A new feature on my blog is my Friday Fives posts.
Each and every Friday I will be bringing you a list of 5 things - the topics will vary every week, but for the remainder of my pregnancy they will be pregnancy related!
My first Friday Five is....
The Five Most Unfounded Old Wives Tales (In my experience, at least!)
1. No Morning Sickness = Boy
This was one of the very first old wives tales I heard. As I've mentioned before, from the word go I have suffered with EXTREME morning sickness - from week 6 right through to week 25! I was continuously told by countless Old Wives Tale Believers that this means I must 100% be having a little girl - as no mother expecting a son has ever been known to experience morning sickness!
The little winky present in my womb at our 16 week gender scan dispelled that myth for me.
2. Heart rate = Gender Giveaway!
Another gender-related old wives tale is that your unborn babies heart rate can give away the sex of your baby. Your midwife tends to listen in to the babies heartbeat at around 16 weeks and should tell you the BPM count - according to the tales anything over 140 is indicative of a little girl, and anything below is a boy.
Our babies heart rate was a steady 155 bpm - again, our little dude had mislead us!
3. The Tell-Tale Carry
They were extremely fond of their gender tell tales, these old wives! This particular one is all about the position of your bump. If you're carrying low you're having a boy! Carrying high, it must be a girl!
Again - my couldn't-be-higher bump situated directly beneath my bra line surely meant I was carrying a little girl. If I put more faith into these old wives tales than in the wonders of ultrasound I would be SERIOUSLY doubting our gender scan right now!
4. Watch that cord!
I first heard this one from my mother when I offered to put some washing away a few weeks ago - she looked at me horrified and told me that I absolutely could not do that as it would mean stretching my arms above my head to reach the top shelf, and doing this would undoubtedly mean that my baby would be strangled by the umbilical cord!
A little Googling later, I of course realised that this was absolute rubbish - of course umbilical cords CAN get wrapped around babies neck, but the positioning of a mothers arms has absolutely nothing to do with it! - I chose to keep this to myself however, as any excuse to NOT have to put away washing works for me.
I only hope my mum doesn't read this or the jig is up.....Oops.
5. Heartburn = Hairy Baby
According to the tales of old, if a pregnant woman suffers greatly with heartburn during pregnancy the reason is simple - the agitation is being caused by all the hair that your baby is in possession of!
Of course, my baby has yet to be born so I can't judge this one for myself yet - but given the heartburn I have experienced, if this one is true then in 12 weeks time I expect to be giving birth to something that looks a bit like this:
Have you had any personal experience with these old wives tales? Were they more accurate for you?
As always, I'd love to hear your comments! :)
