Week 20: Cantaloupes and Gender

Week 20...

I don't think I really care what the sex of the little bambino is.  I have swung back and forth between thinking it is a girl, and then being certain that it's a boy.  My friends are pretty convinced one way or another, and although some of them just have a "hunch," most of them have relied on some tried and telling test that their grandmother (or auntie, elderly neighbor or insert some other equally sage advice) relied on.

CNP, 2014

This is how it usually goes down:

A midwife in town: "What's its heart-rate?  Oh, you are having a GIRL!"  Heart-rate over 140 means you have a girl.  At the first sonogram the little bambino clocked in at about 180bpm (remember torturing you with Karma Chameleon?).  Now it has settled down to about 160bpm.  I'm having a girl!!

My partner's best friends:  "You still look great, so it is definitely a BOY!"  Girls steal their mother's beauty, and boys add to it.  Additionally, if you have a ton of acne, you have a girl.  As much as I might complain about being pregnant, I have none of the dreaded 'bacne," cankles, and haven't yet swollen up like a hot air balloon.  I'm having a boy!!

One of my friends at the pub drops a key on the floor.  I pick it up by the round part: "If you picked it up by the narrow edge it'd be a girl, but it's a BOY!"  You get the drift.  I'm not certain where this advice actually comes from.  Do boys somehow influence your behaviors and make you covet round objects and girls long and narrow? ...Ummm, I think I'll leave it at that.  I'm having a boy!!

My mother alludes to the timing of conception: "Before it is a girl, after a boy!"  If the egg is already 'on the premises,' the Y sperm, destined to make a male baby, swim faster and fertilize first.  X sperm have greater longevity and if the egg has not yet been released, they fertilize, making a girl.  Although this technique does seem rather plausible, there is no scientific evidence to support it.  Either way, I am unable to provide data on the exact timing, so I'm having a UNKNOWN!

My sister (the midwife doula): "You are crazy morning sick.  You are having a girl."  Severe morning sickness means you are having a girl.  This old wives' tale does have scientific data to support it.  Women who have severe morning sickness are statistically more likely to be carrying a bambina.  I'm having a girl!!

The Google Machine: "A pendulum circling over my abdomen means I'm having a boy!"  If the pendulum swings back and forth, it is a girl.  In a circle, it is a boy.  This seems similar to the key theory in the circle vs. straight approach.  Either way, I'm having a boy!

One of my best friends: "High and side, it's a girl.  Low and front?  It's a boy." Where and how you carry your child is a good indicator of the sex.   I'm not sure where this one comes from either, but I'm not big enough (wait, I'm not radiant enough) to really utilize this test.  I'm having a...?

According to my research and data collection, and "feeling," I'm having a boy.  My partner and my best friend think we are having a girl (Their reasoning?  Just 'cause.).  According to the results of the sonogram that we just went to, the ultrasound technician is 95% certain that we are having a little baby girl...   Hooooray!!!!  We are having a GIRL!  ...and her name is Eva Constance.

CNP, 2014

This week, the bambino, bambina is the length of a small cantaloupe.  This is the last week that she will be measured crown-to-rump, so don't be surprised next week when she miraculously sprouts about three inches--we'll measure her head to foot from here on out.  Big events in her life this week include chugging lots of amniotic fluid, which she can taste due to her developed taste buds, and beginning to produce tar-like poop called meconium in her intestines.  I'm sure this won't be the last time I talk about it.

Until next week,
Cat