The Million Dollar Question

Not surprisingly, the most common question I've been asked this pregnancy (aside from "When are you due?") is if we are "hoping" for a girl this time. I could get on my soapbox and spew out a litany of reasons why that question annoys the crap out of me, but I'll spare you all that and tell you that the short answer is "no". I think out of all our pregnancies, this has been the one Darrell and I have been least anxious to find out what it is, mostly because we know we're going to be completely and utterly happy no matter if it's a boy or a girl (and maybe also because we just don't think about the pregnancy as much as we did the previous times... #thirdchildproblems). But, just for fun, let's revisit some of the gender predictors/old wives' tales and see what they have to say about Baby #3.

--Everyday Family's Gender Predictor is calling for a girl. However, this was the same result I got for both of my other pregnancies, and I certainly do not already have two little girls running around this house (which, candidly, I'm totally okay with. The prospect of having three girls terrifies me waaaay more than three boys).

--Like his/her brothers, this baby has consistently had a heart rate above 140, which is supposed to be indicative of a girl. However, at our first appointment, baby had a heart rate of 172, which is at least 10 beats per minute higher than either William or Garrett ever were.

--There's an old wives' tale that says when you are pregnant with a girl they "steal" your beauty and the mom is more likely to have acne or other skin issues. With William, I had some pretty bad acne, but with Garrett, I didn't really have any. I also haven't had any this time around, but given the history of my other pregnancies, that doesn't really help sway things one way or the other.

--Apparently the Mayans and Everyday Family have some similarities in their methods for predicting a baby's gender, because both of them predicted that both my previous children would be girls (the Mayans use the mother's age at conception and the year of conception to determine the gender). However, unlike Everyday Family, the Mayan method is actually predicting a boy this time around. So maybe it'll actually be right this time--or maybe I'll continue to be opposite of their predictions and have a girl.

--I've always struggled with the salty vs sweet wives' tale because I naturally have a sweet tooth. However, this time around, I've actually had to start cutting out some sweets (and carb-heavy salty snacks too) thanks to my glucose levels. I am very borderline for having gestational diabetes (more so than I was previously, and I was pretty close to the fence with both William and Garrett as well) and my doctor has me monitoring my blood sugar levels a few times a day, which has significantly impacted the amount of sweets I've been allowing myself to have (because I desperately want to keep my numbers in check so I don't have to be referred to Diabetic Ed). The argument could be made that I've been craving more sweet snacks than in my other pregnancies (hello summer pregnancy where I have to limit my ice cream consumption), or you could argue I'm only having those "cravings" because I know I shouldn't have them--regardless, it is at least marginally different from my other pregnancies.

--The Chinese Gender chart is calling for Baby #3 to be a girl. While the chart correctly predicted that William would be a boy, it incorrectly predicted that Garrett would be a girl. So all bets are off on this method.

--I made it through my first trimester (and beyond) without ever getting sick, just like with the boys (it's okay, you can hate me for that. I've heard plenty of horrible morning sickness stories to know I've been very fortunate in that department). However, while I never got physically sick, I do recall feeling worse in the first trimester this time around--more fatigue, more nausea, more yuck. Maybe that's because I'm pregnant with a girl this time, or maybe that's simply what happens when you have two other kids to take care of--and a first trimester that falls right in the middle of a really busy time for your husband. And did I mention the boys had a stomach bug right around my 11th week? That was fun--and probably part of the reason it felt like it took longer than usual for me to get past the first trimester crummies.

--Grandmom Shirley, who is 3 for 3 in predicting the gender of babies for her children/in-laws, is guessing that I'm carrying another boy. Like with William and Garrett, I'm carrying very much out in front (which unfortunately means I'm bumping this baby into everything because I forget just how out in front he/she is) and not on my hips/sides. However, I've also had people tell me that I'm carrying lower than I did with the boys (which I also believe--I can't get very close to the counter/sink when I'm doing things like the dishes, and I don't recall that happening before), and while carrying lower is typically indicative of a boy, the fact that it is different from my other pregnancies might just mean this one is a girl.

--Very early on in this pregnancy, Darrell had a dream where we were clearly bringing a girl home from the hospital, so he was 100% Team Girl--for about the first 20 weeks. He's started to waffle back to it being a boy just because it has ended up being so similar to my other pregnancies that it's hard to imagine the outcome would be any different. If I absolutely had to choose, I would probably lean slightly toward Team Girl, just because of some of the more subtle differences, but I truthfully wouldn't be surprised in the least if it's a boy.

Regardless of boy or girl, this child does not have a name. With William, we had his name set probably as early as 20 weeks, and while we had girl name possibilities, we never really had a clear "winner". With Garrett, I had his name picked pretty early as the definite front-runner for a boy, but Darrell didn't really come around to it until early February when "Michael" was suggested as the middle name. We were in agreement on a girl's name before we agreed on "Garrett"; however, we never really had a middle name to go with it and consequently went to the hospital with a definite boy's name and a kinda-not-sure-maybe girl's name. So it'll be interesting to see what happens this time and what name we settle on first--assuming we settle on a name for either gender before baby gets here (again: #thirdchildproblems)

And just because comparison photos are fun (and you can judge for yourself whether or not I'm carrying any differently), here I am at 30 weeks with William, 31 weeks with Garrett, and 30 weeks with Baby #3:

I can't believe how not-pregnant I look with William (even though I remember feeling like I was huge!); I'll have to try to remember to do another comparison photo when I'm closer to 35 weeks, because by that point with William I actually had a belly and there will be something to compare to.