This is one of the things that fascinates me more than anything in the world! I am all. over. this.
So here's some info (including, perhaps, a little TOO much info for some of you) on my pregnancies:
Pregnancy 1: John Paul
Intercourse a few days before ovulation = boy. See, I read somewhere that male sperm swim slower and live longer. And I'm not linking to the study because I don't feel like finding it - you know how to use Google :P
Edit: Okay, everyone on the internet says I'm wrong - and I probably am... But it worked that way for us, so clearly it's not 100% predictable!
Morning sickness was brutal. I spent weeks curled up in a ball on the couch, vomiting several times a day, ALWAYS in the morning while brushing my teeth, then usually after most meals if I ate too quickly or didn't eat while lying down. The only things I could stomach were canned pineapple, oranges, animal crackers, and pretzels. Around 16-20 weeks things got a little bit better and I was down to the puking while brushing my teeth and that was it.
I pretty much didn't want to eat any meat except bacon. For some reason I started liking Cheez Whiz. I ate a lot of boiled potatoes with cottage cheese, McCain Ellio's frozen pizza, Campbell's chicken noodle soup, and frozen burritos. I also drank probably 2.5 gallons of milk every week because I loooooved it so much more while pregnant!
Birth story starts here, if you're interested...
Pregnancy 2: Cecilia Therese
Intercourse the day of ovulation = girl. Apparently female sperm swim faster and live a shorter amount of time.
Morning sickness wasn't too bad. Definitely a much easier pregnancy than my first, plus I started out weighing about 10 lbs less than my pre-pregnancy weight with John Paul, so I didn't get as big.
Same food aversions & cravings - lots of the things I used to eat as a kid, no idea why...
Birth story here
Pregnancy 3: Elizabeth Anna & Mary Claire
Morning sickness... In between the first and second pregnancies. So we were both perplexed - no way of guessing gender based on conception date, morning sickness wasn't making it obvious either way, I was just FAR more exhausted than with the first two pregnancies. And carrying quite a bit larger, but I figured that's just because it was my 3rd pregnancy in as many years, you know?
Well, when we found out at about 30 weeks that we were expecting twins, I kind of knew that they *must* both be girls! After all, my morning sickness was pretty much double that of my pregnancy with Cecilia, but nowhere near as bad as with John Paul. And, shocker, I was right!
And once again, same food aversions and cravings - once I find out what I can actually stomach, I don't branch out much!
Birth story here
So I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to figure out what we're having with any subsequent pregnancies, although I'm sure things could be totally different whenever we have the next baby (or babies...)!
And now let me know - are there any burning questions you have for me? Anything goes!
Haha! this made me laugh right from the get-go because I read somewhere that GIRL sperm swim slower and live longer!! And that is why I swore we had three girls in a row -- was because we kept jumping the gun (ovulation-wise) LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteI am SO doing this!!! My pregnancies for my girls were very different from my pregnancies with my boys.
I thought it was the opposite with boy/girl sperm! It's been a while since I looked it up though ... and my experiences with gender/timing of intercourse are the same as yours. :) (We were actually trying to avoid pregnancy during the cycle our first son was conceived ... we happened to be fertile on our HONEYMOON. And yes, we did abstain. And then found out we were pregnant anyways. :-P lol. (How's that for TMI??))
ReplyDeleteI heard it was the opposite in girl vs. boy sperm (the boys swim faster)?? Who knows. I never actually noticed a difference in my boy pregnancy versus any of my girls pregnancies.
ReplyDeleteI think I must be wrong! Everybody's heard the opposite :P
DeleteI heard the boys swim faster because their 'Y' chromosome is smaller. The 'X's in a girl slow the girlies down.
ReplyDeleteIsn't the old wives tale about morning sickness the opposite (worse with girls than boys?)
ReplyDeleteOh--I have a question!! Do twins run in your family? Or is that another old wives tale that you are genetically inclined? And I'm baffled the doctors didn't know until you were 30 weeks along. They didn't hear two heartbeats or see two babies early on?!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I always heard the opposite regarding the sperm, too! Just like grown up people, the female sperm live longer but the boys are faster. Who knows? This makes me curious to know what things would be like if I was ever pregnant with a girl!
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense - clearly I read things wrong all those years ago!
DeleteI remember feeling horribly, deathly ill with Frances. Seriously thought I was dying until I found out I was pregnant. They boys' pregnancies weren't as bad; just a low level queasy. I don't honestly remember anything about where I carried or gained weight or any of those things.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I carried pretty much the same and gained about the same weight with each pregnancy, even the twins!
DeleteI just can't get over Cecilia's gorgeousness in that first pic of her, my oh my what a beautiful baby.
ReplyDeleteI just found out that I'm expecting #2, so I'm going to be all over assessing my symptoms. I'm 5 weeks now and already starting to feel a little nauseated now and then. With my daughter, I literally have NO memories of weeks 6-12 other than eating crackers in bed, laying on the bathroom floor, or puking. Seriously, I thought that I was going to DIE. But I was also very uncomfortable throughout the pregnancy. I didn't experience that second trimester fantastic feeling that people talk about.
ReplyDeleteHow is it that they didn't discover the twins until 30 weeks? Did you not have an ultrasound until then? Just curious!
We completely skipped prenatal care until around 20 weeks, and finally had an ultrasound at almost 30 weeks - it was definitely pretty shocking, since I wasn't carrying THAT big!
DeleteI enjoy your blog - first time commenter, though! I've read the exact opposite (Shettles method) about boy vs. girl sperm, but whichever theory is correct, if either, you are only upping your chances for one gender or another by a small fraction, not swaying it completely one way or the other. The different hormones must affect different women differently. I haven't had morning sickness with any pregnancy, aside from the random mild wave of nausea here or there...5 boys/3 girls here. So interesting!
ReplyDeleteThat's true, and I've heard there are TONS of other factors that can contribute to one gender or the other - I think my husband needs a little more testosterone around the house, so I'll have to do my research!
DeleteI loved this! I wish I could be as confident as you are with "knowing." Maybe by #4 I will ;)
ReplyDeleteI love how sweet and peaceful Cecelia looks! I half expected both of my kids to be boys (everyone said they would be, so I wasn't alone!) but since I carried pretty much the same, I was thinking towards the end that Sophia would be a girl. I did gain a bit less with her, since I had better rein on my eating habits the second time around. :)
ReplyDelete