Wednesday, April 3, 2013

doubts, fears, and superstition.

I don't think of myself as a glass half-empty kind of person, but when it came to learning whether we were having a boy or a girl this time around, all I could focus on was the negative. To wit:

"It's a girl!" - Jason would feel left out as the only male in the house; middle school and high school years would be horror movie drama fests; there might be more competition between siblings of the same gender; how could I stop calling Lorelei "my best girl"?

"It's a boy!" - circumcision. I know this is a no-brainer for a lot of people - either for it or against it - but for us, it's an agonizing decision. Both Jason and I are opposed to circumcision as a general rule, but since our children will struggle with Jewish identity already with a shiksa for a mother, it's hard to put yet another barrier in place for a son when it comes to acceptance as a fully-fledged Jewish male.

Argh!


At this point, we actually know what we're having - we had our ultrasound Wednesday afternoon - but we're waiting to share the news because I'm having a little "boy or girl brunch bash" on Friday morning with some friends from my moms' group. So, in advance of our big reveal on Friday, here are the results of a bunch of sex prediction superstitions so you can place your bets:

Chinese Gender Predictor: girl
Carrying high vs low: boy (this is hard to tell without a baseline for comparison!)
Heart rate: girl
Sweet vs sour/salty: indeterminate - I've wanted lots of fruit and salty potato chips!
Mayan even/odd predictor: boy
"Glow" vs. "stealing beauty" breakouts: girl
Ring on a string: swings back and forth; according to some, that means girl, and to others it means boy!
Morning sickness: girl
Drano test: sooooo not happening, because I'm not shelling out for a bottle for something this goofy.

Get your guesses in - I'll tell you the big news on Friday!

13 comments:

  1. Me too. Girl!

    My Chinese gender test said boy and I also just had a "feeling" the whole pregnancy and always thought of him as a "he." If he had been a girl I would have been pretty caught off guard!

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  2. I vote boy and "circumcision of the heart" (especially if you are both opposed to it)!

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  4. Girl!

    If it's a boy, do what you believe in your heart is right. Conforming to others' expectations at the expense of extreme pain to your baby will make for a traumatizing first month for all of you.

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  5. My guess is girl! Cant wait to find out the answer soon!!

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  6. Just have to say I came back to see others' responses, and I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with Eric's comment about "circumcision of the heart" if you happen to have a boy. You need to do what you feel is right, and I have a feeling it would be something talked about in your family's faith discussions no matter what decision you make.

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  7. I guess girl, but just because the Chinese Gender chart was right when I had Noah!

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  8. I vote girl because the Jacob gender predictor says girl :)

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  9. Well I'm too late to vote, but congratulations on having a girl! You must be thrilled. :) I wonder what it would be like to raise two or more girls...
    I had terrible any time of day sickness for the entire first trimeste. We also did the needle on a string and it repeatedly signaled girl...although now I don't recall which way we thought was for a girl - circles or back and forth? Anyway...I had a sweet baby girl so who knows. I'd love to know what information that gender predictors are based on! I hadn't really thought much about their origin until now.

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  10. And I totally know what you mean about concerns with having a second same gender child as your first. I always tell B she's my favorite. My mom warns against it, should I have any more children... I just can't help myself. B IS my favorite and for now, my only. How can I not make that abundantly known? ::sigh::
    Maybe now you can say my two best girls? :)

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