A Little Foppish Idiot?

Remove all ads!

Congrats! But why not seven sons Aldeth? Or eight?

 

Is that a serious question? Um...Because I have no intention of ever fathering seven or eight chlidren, never mind having seven or eight boys, which would likely mean having many more than eight total children.

 

I was talking to my brother (who is a doctor, although not an OB) earlier this week, and he tells me that if the ultrasound indicated that it's a boy, it's almost certainly a boy. While you do see wrong calls on ultrasounds, most of wrong ones are misidentifying a boy as a girl, and not the other way around. This is because, as my brother puts it, "It's a lot easier to miss something that is there, than to see something that isn't there."

EDIT: My brother also told me another interesting thing - granted it would have been more useful to know this BEFORE my wife got pregnant - that it is possible to influence whether you have a boy or girl if you know when the woman is ovulating. That sounded pretty far-fetched to me, but the explanation makes some sense.

Here's the way it goes. As most people know the X chromosome is one of the largest chromosomes in humans and the Y chromosome is one of the smallest. Because of the great size disparity, sperm containing a Y chromosome are somewhat lighter, and thus somewhat faster swimmers than sperm containing an X chromosome.

So, if the woman has already ovulated prior to having sex, then it's essentially a sperm race to the egg cell, and the sperm that are faster (Y sperm) have a distinct advantage over the slower X sperm.

However, being faster isn't necessarily better. The woman's body is a hostile environment for sperm, and the sperm that "lead the charge" so to speak usually die much quicker than the ones that lag a bit behind. That brings us to the second possibility, in which a woman ovulates the day after having sex. In this scenario, the speed of the Y sperm doesn't matter. The X sperm, while slower, have still received adequate time to reach the point where the egg will be released in time. However, because the Y sperm lead the charge, a much greater percentage of the Y sperm have died. So if the woman ovulates after she had sex, the X sperm have the advantage due to superior numbers.

Of course, nothing is 100%. It's possible to conceive a girl even if the woman has already ovulated, and it's possible to conceive a boy if the woman has not yet ovulated.

[ March 30, 2007, 18:32: Message edited by: Aldeth the Foppish Idiot ]

 

True but it does happen. One of my co-workers was told that her first child was going to be a boy and her first indication that this wasn't so was when the baby was delivered and the doctor announced that it was a girl. They had boy's clothes ready, the room was painted blue, they had a boy's name picked etc. etc. so it was quite a shock.

I am not sure if I actually believe this but she claims that shortly after her daughter was born she sent her husband home to re-paint the baby's room pink so that it would be ready before they were released from the hospital.

Her second time around she was once again told it would be a boy but they got it right that time.

 

Much better to paint it green. Or yellow.

They're usually right if they say it's a boy, just like Aldeth's brother said. I've seen mistakes made both ways. Parents are surprised if the ultrasound interpretation missed it but I don't recall anyone unhappy to have the baby they got!

Babies are so much fun. There's a 9-month-old in my larger family right now and she's a hoot. Aldeth, her parents have a book called "Why Babies Do That" which has been fun and a help to them - talks about various otherwise puzzling baby behaviors. If you're near a big bookstore it might be fun to check it out and see if you and Mrs. Aldelth want to get it.

 

Pfft. Sounds like yet another of the million old wives' tales that go along with conception. There are so many variables at work in that process that anything you might try might work but you would never know whether it was because of what you did.

 

@HB - my initial reaction was the same as yours. However, my brother said he read about this in a respected medical journal, meaning that it does have more credibility than an "Old Wives Tale".

However, he did point out that the method isn't 100% accurate, mostly due to the variables you listed. The most obvious variable is you have to know when the woman is ovulating, and for women who do not have regular ovulation cycles, this would prove to be nearly impossible. Sceondly, my brother does acknowledge that even if you do know when the woman is ovulating, this method does not work with 100% efficiency.

