"What do you think you're having?"

This last weekend I ran my usual beauty gauntlet, and was asked by both my clients "What do you think you're having?"  Since I'm now at the stage where it's pretty obvious that I'm pregnant and not just pigging out at the weekend buffets, I find my pregnancy becomes a main topic with most of my clients these days, and I'm happy to oblige, I love talking about being pregnant!  I love everything about being pregnant!  Except this question - it's not that I feel like people have no business in knowing - not at all actually, Ben and I plan to announce the gender just as soon as we get to tell the family one on one first, it's more so that I don't feel qualified to answer such a question!

I know - it's weird.  To think that the person closest to this little one has no idea how to answer seems silly.  I have met a lot of pregnant women on this journey of mine and so many have strong feelings toward one or the other and most of the time they end up being correct - I think the statistic is something like Mothers Intuition is 70% accurate or something like that?  

But I think my Mother's Intuition might be broken, or it hasn't developed yet - I really have no strong feelings toward either side, I think I flip and flop each day - sometimes I call baby "he" and the other times I'm picking out pink accents for the nursery - I really have no idea what I'm doing here, it seems.

In the entire first trimester I thought I was having a girl, based solely on the Old Wives Tale that stated that when you have a little girl the mother's good looks go to the baby - because I had the worse acne I've ever had, my hair went straight and stringy (no more bouncy curls for me!), and I started losing it in chunks in the shower (which hasn't happened since I stopped dying my hair with drug store dyes).  I didn't feel pretty to say the least, I felt horrible, my skin was greasy for the first time ever, and I was breaking out not only on my face and cleavage, but on my shoulders, neck, and back too!  And to top it all off, my naturally slow growing soft blond leg hair, was suddenly sprouting up at an alarming rate, and was coming in brown!

By the second trimester the acne had subsided, I made peace with my now straight hair, and either my leg hair slowed down, or I just stopped caring (I'm not sure which), so I started feeling good about myself again, and with that new found confidence I suppose my opinion about my bean changed too - these days Boy seems to be the general thought, but in all honesty, it's as good as a wild guess!

Just for fun, I look up those Old Wives tales that tell you what you are having based off of specific symptoms or "tests" and I always seem to be right down the middle for them all!  Here's a recap of some of the more popular ones:

Peeing on Baking Soda - Tale:  If the Baking soda foams up, you are having a boy, if it does nothing, it's a girl.  Result:  Boy.  But here's the reason this doesn't work - This really just tests the pH of my own urine, not the baby's, and my own pH can change depending on what I've eaten that day.

Wedding Ring Test - Tale: Dangle a wedding ring in front of the baby bump, if the ring swings in a circular motion- it's a girl, if it swings back and forth, it's a boy.  Result: Girl.   Now here's the reason this doesn't work - unless your have a stable object like a lamp post holding the other end of the string your own shaky hand is what is influencing what the ring does on the end.  And although in the end I think I ended up with an accurate result, I did have to do this test several times before I believed that my hand was actually holding still.  Also, although I believe my little bub is amazing - I don't think they control the pull of gravity..

Chinese Gender Predictor Test - Tale:  According to the mothers Chinese age on the month of conception you will be able to tell whether you will have a boy or girl -  90% accurate  Result: Both.  For science's sake, I checked 10 different websites all asking for age and conception month, and my results were right down the middle - 50% were Boy, 50% were Girl.

Faster leg hair growth - Tale:  If the hair on your legs grows faster during pregnancy you are having a boy  Result:  Boy.  This is supposed to be a thing because if you are carrying a boy the testosterone effects the growth of your leg hair - when in actuality, the baby doesn't not have a high enough quantity of hormones to have any effect on the mother.

Craving Sweets or Sour/Salty - Tale:  If you are craving sweets, it's a girl, if you are craving salty or sour it's a boy.  Results:  Girl.  I don't really think there is any truth to this, mainly because even before I was pregnant I would choose sweets over salty/sour foods (Ben and I go to the movies, and I get chocolate, and he gets popcorn!) And these days I have been avoiding the very sour for fear that it will trigger my heartburn!

There were a lot more "tales" that I could go through, and when it's all said and done, I'm still left directly in the middle with 50% boy and 50% girl.  Might as well flip a coin!

So there you have it - I'm having both!

Actually... funny story, the other night I had a dream we finally went to our much awaited Gender Ultrasound, and the Ultrasound tech turned to me and said "you do know you are carrying twins right?!?" Apparently according to my dream, I have both a boy AND a girl in there!  I think everyone asking me if I'm  "sure there's only one in there?"  Is starting to influence my subconscious!  And this was also a way for my subconscious to explain why I can't decide which gender I'm carrying!  Ben and I spent the whole rest of my dream frantically trying to order a second crib, and re-working the budget to include another little one in there!

I'm sure there is only one in there based on the fact that I would think that out of the 5 professionals that have examined me so far, I'm sure someone would have discovered baby #2 by now!  But I guess we'll see tomorrow!

So do I have any idea what I'm having?  Nope.  Not a clue.  I would be thrilled with either!  I know, I know, "As long as the baby is healthy" is such a cliche thing to say, but it's true in every way.  Ben and I want a Boy and a Girl at some point, so I really have no preference on who comes first!  Or hell, if they both come at once!  That would be fine too!  In Less than 24 hours, we should know - baby permitting of course, some of them are a little too modest to give the tech a good look, so our wait might be longer, but I really hope we get our results tomorrow!

What do you think?  Boy or Girl?