and baby #3 is a…..

Yes, believe it or not, we are having another GIRL! We are beyond thrilled.

Joe wanted to wait until delivery to find out for sure, but we did that already, I was already pretty sure what we were having, and I wanted Lincoln to know what was coming since he's been talking about Lucas for months now. So we decided to do a family reveal just for us incase Lincoln was clearly upset. We had Bashas make pink or blue cupcakes and we opened the box after a picnic lunch at the fountain. The staff at Bashas were really excited since we are there pretty much every.day.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/thgijEbt-hw]

So how did we find out so soon? Well, apparently there was some due date drama going on in the office surrounding me. I'm not sure how it started since there's never been a discrepancy from my previous two dating scans, but I should have seen it coming since the lady who did the NT scan entered my due date as 8/15/15. I have no idea where that date came from. Part of me thinks she was reading someone else's patient information. Anyway, I was under the impression that despite an LMP date of 10/15/14 and an erroneous EDD of 8/15/15 on the NT scan input, that the crown rump length was absolutely consistent with the gestational age I knew and the EDD it gave was 7/31/15. So only 1 and 2 days different from the previous scans 2 scans.

When I arrived at my 14 week appointment the MA thought I was there for a 12 week appointment, based off that random 8/15 date. So when I said, Nope, 14.4! she went out to confirm, there was some chatter through the door, and in came Dr. O with the ultrasound machine. Somehow my chart now had 3 due dates all separated by about 2 weeks. July 22 (LMP dates), August 1 (THE REAL ONE), and August 15 (the one I have no idea where came from). So we got to see some baby TV and he asked if we wanted him to look between the baby's legs. We said sure, just don't tell us but seal it in an envelope. it took him only a few seconds before he said, "Ok, well know I know what the baby is." which indicated to us a high degree of confidence. Of course he reminded us that we would confirm again in 4 weeks.



Oh, and guess what? The baby measured 14.4, which is exactly what I said. Trust the crazy charting lady. I get that most people who come in with dates inconsistent with LMP are totally clueless, but just believe me. With THAT being said, lemme retract my previous zeal that this a baby was a boy. Because with dates of 14.4 (or 14.5) like 3 of the 4 ultrasounds have now decided, the day I assumed was conception day is actually the day before, which means this baby is an O-3-4 baby, NOT an O-day baby. VEEEERY different odds if you have any belief in the Shettles Method.

So for some reason, Dr. O decided that my due date would now be July 31st… not sure why since 14.4 is still consistent with August 1st, the original dating ultrasound date, but whatever.

Why did I think I already knew what we were having other than the change in conception time? Well, our NT scan also gave us this picture:



Even if I hadn't wanted to know, this was a pretty clear shot that got printed and handed directly to me. I couldn't not see it.

For more reading about the genital tubercle angle and early prediction of a baby's sex read THIS POST from Emilyn's pregnancy.

It was still a fun surprise to open the box with the kids and see pink for sure. I think the cupcakes softened the blow for Lincoln. He's doing great. He's still excited. Maybe not as excited as if it were a boy, but he's an amazing big brother to Emi and he loves her dearly. He will be great with another girl too.

And who knows, maybe we're all still wrong and in 4 week we will be surprised again!

 

Gender Games: Round III

OK, this last part of The Gender Games got so crazy it gets its OWN POST!

I dredged the bottoms of the Google Search barrel to find any last theories I could to determine the sex of Chubby through Old Wive's Tales and I found a pretty varied list to share with you all. 

The two biggest "scientific" ones are The Ramzi Theory and The Skull Theory. I will also reveal our Genital Tubercle Angle. They are ALL OVER gender prediction forums with ultrasound pictures and commentators evaluating what they think. Any photos of Chubby have all received 50/50 guesses, so it remains up in the air just as much as ever. 

Boy: 6 Girl: 14

Ramzi Theory: 

In a nutshell, Ramzi theorized that a genetic difference between males and females causes the placenta to form either to the left or right(rt= boy, lt=girl) and that you can see this on ultrasound in a transverse scan as early as 6 weeks by finding the Chorionic Villi using color doppler.  You have to know on the picture what true right and left are though because often ultrasound images are mirrored.

NO IDEA. Any takers? It doesn't seem like you can tell left/right, just front/back. It was an abdominal ultrasound - no idea if it's "corrected" right/left or mirror image. The baby is obviously down on the bottom at what looks like the top and posterior of my uterus (but I was told at 13 weeks I had an anterior placenta). The other hollow black spot on the second picture is my bladder for some perspective. 

