Old Wives Tales

I'm not very superstitious, but I love hearing the root of all those silly age old beliefs. When it comes to babies and their gender there's a ton of them.
For example, they used to believe that one ovary released male eggs and the other released female ones so you should lay on your left to conceive a girl. Funny when you consider the age old beliefs about good and evil as they relate to left and right. Even in relatively modern times there are theatres where the hero always enters stage right and the villain stage left. Apparently, the Latin word for left is the same as the word for unlucky. The poor, fairer sex I guess. They also say that if you put a wooden spoon under the bed you'll conceive a girl. Not sure where that gets its roots perhaps it's something to do with the feminine traditionally being connected to the domestic. They also say putting a pink ribbon under your pillow will do the trick. I think it’s just a physical symbol of your wish.
Once the baby has been conceived there are supposed to be tell tale signs you're carrying a girl. The idea that you carry low for a boy and high for a girl or that girl babies rob their mothers of their beauty are some of the sillier ones I've heard. Obviously, how the baby sits has everything to do with the baby's size, how your uterus sits to begin with and your body type. There's also the massively popular belief that girls heart rates are above 140 and boys are below. Nothing to that one, babies' heart rates are as individual and effected by various stimuli as adults are. A baby girl's heart rate is usually faster than a boy's, but only after the onset of labor. They also say women carrying boys crave salty foods and women carrying girls crave sweets. This one makes me think of the nursery rhyme "sugar and spice and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of." The truth is a pregnant woman's appetite and cravings are very changeable and no basis for gender guessing.
Now there are some they may have a basis in fact. Like the idea that women carrying girls have a worse time with morning sickness. While hormone regulation is very unique thing from woman to woman there is some truth to the idea that all the excess estrogen makes you extra queasy. I found that one to be pretty apt. There's also the idea that if you're carrying a girl your partner will gain weight with you. Now, Mike started putting it on long before I got pregnant, but he had a significant increase in appetite during the beginning of my pregnancy. Estrogen again, apparently it's released somehow and according to some pregnant ladies causes their husbands to experience pregnancy symptoms. It's also possible it's just new daddy stress.