Conference moira::parenting

    I had a girl and during my pregnancy I was put on the monitor a 
    few times due to lack of movement.  She was just a lazy baby I 
    was told!  Very busy these days though!
    
    Linda

    Hi Charlene,
    
    I am now 30 weeks pregnant with my fifth child.  The first four were 
    girls and amnio says this one is a boy.  My oldest is 18 years old so
    its hard to remember how active she was but I think she was pretty 
    active, #2 (15 yrs.)was a squirmer and stretcher (22 1/2") and I think
    that was worse than a kicker because she would get her foot under my ribs
    and push out.  Number 3 (13 yrs) was another kicker and not as
    uncomfortable as #2.  Number 4 girl (20 mos.) was another squirmer but 
    she was not a bad pusher.  This one is the most active one I have carried
    so far, he does a little of everything.  So anyway, I don't believe the
    sex has anything to do with the sex or the way you carry for that matter,
    each baby is different and unique.
    
    Vickie

    
    Well, mine was a kicker and a mover....and it was a boy.
    As a matter of fact he never stopped like they say they
    will just before you go into labor...he squirmed all through
    it....and they had to put an internal monitor on him because
    they couldn't keep track of his heart rate he was moving so
    much.
    
    My mother-in-law had 2 boys...one active (my hubby) and the
    other one barely moved....she thought he was dead....she
    was scared to death to look at him after he was born.
    
    I think it is pure coincidence....just like people will tell
    you how your carrying can determine the sex....I don't think
    it has anything to do with it....
    
    Kristen

    Hi Charlene,
    
    My kids seemed to do what you had mentioned. My son was a lazy baby who 
    just seemed to squirm most of the time. My daughter kicked and thrashed
    about a lot. Their activity levels were completely the opposite. For
    me, there was something to that theory !

    
    My daughter was just a stretcher - I used to think she was 
    trying to come out like aliens. (I did end up with a C)
    
    I never had kicking.......
    
    

    
    Charlene,
    
    I can't agree with this myself...my son was VERY active all throughout
    my pregnancy. I swore he was in there doing push-ups or something.
    He also had a very strong head/neck from the start. Near the end, while
    still inside me, he would arch his back and you could literally "see"
    this massive bulge which was his head, trying to push out the side of
    my stomach!  For the first few months when they are so small and
    fragile, while awake, he would never lay his head on your shoulder,
    always had his neck arched to look at the ceiling. It was kind of nice
    though, because we never had to worry much about the "floppy" head
    while handling him.
    
    Chris
    

    Yes, I actually was quite depresssed for the longest time at the start
    of my pregnancy because I was comparing to the way my daughter felt 
    inside me. It is such a wonderful feeling that you only feel for 4-5
    months a few times in your life that it was very depressing when I 
    didn't. Only my last appointment my Dr. told me that over the next
    3-4 weeks the baby would be at it's most vigorous stage and then
    it may start to calm down and I'm saying to myself, geez great 
    it barely moves now and it's going to calm down. Plus that was
    2 weeks ago and I have not seen any vigorous action yet. 
    
    I used to lay on the couch when carrying # 1 and watch her limbs
    poke like I had an alien climbing across my belly and this one I
    can barely get the remote control to budge when placing it on my
    belly.  
    
    Ya cannot help but think/pray/hope that the baby is ok and will be 
    born ok. I cnanot picture it any other way. the only test I got was
    HIV. I am sure everything is fine, but I wish I hadn't had a busier 
    one first to compare to,
    
    Charlene

    I don't agree with what you have heard.  My son was kicking me all the
    time and was VERY active.  I think it just depends on ther personality
    of the child.  
    
    I remember when my sis-in-law was pregnant with her daughter, she was
    always commenting on how she didn't feel much movement.  Just a squirm
    now and then.
    
    I don't beleive the activity has anything to do with the babys sex.
    
    Kathy

    
    I was told by several folks that I was going to have a girl and they
    were right!!
    
    Here are the hints we got about the sex.
    
    Girls "tumble", boys kick. I never felt a direct kick, but had a great
    deal of movement like she was dancing!!
    
    Girls sit high, boys sit lower in your belly - difficult to tell with
    ours as she was transverse breech.
    
