Guessing Game

I had another prenatal appointment this morning, and I got to do one of my very favorite things in the world: hear the baby's heartbeat! It took several long seconds to find it (just like the baby's big sister was, apparently, this baby is also not a fan of being pushed on with the doppler wand and moves away as soon as the pressure starts), but then the sound of a strong, quick heartrate filled the room, and it was glorious. Can I also talk about how cool my iPhone is and that I was able to record the heartbeat and then send it to Aaron so he could listen too? SO COOL!

Anyway, this appointment being over starts the countdown to the big ultrasound, now just three short weeks away. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going! I'm feeling pretty good, and other than having no appetite, no brain, and the dreaded hip-spreading pain, I have no complaints. The no brain thing has led to several interesting situations, including the time I couldn't find my keys (that were in my hand), the fact that I keep forgetting to order decaf coffee at the coffee shop (which has led Aaron to decide to buy me a Keurig so that I can make my decaf at home and stop freaking him out about the whole caffeine thing, even though technically the doctor said I could have one regular sized caffeine drink a day), or the conversation I had with my mom about Aaron getting his haircut up their this weekend so we didn't have to wait for the local butcher shop to open.

The other two symptoms have also left their mark; I lost another pound between the last appointment and this one even though I have a reminder set to remind me to eat regularly (and I've been eating plenty of junk food as well as the good stuff). At this point in my pregnancy with Gabbie I think I was about 15 pounds up, so I guess I won't complain about this unless the doctor starts to worry. The hip pain is really only evident at night or if I sit in my office chair for too long, so I'm not getting as much sleep as I'd like, and I'm forced to get up and take a walk several times a day, so it's good and bad.

Anyway, enough about me - let's talk about the baby! I know I've seen this elsewhere, but it seemed like fun so I'll do it here too. With only three weeks until we know for (99%) certain about the sex of the baby, this topic keeps coming up in conversation pretty regularly. Everyone has a theory based on some old wives tale or another, so I thought I'd collect them here. Here are the old wives tales, plus the genders they predict for Baby J:

* Craving sour foods vs. sweet foods; I crave sour: boy
* Mom has acne means a girl: boy
* Carrying low vs. high (I'm carrying low, but only because it's so early): boy
* Morning sickness that lasts all day early in the pregnancy means girl: girl
* Chinese lunar calendar: girl (although some say boy, so I don't really know for sure. We'll count it as girl.)
* Dad gains weight along with mom means boy: girl (although last time he gained weight with me, and this time neither of us has gained a pound, so I'm not sure.)
* Breast size, which is bigger (sorry for TMI); right means boy: boy (although the right one is always slightly bigger, so...)
* Baby's activity level; more active means boy: boy (this one never seems to stop!)
* Craving spicy foods vs. sweet foods; I crave spicy: boy
* Hair on legs grows faster than normal means boy: boy (with Gabbie it pretty much stopped growing which was awesome!)
* Feet colder than normal means boy: boy
* Pillow faces north (boy) or south (girl): boy (but it faced north with Gabbie too, so...)
* Urine, bright yellow (boy) or dull yellow (girl): boy
* Mom's age at conception plus number of month, if even means boy: girl
* Heartbeat, faster means girl, slower means boy: girl (but my heart was pounding pretty hard too, so that could have had some effect, plus this has been proven inaccurate by several very scientific studies)
* Mom has a strong orange juice craving means girl: boy
* If mom refuses to eat the heal of a loaf of bread this means girl: boy
* If your breasts have increased a lot in size this means girl: boy (thank goodness; I really couldn't stand them being too much bigger than they already are)

So, to tally that up that's 13 that predict boy and 5 for girl. I'm not really hoping for either, so this is pretty much pure fun. Has anyone else heard of any fun legends to predict gender? (I'm so not doing the drano test!) I'll be counting down the days until we get to find out for sure!