Wednesday, March 9, 2011

My Mean Doctor

I did a tally of everyone I know on Facebook that is having a baby this year. The grand total: 21. [22 if you count Mary twice since she's having twins].

Most of the ones that are due before me have already made grand announcements of the gender. And then there are some that are due right about the same time as me that have also found out their baby's gender [totally unfair]. I have a routine OB visit this week. I also have my gender ultrasound scheduled for March 21 since I'll be 20 weeks by that time. And 20 weeks is apparently the magic number for optimal baby-gender predicting. At least, at my doctor's office. Even though my baby book [written by doctors] and other friends said that an ultrasound between 18-20 weeks will tell the gender. Nope, not my doctor. 20 weeks.

With all these other opinions telling me that I could find out the gender by now [I'm currently about 19 weeks], I thought for sure I could convince my doctor's office to do my ultrasound at my appointment this week [a mere 10 days before the magic ultrasound]. So I called them under the guise that I wasn't sure when my next appointment was. When the nurse told me it was the 11th and that my gender ultrasound was the 21st, I asked if we could combine them, for convenience sake, of course, and not because I'm freakin excited to know the gender. She insisted that wasn't possible and they can't tell the gender prior to 20 weeks. "Really?" I ask, "So my friends that had theirs at 18 weeks were just lying to me?" She says, "Well, it's possible, it's just our office policy to not do them prior to 20 weeks." If she had said that in the first place, I wouldn't have been as irritated. Did she really think I haven't read a single thing about prenatal care in the last 5 months, which all say 18-20 weeks? At my March 11th appointment, I will be just shy of 20 weeks. And ya know, pregnancy due dates and all that jazz are all a guessing game anyway. I could be 20 weeks now for all they know! They ain't God!!

So I would like to offer my own solution. Since they need their magic 20-week crystal ball to tell them the gender of my baby, I figure I'll research all the possible old wives' tales out there and make my own super-sound conclusion. Then when the ultrasound tech tells me the gender of my baby, I'll just sigh and say, "Yeah I already knew." How? They'll ask. "Well, everyone else in the world, including my unborn child, knows that gender can be determined before 20 weeks. So we figured it out. Thanks for the unnecessary insurance claim though."

According to the very official old wives' tales gender predictor quizzes that can be found on the always reliable internet, I will be having a girl [highest percentage of certainty is about 63%]. I won't go into the details of the questions because some of them are weird and I don't want you knowing that kind of information about me. The most common one that people keep telling me means that I'm having a girl is that I carry more like a watermelon than a beach ball. I personally think I'm carrying like a fire hydrant but that's apparently not one of the options. Old Wives' Tales Fun Fact: Did you know there is a gender myth out there that you can mix your urine with Drain-O and the color it turns determines a boy or a girl? Who even thought to test that!? I think someone is just messing with desperate pregnant women. And no, I didn't do this.

I also consulted a Chinese Gender Calendar and it indicates that I will be having a girl, most of the time. It depends on which chart I look at it. [And if you're wanting to check behind me, I'm 28 and conceived in November].
 

And just for the fun of it, I put a blog poll in my side bar for my readers to place their bets. The poll will close on March 21st at 8:45 am since clearly, the gender of my child will be instantly manifested at that very moment.

7 comments:

  1. I don't know if you already know this, but you're supposed to look at that chart with the age you were when you conceived. I read that chart is usually pretty accurate, but it told me boy and I'm having a girl. The drain-o thing I've heard actually works really well. They sell similar tests online that are basically using drain-o, I was about to go get the drain-o just for fun when I got my appointment, which I hate to tell you, I had at 16 weeks! But I was having trouble, so they took a look a little early to make sure everything was ok. I also read that the heartbeat being higher than 140 means a girl, which mine was 180 when we first heard it. But I also heard it usually is high at first and then goes down. Currently she's at 145 and holding steady there. I also am breaking out like crazy which I blame on all her girlie hormones rushing through my body. I heard being extra moody is a sign of a girl too, but I honestly, haven't been moody at all. Can't wait to hear what you're having, girls are so much fun to plan for!

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  2. Speaking from experience, you doctor is just trying to cover their, ahem, rear-ends. I had an ultrasound with Kathleen at 14 weeks - a girl! Dad did an ultrasound on me with Edwin at not quite 14 weeks - a boy! Gender can be told a lot earlier than 20 weeks; they just like to do it at 20 weeks to check that everything else is looking okay. And the insurance doesn't like to cover more than one, so they like to get everything done in one go.

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  3. My Dr. won't do it until you are 20 weeks too! It is soooooo annoying! Vince was leaving to go out of town so I schedulde my ultrasound 2 days before I was 20 weeks (I am offcially 20 weeks today), and let me tell you, they all let me know that I wasn't 20 weeks yet. I mean come on people!!! I feel your pain 100%! Everyone else seems to find out at like 17 weeks. It will come. Good luck!

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  4. The whole waiting-until-20-weeks thing super sucks. When I was waiting, I got doubly frustrated because a friend of mine in Utah went in for her gender ultrasound at what they thought was 19 weeks, but turned out to be FOURTEEN WEEKS! Somehow the tech could still tell they were having a boy.

    I don't think any kind of predictor chart or old wives' tales work at all, and our boy's heart rate has always been faster than our girl's. I'm guessing girl for you -- hang in there until you know for sure!

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  5. "...carrying like a fire hydrant..." Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha, oh goodness, hilarious. It does feel like that though, doesn't it?

    Who are we to mess with old wives? I say you're having a girl too, but go to your appointment nonetheless.

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  6. oooh! It's a boy/girl tie! Love it! I'm so excited to find out what you guys are having :-) My sister is also pregnant, about 10 weeks, and I'm stoked to find out what they're having. I'm not sure why this is but it's just kind of fun. Hooray! Can't wait to see what the Doc says!

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  7. The Chinese predictor charts have been wrong both times for us... but, we've enjoyed having girls. Girls are great.... but, then again so are boys. :) I can't wait to find out either!

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