    Look at your skin - girls give mum a very dry skin. Very true, I'm
    spending a fortune on body lotions to get my skin smooth again.
    
    Look at your body hair - I only had to shave my legs once a month while
    I was pregnant. Boys speed up the rate of growth of body hair.
    
    Look at your hair - thicker and drier than normal also means a girl.
    
    We just "knew" Rebecca was a girl right from the start of the
    pregnancy, although we did pick some boys names just in case :-)
    
    Hope this helps.
    
              Celia
    

    Well, my skin was extremely dry for two pregnancies, my first rolled
    alot - my second kicked, my hair came out in quantities to make you
    nervous for the first and only a patch for the second, my condition was
    oily for the first and normal for the second.  I carried both high and
    wide and never dropped either one before labor.  I gained the same with
    each - went 6 weeks longer with the second than the first (first was 4
    wks early - second was 2 wks late).  I enjoyed both pregnancies -
    knowing the first was a boy (absolutely no doubt in my mind) and the
    second was a girl (although there was alot of doubt in the beginning).
    Both pregnancies were different - thus my thoughts on which sex...
    
    
    
    Well I am proud to say - I blew it big time in the guessing department!
    
    			I have two wonderful BOYS!
    	(but they are very different in personality and features-but
    	 it stops there!!)
    
    Oh well!  I'm happy!
    
    -sandy

    I have a daughter and a son, and both of them were active "kickers".
    There were some differences, though.  I kept up the aerobics when I was
    pregnant with both of them.  She was rocked to sleep by them.  He
    wanted to do aerobics too - hard to do aerobics when the kid's doing
    them too.  She squirmed, but I swear he was trying to STAND UP !!!! 
    He really hurt !!!  One day I had a chocolate mousse for dessert, and
    my son BEAT on me for over TWO HOURS !!!  I never did that again !
    
    They really are all different !
    
    -Joy
    

    I have two daughters and they were exact opposites.
    
    #1.  I carried her high and all over.  She kicked, rolled and always
    moved alot.  My skin was perfect too.
    
    #2.  I carried her like a basketball (all in front, She hardly every 
    moved (This scared the hell out of me).  I used to get weekly non stress 
    tests at the end of my pregnancy.  The nurse had to use the "taser" gun
    to get her to move all the time.  My skin was blotchly and nasty.
    
    Angie
    
    Angie

    Charlene,
    
    I have heard them all too...........one woman in a drug store insisted
    I was having a boy - because she said that if it were a girl I wouldn't
    look so healthy.  Some people have said a boy because I am carrying all
    in front and havent gained too much weight.  One friend even did the
    wedding ring trick over my wrist which is supposed to not only tell you
    what this child is but how many you will have over a lifetime (her
    decision was 4 girls) My husband nearly fainted.  I have a gut (no pun
    intented) feeling that its a girl.  Of course there really is only one 
    way to know for sure and I am anxiously awaiting the outcome.  I figure
    that everyone that wants to predict has a 50-50 chance of being right. 
    In the meantime it is kind of fun to hear everyone guess.
    
    Good luck and I hope you are feeling well!
    
    6 wks and counting........
    
    Pam

    I have a boy and a girl.  My son was VERY active.  At the end
    of my preganancy, I would feel his movements constantly.  My
    daughter on the other hand was much quieter and hardly kicked.
    I carried both of them low and all in front.  Both times, I
    had people predicting boys.
    
    Wendy 

    one girl Kyla - very active - gained weight all over
    one boy  Max  - quiet - looked like a basketball
    

    
    >>    one girl Kyla - very active - gained weight all over
    >>    one boy  Max  - quiet - looked like a basketball
       
    
    But you *still* wore high heels throughout! ;-) !!
    
    Cyn

    yes, it is true, I wore high heels throughout :-)
    

    I have heard that Boys heart rates are lower than girls. Has anyone had
    a girl with a low heart rate?
    
    Janet

    My first two appts the range was 160-165, doc told me it was a girl if
    I believed in old wives tales....the rest of my pregnancy it was 138-
    145 range....only higher when they tested movement and made me drink
    alot of apple juice.
    
    I was convinced it was a boy, even when I delivered I thought did he
    just say GIRL????!!!!
    
    				Lindsay was low...

