursts, etc. Normally I'm a chocolate girl, but I find myself reaching for these types of sweets more than usual (granted, these also happen to be pretty much the only type of sweets we have in the house since it tends to be the type of candy the boys get at parades, but still--I haven't found myself missing the chocolate or trying to justify the expense of going out to buy some). However, I have a very low threshold for the amount of sweets I can have without getting what can only be described as gut rot. I went to my friend's birthday party for her one-year old daughter, and by the time I got home I was feeling absolutely miserable from the one cupcake and one (kind of large frosted sugar) cookie I enjoyed at the party. So while my sweet tooth is definitely a little different than it has been previously, my tolerance has decreased. Since it's different, though, I'm putting this on in the column for Team Girl.
--According to my previous posts, the Chinese Gender Chart correctly said that William would be a boy, but then incorrectly said both Garrett and Connor would be girls. However, after a quick Google search to check the chart for this pregnancy, I'm finding conflicting information. Some of the charts I'm seeing don't agree with the results I had for the first three pregnancies, and I'm also seeing a variance for this pregnancy. One of the charts clearly states that you need to use the Mother's Lunar Age at conception and the Lunar Month of conception, which I most certainly have never figured out in a previous pregnancy. Maybe at some point I'll go back and recheck the other three (the right way) and compare it against a result for this one, but for now I'm calling this "test" totally inconclusive.
--Oh morning sickness. What a misnomer you are. My "crummy" feelings in the first trimester were always worst in the afternoon/evening and the fatigue was a constant all day every day sort of thing. However, in four pregnancies, I have never once gotten physically sick, and although there were certainly bouts of nausea and food aversions, there was never anything major. Bloating, indigestion, and gassiness though were a totally different story, though, especially while we were traveling or when I overdid it on the sweets. And the fatigue was unrelenting (and seemed to never end), but I think that just happens when you have three kids (and all of them are at home because #summervacation). Plus, thanks to summer, not only was my body acting like a furnace as it tried to grow a baby, but we had what felt like eternally long stretches of heat and high humidity which just made it oppressive to even consider rounding up the troops and leaving the house to go somewhere. So, all external factors considered, I'd say this first trimester was fairly on par with where the others have been, which makes this another vote for Team Boy.
--I haven't really compared pregnancy photos yet (who has time for that?!?), but based solely on how I feel like I look, it definitely seems the same as my other pregnancies. In Garrett and Connor's pregnancies I constantly tried to find differences in my shape or how I was carrying to try to prove that there was at least a chance that I was having a girl, but honestly, when I look back at pictures they look super similar (save the obvious differences that happen between a first pregnancy and a third). So either I just carry babies the same regardless of sex or this is another definite vote for Team Boy.
So the final tally? Five votes for Team Boy, two for Team Girl, and one gender prediction tool thrown out the window. Of course, with three boys at the house, it's only natural that my interpretations of a lot of these wives' tales would lean toward boy, since that's obviously all I know. But you know what else I know? Boy or girl, this baby is going to be so loved. William and Garrett are unbelievably excited and love giving my belly hugs and kisses, and I just know Connor will be a wonderful big brother once he gets used to seeing me hold a baby (he still isn't thrilled when I hold our new niece Lucy, so that will be a fun transition). Twenty weeks down, twenty(ish!) to go!!
