Place Your Bets

Just when we think we cannot possibly wait any longer....there is still one day left before the ultrasound. 

Oh, the agony.  Something about this third pregnancy is making both Justin and I more needy for gender-confirmation than ever.  We go over and over the likelihoods and the myths and the symptoms and the differences between this pregnancy and the first two.  Over and over.  Of course, we get nowhere. 

Much of our family tells us that we're going to have another girl -- statistically, they say, the third child is more likely to be the same as the first two if those were the same gender.  So a third child after two girls has a higher chance of being another girl.  But I know so many families with two girls, then a boy!  Or two boys, then a girl!  Our predictions are a mighty jumble.

Maybe you can help us?

Here are the supporting confusions:

Differences in Pregnancies

• With both girls, I was incredibly sick for the first several months, especially in the mornings.  With Lauren, I even went on anti-nausea medicine because I was actually losing weight from so much vomiting.  This time, I'm completely fine.  No vomiting whatsoever, and barely a smidge of evening nausea in the beginning.
• I've had several quasi-fainting spells this time around.  Each time, I managed to stay upright and regain composure after several minutes, but just barely.  In contrast, I had not the slightest faintness with either girl.
• While it may be just a trick of my memory, I seem to be quite a bit more...uhm...well-endowed this time around.  Seriously don't remember this much of a magical transformation happening in the past, and with such accompanying, prolonged tenderness.
• And those aren't the only things growing: my feet have grown half a size in the past 4 months alone.  They stayed constant through previous pregnancies.
• I've never had breakouts like these before.  Well, at least not since adolescence.  My skin was glowing and clear with both girls.
• I'd rather have salty, and even somewhat spicy foods these days.  Yes, I still like sweets, but they're not all-consuming like they were with the first two pregnancies.  The other day, I refused donuts.  I know.

Other Thoughts

• I feel fairly certain -- having charted my cycles for the past few years -- that we conceived on the day of or the day after ovulation.  I can't cite it, but if my memory is correct, when conception occurs within a day or two of ovulation, there's a higher likelihood that the baby will be male.  If conception occurs several days before ovulation, the baby is more likely to be female. 
• The Chinese gender predictor chart says we're having a boy. It predicted girls with the first two and was correct, however coincidental those guesses may have been.
• The gold ring test suggests that if a ring, when tied at the end of a long string and dangled over the pregnant belly, swings back and forth in a line, the baby is a boy.  If the ring swings in circles, it's a girl.  We didn't do this test with either girl, or if we did, my memory didn't latch on to it.  This time, our ring swung in straight lines, time and time again.  Boy.
• Within days of conception, before anybody could be certain I was pregnant, I knew I was.  I felt it in my soul.  Likewise, from the very first days of pregnancy, I've felt certain that this baby is a boy.  Which has made me doubt my feelings; who can actually know these things?!  Isn't it always just coincidence if the feelings happen to match the outcome?  Still, I had no inklings either way with the first two pregnancies.  And I can't really say that I'm hoping for a boy...in fact, I'm more and more nostalgic for the days of baby girls.  I know girls; I love girls; I understand girls -- I'm a mother of girls.  A boy would be...just...different.  But despite these doubts over whether or not I want a boy (like it matters), I still feel like this is a boy.  And I feel quite adamant about it. 

Now, armed with this knowledge, what say you?  Have your suspicions about gender come true in the past?  Have the old wives' tales of prediction been correct for you?  Did your wildly different pregnancies signify anything in particular? 

And most importantly, (step right up! step right up!) what do you think we'll find out tomorrow morning?