Skull Theory: 

"Skull Theory is an at-home technique for predicting gender, although fans claim it has a 92% accuracy rate.  Basically, you compare your baby’s ultrasound profile picture to the diagram below, looking for certain ‘male’ or ‘female’ markers in the shape of the skull."

Male and Female Cranium Differences:

Most important skull differences between men and women are indicated by the letter value on the figure to the left and described below:

A) The mans cranial mass is more blocky and massive compared to the females which is rounder and tapers at the top. (UNLESS you're Joe's head or my head....!)

B) Temporal Ridge – runs along the outer side of the upper skull creating the square shaped of the upper head. More prominent in men than women.

C) A woman’s supraorbital margin (the ridge above the eyes) is sharper, while the males is rather round and dull.

D) The Zygomatic bone (the cheekbone that lies under the lower eye ridge) is more pronounced on the male skull.

E) The Mandible (lower jaw) bone of a woman is rounded, while the male’s is squared.

F) Frontal bone – forehead structure terminates at the brow. The male forehead is lower and more slopping.

G) Men have a deeper cranial mass.

H) The supercilary arch is large and pronounced in the man.

I) A males gonion (most posterior inferior point on angle of mandible) is more flared out and sharply angled.

J) The teeth of men tend to be larger.

Again, WHAT? My guess by ALL the pictures is BOY.  The forehead maybe says girl, but I don't think so because I think Lincoln has that same forehead... 

Remember Genital Tubercle Angle? 

I'll tell you about it now. This is the ONLY thing that MIGHT say that Chubby could POSSIBLY be a girl. BUT, it's not clear. Not like other images are clear. There's maybe a hint of the tubercle on the these photos, but even the online forum experts say it's only a 50/50 guess leaning towards girl. But here's your look:

Here are the lists from the other two rounds:

Boy: 9 Girl: 9

Boy: 5 Girl: 8

So, 53 Gender Predicting Anythings in total. Only 2 that are unknown/do not apply to me. 

TOTAL BOY: 20

TOTAL GIRL: 31

I'm honestly surprised how this last round skewed way towards girl. However, the popular opinion poll was DRAMATICALLY towards boy. I guess now all we can do is wait and see!!

My sources are all over the internet. Google Search "Gender Prediction" and you'll get it all. Most of my stuff comes from BabyCenter, In-Gender, Intelligender, Pregnancy, Parenting, Huggies, and many other dot coms etc. Even within these websites some of the old wive's tales contradict each other. Whatever, it's just for fun.

Early Gender Prediction: Genital Tubercle Angle

GENITAL TUBERCLE ANGLE
Male gender		Female gender

pictures copied from: http://www.baby2see.com/gender/study_ultrasound.html

I've heard of this method only once before. A girl I drill with had asked me how to make a boy, so I told her about the Shettles Method and they had been trying for a few months already using OPK's. Her first cycle after telling her about Shettles, she got pregnant. With two girls already, they were anxious to know, were they having a boy or a girl? They had an ultrasound at something like 14 weeks and they were told they were most likely having a 3rd girl. As an OB nurse, I'd always been told you can not tell for sure until as EARLY at 16 weeks and more assuredly 18 weeks or later. So what did she mean they could tell her she was already having another girl?

She called it an "angle" of some kind. So, my crazy self got on google and googled all I could about this gender predicting angle! I was surprised what I found. It's called the Genital Tubercle Angle and you can read more about it here, or here, or here.

So... I have a confession. We had our 13 week ultrasound with Chubby. And while I don't want to KNOW, I wanted to know, did we have a picture of our baby's tubercle or nub??? I think we might!... there are forums you can post your picture and get people's opinions, but I refuse to do that so that it is only my subjective speculation at this point. Joe has not analyzed the pictures either. He maintains Team Girl of his own speculations comparing this pregnancy to my pregnancy with Lincoln.

Now, the pictures we have are NOT distinct like the pictures above. Our ultrasound tech knows we don't want to know but she told us she would never tell parents this early because in her experience it remains 50/50%. So, she may have been selective about the pictures she gave us knowing we know of this method. But, she also already told us that since we already have a boy, we only have about at 25% of having a girl this time... which, I don't really believe. InGender gives some statistics on that idea. I understand for families who conceive using the same method every time, their chances are skewed towards a baby of the same gender. But, this time, Joe and I were aiming for any conception at all, so our chances are likely that of nature, being 51/49.

You don't get to see them and I will not tell you what I think either. You have to wait until after the baby is born and then I will post it all and we will see if it was right or wrong.

As I understand, the girl I drilled with did indeed have a 3rd girl. Have you heard of this before? Did you get a picture of your 11-14 week baby with a gender prediction? Was it right?