    
    
    	My baby girl's herat rate was on the low side also.  My docotr told
    me not to use the old wives' tales to try to predict the sex of my
    baby... but I use 'em all (it was fun to guess.)
    
    	Justine

    Has anyone tried the Drano test?  I did and it was right.  You take
    one ounce of urine (first morning is best) and pour in 1 teaspoon 
    of Drano.  I used liquid, I heard crystals are better.  If it turns
    green it's a girl, brown it's a boy.  This was told to me by the
    nurse here in our facility.  It worked for me.
    WARNING:  mix this outside, the smell is horrendous!!!!!!!!!
    
    Angie

    For us who live far away and don't know, please explain what is Drano!
    
    
    Thanks.
    

    Its a popular brand of drain de-clogging agent. Strong chemistry - 
    I do not recall the actual substance.
    
    Personal experiences:
     - someone at work used the drano test - results wrong.
     - At the end of March four of us went out to lunch to celebrate two
       of us going on maternity leave. Three out of the four of us were
       pregnant. We so impressed the waitress that she asked to do the 
       needle test (rub palm with needle on a thread and if it rotates 
       when held over the palm, it's a girl, back and forth and its a 
       boy). She was right 2 out of three times with us. The amusing thing
       is that the two of us who were going on leave knew the sex of the
       baby, and she was right on those guesses. The one who did not know
       assumed that it would be a girl --- she and the waitress were BOTH
       wrong.
    - I had a lot of non-stress tests and the nurse who did them went by
      the heartbeat measure for gender. She claimed that 4 out of 5 times
      this method was correct.
    - I carried wide and high with Daniel and in front and pretty high
      with Charlotte.
    - I had pretty much the same pregnancy symptoms with both. 
    
    Monica

Drano is lye.

    
    ...and little bits of aluminum to react with, which causes the bubbles.
    
    Chris
    

    Can anyone tell me if ultrasounds are 100% on the sex of the infant?
    I have a girlfriend who just had an ultrasound two weeks ago and was
    told they are almost sure it is a boy and is now out buying out the
    stores for boy's outfits.  I haven't said anything to her, but another
    girlfriend said the ultrasounds are not always 100%.  Just curious
    since I have never had an ultrasound.  
    
    Thanks

    
    	I have a niece that was told she was having a girl, got ALL pink
    	outfits for her shower, and ended up having a BOY...
    
    	I think this is discussed somewhere in this file...
    
    	Chris
    

From what I've heard, no, they are not 100%.  Although, it is more likely
that if they say it is a boy, it is, since boys are easier to spot. ;->

But then again, wasn't there a story once where, according to the ultrasound,
the baby was a boy and it actually turn out to be twin girls? (Seems one
was behind the other and the foot of the hidden one was mistaken for a penis)

Urban legend???

    I too think this is discussed somewhere in here too.  Anyhoo... I've
    been told that some of those "its a boy" but turns out to be a girl
    stories are due to the position of the cord.
    
    There was a TV personality, I want to think it was Joan Lunden, who was
    told her last one was a boy, went out and bought tons of boy clothes,
    and ended up with another girl.  She related this on the morning talk
    show she hosts.
    
    Lyn
    (who confirmed her son with amnio...!!
    and had a BLUE wardrobe waiting, thanks to mum inlaw!)

    I had 3 ultrasounds done for my second child.  The first (done at
    16 weeks) said it is a girl.  The second (done at 24 weeks) said
    it is a boy.  The third (done at 32 weeks) couldn't tell.  I ended
    up with a girl.  Thank God that I didn't take the predictions
    seriously.  
    
    Wendy

    Well, my brother-in-law is convinved that "it's a boy" because of an
    ultrasound at 21 weeks.  We'll see in June!
    
    -sandy
    

    
    What is the earliest (with no doubts) that the person doing an ultrasound 
    can determine the sex of the baby?
    
    

>>    What is the earliest (with no doubts) that the person doing an ultrasound 
>>    can determine the sex of the baby?
    
Shortly after delivery.

:)

>Shortly after delivery.

In certain cases, not even then.

>> >>    What is the earliest (with no doubts) that the person doing an ultrasound 
>> >>    can determine the sex of the baby?
>>     
>> Shortly after delivery.

I'd guess that anyone doing an ultrasound shortly after delivery wouldn't have
much to look at...