Guess the Gender

The following was originally written on Saturday, November 3, 2007

This past Thursday (November 1st) I went to the doctor for the fourth time since I've been pregnant. This appt. was for her to feel the size of my abdomen and to hear the heartbeat!!! (I had seen it on the ultrasound at 7 weeks, but this was the first time for hearing it.) It was incredible. It was like when I saw the ultrasound for the first time--so miraculous and amazing. I think I needed another special moment like that after my bad seven weeks with sickness, as well as my cousin's baby's death. [My cousin gave birth to a son four months premature on October 25, 2007; he passed away three days later.]

It was such a love-bonding-connection! I mean, at this stage it is usually hard to "bond" with the baby because, aside from the sickness and five extra pounds, there is really no way of me knowing that I'm pregnant. I can't feel the baby or see it yet, so moments like Thursday are reinforcements that it is indeed real and everything is going well.

I think I always have a degree of skeptisim because whenever I go to the doctor, I'm expecting them to say "We're sorry, you've lost the baby" or "We've made a mistake, you've never been pregnant!" I'm always prepared for them to tell me there is a problem of some sort, but instead it's always encouraging. Like, my doctor said she was very confident I no longer need to worry about miscarriage. She said second trimester losses are extremely rare.

You might remember that I went on progesterone on September 7th since my mom had trouble with her levels, which caused her to have several miscarriages. She took progesterone with me, but stopped at six months pregnant and went into labor at almost seven, so she always wondered if I wouldn't have been early had she continued taking them. The only other person in my family to take them was my cousin who went into even earlier labor.

So, I told my doctor I wanted to stay on them as long as possible (my prescription has run out because they only put women on them for the first trimester). But my doctor said that they are not enough to prevent miscarriage in the second & third trimesters. For women like my mom, they now give them daily injections--but my doctor can't put me on them since I have never had a miscarriage before. Just because my mom had that problem, doesn't mean I will. Unfortunately, you have to lose a baby first before they give you the injections! That made me want to cry because I didn't know if that meant I'd lose this baby if I have that same problem, but then "oh no need to worry, now we know for the next time!"

But she actually promised me I wasn't going to lose this baby based on low progesterone. She said that she was willing to bet anything that my cousin's early labor had nothing to do with her progesterone levels. I can agree with that, as her baby did have a heart condition. But, I was hoping they could still monitor my levels like they did when they tested me at 7 weeks. Unfortunately, there isn't a "number" that it should be at by the second and third trimester. By this point everything should be strong enough to sustain the pregnancy on its own. Second trimester miscarriages are usually caused by uterus or cervical problems, or a dysfunction of the placenta. My doctor says says I've had no indicators of anything causing a second trimester labor.

I trust that she is right and that this baby is going to stay alive & healthy, and will not be born until the third trimester. In order to focus on the "fun" of being pregnant, Joe and I searched the internet trying to guess what gender we are having. :-) We had heard that based on the heartbeat, sometimes you can tell. But guess what? Ours was 140. . .and apparently if it's above 140 it's more likely to be a girl, and under 140 is more likely to be a boy. Right at 140 can go either way! (When a girl's sleeping or a boy is being active.)

I tried some online "tests," but found them to be undeterminable. Here they are:

You're more likely to be carrying a boy if...

• Your baby's heartbeat is lower than 140 beats per minute (I don't know, it was right at 140)

• You're carrying all out front (Can't tell yet)

• You're carrying low (Can't tell yet)

• You're blooming in pregnancy (I'm not exactly sure what this means??)

• You didn't suffer from morning sickness in your first trimester (Definitely no!)

• Your right breast is bigger than your left (Yes, and this is weird because when I wasn't pregnant it was the other way around)

• You look at yourself in the mirror for at least a minute and your pupils dilate (A little)

• You crave salty food or protein, such as cheese and meat (Yes)

• Your feet become cold more quickly than before you were pregnant (I'm not sure)

• You tie your wedding ring to some thread, hang it over your stomach and it moves in circles (Yes. . .but it also did the one for the girl)

• Your skin becomes dry (Some areas)

• You combine your age at the time of conception with the number of the month you conceived and the resulting number is even (Nope, it's odd)

• Your hair has become more full-bodied and shiny during pregnancy (NO! It's never looked so horrible)

• The hair on your legs has been growing faster during pregnancy (It's hard to tell, it's always grown fast, LOL.)