The study simply found that women who had sex prior to ovulation had a higher percentage of girls than boys, and women who had sex after ovulation had a higher percentage of boys than girls. The ratios in both case were about 65:35, which is obviously statistically different than the normal 50:50 chance. So it certainly isn't a failsafe method since babies of either sex were produced regardless of when the ovulation occurred, but it is a means of tilting the odds a little more in your favor if you want to have a child of a particular sex.

In fact, this information may be useful to you if you and your wife decide to have another child. You already have a boy, so if you would prefer to have the second child be a girl, have sex during the days immediately preceding ovulation and play the odds. Of course, even using this method, there's still a 35% chance of having a boy. And even if you waited until after ovulation, you'd still have a 35% chance of having a girl. And, as you correctly pointed out, even if the method did work, you'd have no way of proving that the reason your baby is of a particular sex was the sole responsibility of when you had sex, because about 1 in 3 times the method does NOT work, so it could have just as easily have been dumb luck.

I don't know - I'm of the opinion that the study and conclusions drawn seem reasonable. Sure, it's not a perfect method, but there certainly seems to be a correlation between ovulation time and what sex the baby is that was conceived.

 

My wife had another ultrasound, and the nurse performing it said it's a boy, so now I'm pretty sure that's what I got!

 

When's the due date again? Soon, right?

 

That's awesome. I mean how many opportunities does a man have in his life to say how proud he is to see a tiny penis on a monitor?

Not as many as you'd think.

 

Her exact due date is August 16th, so really, we're so close that it could be any time.

It hasn't been completely smooth sailing up to this point, as my wife has developed gestational diabetes. She is going to the doctors so frequently - at least twice a week at this point. No major scares however. They have to monitor her and the baby closely because of the gestational diabetes - which she has controlled through diet. There are some added risks for the mother and the baby, none of which are extremely common, but can happen, especially in severe cases where the diabetes cannot be controlled through either diet or drugs.

The baby is also likely to grow much faster than is usual, which can make for a very difficult delivery, and possibly even a C-section if the baby is too big. That, however, does not appear to be a problem for Mini-Fop. He is quite small - even by baby standards. My wife is only one week away from her due date, and the currently estimated size of the baby is 6.5 pounds. He's not abnormally small or anything, but they take all these measurements during the ultrasound of leg size, head size, length, estimated weight, etc., and they plot them on a graph. There are two lines on the graph, the top line is marked as the 90th percentile and the bottom line is the 10th percentile. All of the measurements of Mini-Fop place him much closer to the 10th percentile line than the 90th percentile line. Overall, his size ranks him in just the 24th percentile - so 3 out of 4 babies are bigger than he is. So he certainly isn't too big yet.

One other thing that I got a chuckle out of on the last ultra-sound - he has a full head of hair (most likely brown and curly based on his parents - but you can't tell color and texture on the ultrasound). So that's at least one way where he's a lot different than his dad.

 

OK, Aldeth, one week and counting to your due date of August 16. Sending good thoughts your way - good health and safe delivery for mom and Mini-Fop, and reasonable calm for Daddy-Fop.

 

At the doctor's office yesterday, the doctor said that if my wife doesn't have the baby by this time next week, they will induce labor. With gestational diabetes, it's not a good idea to go much past your due date, so it is likely that one way or another, Mini-Fop will be here in about a week or so!

 

He's on the way!!!!!!!!!

Just got the call at work and Mrs. Idiot went into labor! Gotta go

I'll update when I can!

 

GOOD LUCK!! Try not to pass out, and if she screams "you bastard, you did this to me!!!" try not to take it personally.

 

GRAZ! It might not be pretty, but there will be the most wonderful prize at the end.

 

Have fun!

 

so tired.

No baby yet. Have not slept since 5:30 in the morning on Monday. I'm not even sure what day it is. Still a while off. Came home to take a shower. Hopefully labor will progress for Mrs. Idiot - we're hoping in the next few hours the baby will get here.

 

Thinking positively for you all: can't wait to hear more!