My great-grandmother was a lay midwife and delivered many babies. She said she could “tell” if a baby was a boy or a girl and claimed that her methods were incredibly accurate. Since I’ve had an ultrasound which made it very clear that our child is a boy, I thought I’d evaluate some of the tales I’ve heard to see how true they are.

Chinese Gender Chart
I found that there are actually several variations circulating. Most of the variations accurately predicted that our child was a boy.

Morning Sickness Method
Supposedly, you have more intense morning sickness if you are carrying a girl. My morning sickness is not as intense as it was with my girls, but yet, it is there and is more intense than it was with my first son. I don’t know what this means actually, except that I have morning sickness which still affects me 5 months into my pregnancy.

Heartbeat Method
According to this tale, if a child has a slow heartbeat, it’s a boy. If it has a fast heartbeat, it is a girl. The cut off is supposedly around 140. This child has a heartbeat of 150 consistently, so this myth didn’t accurately predict the gender of our child this pregnancy.

Out In Front Or All Around?
According to this myth, you can tell the gender of your child based upon how you are “carrying” the child. If you gain weight all over, your child is a girl. If your weight gain is all “out in front”, it’s a boy. For me, this has been true.

For this pregnancy, half of the myths of listed accurately predicted the gender of our child; half did not. This tells me that I had a 50/50 chance of guessing the gender of our child correctly! While the myths may not be of any real help in enlightening you as to your child’s gender, they are a fun way to pass time while waiting for your bundle of joy to show up.

My husband and I are having fun “guessing” the gender of our child that is due in August.  We’ve checked the Chinese Birth Chart, and we’ve pondered our child’s heart rate. We’ve looked at the way I’m “carrying”–which is all out in the front.  Does that mean it’s a boy?

I’ve also looked at my diet and my cravings to see if I could ascertain our child’s gender that way.  I’ve considered a few other “old wives’ tales” that my great grandmother told me about in an effort to discover the gender of our child.  My great grandmother was a lay midwife and had 6 of her own children, so she should have known a thing or two about babies!  I think anyway….

Yet, I am still uncertain as to the gender of our child.  I know–all that effort for what? I suppose it makes the pregnancy go faster?

Last night, my aunt asked me how active our child is in utero.  At this stage, I mostly feel flutters, so I can’t quite gauge it’s activity.  My aunt claims that her male children were more active in utero than her female children.  I suppose this held true for my pregnancies too; my son was more active than my daughters.

Have you noticed a difference in the activity level during your pregnancy between your male and female children? Do you think you can use this to determine gender?

During each of my many pregnancies, I spent a great time checking out gender prediction methods. Actually, more than not, many people were happy to offer their tried and true methods of prediction to me, especially when they found out I was pregnant again after having 4 girls.

Would our next child be male or female? Drum roll please.

I stumbled across a Chinese Birth Chart while researching online one day. According to the website, the chart was “ancient Chinese knowledge” hidden in a tomb for over 700 years and was now on display at the Institute of Science in Beijing. For entertainment purposes only, the website authors were displaying the chart online. I was intrigued, but cautious, and so I showed my husband.

Dear Husband has a degree in science and he called it a statistics chart. Nothing more, nothing less. There was nothing magical about it he claimed. Nevertheless, he agreed that there very well may be some validity to the chart.

Would the “statistics chart” be accurate? I checked my prior pregnancies with the chart information and astoundingly, the chart was right. I checked each of my sister’s information against the chart information and again, it was correct. Then, just for the thrill of it, I called my sister, who was expecting at the time and due to have an ultrasound in a few days. We worked out her information and according to the chart, she was having a girl. The ultrasound confirmed the chart’s prediction at her ultrasound.

All of this intrigued me. Was I carrying a boy or a girl? Could I stand to know? Suppose the chart said it was a boy and then I had a girl? After 4 girls, would it be fair to get my hopes up for that son of which my husband and I were dreaming?

My husband and I sat down one night and checked the chart which told us we were having a boy. Now what? After years of buying pink, glitter, and lace, did we dare trust the chart? Should we tell people that “the Chinese chart” said it was a boy? Would they believe us?

A few months later, we had an ultrsound due to difficulties I was having with the pregnancy. The technician asked me if I wanted to know the sex of our baby as it was quite obvious. Did I want to know? Yes, yes I did.

Our child was a boy. A healthy boy.

I cried the whole way home! Firstly, because I was relieved that our child was all right. Secondly because IT WAS A BOY! After four girls, I was going to have a boy!

You would think that my relatives would have been happy for us when we told them. Sadly, not one of them(save my husband’s mother) believed us, the ultra sound, or the Chinese birth chart. Instead, they felt that I was one of those women who was just going to have girls and had sadly convinced myself that I was having a male child to make myself feel better about the whole thing. For the baby shower that happened shortly after our ultrasound, most folks bought yellow and green. Some bought us blue, just in case. I began to have my doubts at this time and wondered if the technician had made a mistake or if the chart had been a phony too. Who to believe?

When our child was born, I didn’t take the doctor’s word for it, or my husband’s word–I wanted to see! My eyes confirmed that the chart and the ultrasound technician were right. It was a boy.

I’d encourage all expectant women to try the Chinese birth chart with a few caveat warnings. I have known one woman who did have a child with a sex opposite than what the chart predicted. Therefore, I’d encourage parents who opt to use the information to do so with an open mind and realize that it might not predict the gender of your child. I’d also caution expectant mother’s to use the chart correctly. You must use your age when you will give birth, and the month you conceived to determine results. It can be a little confusing as many times, your age when the baby is born will be different than your age when the child was conceived. Also, you might not know exactly when the child was conceived! Let’s see….was it LATE June or EARLY July?

Whatever your results, I wish you happy charting!