• You are more prone to headaches (Not really)

• Your pillow faces north when you sleep (Nope, south at both houses)

• You're asked to show your hands and you present them palms down (No, but that's just something I've done my entire life)

• You lie on your left side when sleeping (I'm all over the place)

• Your urine is bright yellow (Sometimes, depends on the day)

• You were the more aggressive partner during love-making when you conceived (Haha, I don't remember)

• You eat a clove of garlic and the smell seeps out of your pores (I haven't tried this one)


You're more likely to be having a girl if...

• Your baby's heartbeat is faster than 140 beats per minute (It was right at 140)

• You're carrying all round (Can't tell yet)

• You're carrying high (Can't tell yet)

• You've missed the "blooming" period altogether (I don't understand)

• You suffered morning sickness during your first twelve weeks (Yes!)

• Your left breast is bigger than your right (No)

• You look at yourself in the mirror for at least a minute, but your pupils don't dilate (They did just a little)

• You crave sweet things, such as juice, fruit and sweets (fruit, yes, other sweets, no)

• You tie your wedding ring to some thread, hang it over your stomach and it swings from side to side (It did both)

• Your skin is soft (Some places)

• You are more moody than usual (Possibly, haha)

• You're asked to show your hands and you present them palms up (As I said before, this is what I've done my entire life)

• You were the less aggressive partner during love-making when you conceived (Still can't remember)

• You eat a clove of garlic, but you don't smell of it (I guess I could try this)

• You combine your age at the time of conception with the number of the month you conceived and the resulting number is odd (Yes)

• Your hair has become thinner and dull during pregnancy (Yes)

• You lie on your right side when sleeping (I'm all over the place)

• Your pillow faces south when you sleep (Yes)

• Your urine is dull yellow (Sometimes)

See what I mean? Hard to tell! Although I did answer "yes" for a girl more than a boy. But then I did the most popular test, Chinese Calendar, and that predicted a boy (based on the moon the day I was born and the day I conceived). So who knows!!! (By the way, I would try that yourself just for fun. Go to http://www.thelaboroflove.com/chart/pred.html if you know the exact day you conceived your child, and see if it's accurate. If you haven't had a baby yet, try it for your mom. For example, I asked my mom for her info and it predicted I was a girl, as well as Joe's mom's predicted a boy!)

I am now entering "week 13" and my doctor said she's confident I won't be one of the women who have the sickness all nine months because it has been tapering off. I threw up on Thursday morning but it was weird 'cuz I felt great afterward! Usually on days like that I am miserable all day. But she said it's not something that turns off like a switch, so the fact that I've been feeling better is a sign that it is ending. So I won't have to go on medication--yeay!

I am also starting to regain my energy. I've stopped needing naps and actually woke up at 5 am almost every day this week. By last night it had caught up with me, though. I had a nice dinner with Melissa at Panera Bread; I've decided that's the best place for me to eat right now since I seem to be on an all-carb diet, LOL. No other food has appealed to me for the past month, so I tend to mainly eat just bread, pasta, cereal, etc. Hopefully that will change any day now and I can eat healthy from each food group again. Thankfully, I've read & heard that the first trimester is more important as far as avoiding stress, relaxing, taking vitamins, avoiding the "bad" things, etc. because that is when birth defects occur which is not due to food (as long as you're not eating seafood, cold lunchmeat, caffeine, alcohol--the "don'ts" during pregnancy). This is good news for women who have sickness, because apparently it's extra hard then to eat nutritionally--but the baby isn't really eating a lot of food until the second trimester when the sickness is usually over. Anyway, I was soooo exhausted after just two hours out. Today I got up at 7 am. . .hopefully tomorrow I'll go back to sleeping in at least until 8 am. I want to sleep well while I can!

My doctor said the "surge of energy" usually happens around week 16, and then it starts the "best time" of pregnancy. I can already tell my mood is better. I've been much happier (although that might just be because the nausea is improving)!

Anyway, rather than analyze the above gender tests, Joe and I are going with our gut instinct. My prediction (from the minute I found out I was pregnant) has always been a boy, and Joe feels the same way. We will see. . .!