Hi everybody,

Hope all r enjoying their preggy days. I am a regular reader of the club and get valuable information. I am a first time preggy and in my 7th month.

I would like to know whether we can know the sex of the child through the heartbeats of the baby?

Take care,

Meeta Meghnah replied. Hello Meeta,pramitha,Anita

In my previous posts,may be sum 1 n half months before I had written or say asked mommies abt old wifes tales of gender predictions,n we have collected many predictions there,just read that post.Its an intresting one...

n again recently I posted one more article on gender predictions on yahoo grp-anyways I' ll post it here too--just read this---Its a big one I know,but surely u mommies will njoy reading it...

Grandparents, mothers-in-law, bookstore clerks, the woman in line
behind you at the grocery store -- if you' re pregnant, everyone wants
to guess whether you' re going to have a boy or a girl. Many of them
claim to have a \" foolproof method\" to figure out whether you' ll be
painting the nursery pink or blue.

\" A gas station attendant told me I was having a girl because my face
looked smiley,\" recalls literature professor Talia Schaffer, whose
first baby, born in May, was indeed a girl. \" He said with a boy, the
mother' s face looked tired! Someone else also predicted a girl
because I was carrying low. Lots of people told us their guesses, and
weirdly enough, everyone guessed correctly that it was a girl.\"

Although Schaffer' s fortunetellers all proved accurate, that was
probably just luck. In a study published in the journal Birth in
September 1999, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health researchers
asked 104 pregnant women to guess their baby' s sex, using whatever
method they liked, whether it was hunches, dreams, or rings on a
string. The women were right 55% of the time, or about what you could
expect from random guesses.

But just to throw a little confusion into the mix, the study also
found the mothers-to-be who had the highest levels of education (12
years or more) were far more accurate, predicting their baby' s sex
correctly 71% of the time. These women most often based their gender
predictions on dreams or feelings, and those were the ones that
proved most prophetic.

Foolproof Methods?

They' re as old as pregnancy itself, these boy-or-girl
prognostications, and nurses and midwives have heard them all over
the years. Here are a few of the most common -- and the strangest --
old wives' tales:

Dangling a ring -- usually her wedding ring -- on a string over the
pregnant woman' s belly. If it swings back and forth, it' s a boy. If
it moves in a circle, it' s a girl. \" The ring over the belly is a
biggie,\" says Tara Voto, RN, BSN, a labor and delivery nurse at St.
Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, N.J. \" I probably hear that one more
than any other.\"

The heartbeat theory. \" Fetal heart rates range between 110 and 160,\"
explains Patricia Crane, MSN, CNM, director of the nurse-midwifery
service with the University of Michigan Health Systems. \" If your
baby' s heart rate averages in the 110 to low 130s range, the thought
is that it' s more likely a boy, and if it' s in the mid 140s to 160
range, it' s more likely a girl. Mid-130s to 140s is unpredictable --
and where a lot of heart rates fall.\"

A study done in 1993 at the University of Kentucky seemed to prove
this theory right, finding that the fetal heartbeat could be used
accurately to predict the sex of 91% of boys and 74% of girls. But
subsequent studies all disagree. \" I also tell my patients that there
must be other atmospheric conditions that affect this because you
have a run of babies where this theory tends to work, and then
suddenly you can' t get one right to save your life!\" Crane says.

The \" linea nigra\" -- the dark line that some women get running from
the pelvic bone, mid-abdomen, to the belly button or as far as the
xyphoid (the bottom-most part of the rib cage in the center or tip of
the sternum). \" The theory goes that if the linea nigra runs to the
belly button, it' s a girl, and if it goes all the way up to the
xyphoid, it' s a boy,\" Crane says.

The Drano test. \" Apparently if you take old Drano, manufactured
before a particular year in the 1980s, and mix it with the pregnant
woman' s urine, it turns brownish if it' s a girl or bluish-green for a
boy,\" Crane says. \" How this one got started, I have no idea!\" Does it
work? \" You got me!\"

If the woman looks prettier during her pregnancy, it' s a boy. If
you' re having a girl, you tend to lose some of your looks, because
she' s taking your beauty,\" Voto says. What about Schaffer' s gas
station attendant who told her just the opposite? \" That' s why we call
them old wives' tales!\"

In fact, many of the traditional tales about how to predict your
baby' s sex seem to flip-flop depending on who' s doing the telling. If
you' re carrying low, it means a girl. No, it means a boy. If
the \" ring trick\" results in a pendulum-like swing, it means a boy.
No, a girl.

' A Mystery and a Miracle'

Science -- in the form of modern imaging technology -- is far more
reliable at predicting baby' s sex, but even ultrasound can' t always
boast 100% accuracy. Whether your ultrasound gets it right depends on
a lot of factors, including how far along you are in pregnancy, the
quality of the equipment, and most important, cooperation from the
baby. Fetal positioning or movement when the ultrasound is done may
mean the technician can' t get a clear view of the genital area.

Crane doesn' t think these tales will ever disappear. \" The sex of a
child can hold particularly significant meaning to a woman. Mostly we
say we just want a healthy baby but secretly (and not so secretly),
many of us have dreams of mothering a child of a certain sex,\" she
says.

\" There is so much we do not know about pregnancy and the growing baby
within us. It' s a mystery and a miracle every time. We know the
science behind it, but there are such deep emotions and awe at what
happens to our body and mind during pregnancy. Therefore, myths are
generated to perpetuate our sense of awe around this process. And
heck -- it' s fun to play around with this stuff!\"

Published July 28, 2003.
pramitha replied. My 7th month has just begun and believe me am just as curious as u r to know whether its a boy or girl....

Yesterday i went through these sites vr we can know whether its a boy or girl but believe me none of them are very acurate.
The result i got was 33% chances of having a boy and rest a girl...
I think am havin a boy though....the chinese calender says am havin a girl.....lets c.. Anita replied. Hi Meeta
I am in my 8th month my due date is 27th August. I think every pregnent mother would like to know the gender of her baby. I find it quite interesting i guess about others but most of the time i was wrong. It is said if the heartbeat of your baby is less than 140 then it will be a boy. But i am not sure about it. Elderly women says it depends on your tommy. If the shape of your tommy is round like football than it will be a boy and if it is oval like egg than it will be a girl. Tell me about urs.
Take care
Anita