“Girls who are boys
Who like boys to be girls
Who do boys like they’re girls
Who do girls like they’re boys
Always should be someone you really love…”

-Blur “Girls & Boys”

One of the first things Dr. O’C said when she found out she was pregnant (after she stopped crying) was: “I don’t want to know the sex of the baby.” Now, I disagreed, but in the six plus years we’ve been together I’ve learned to pick my battles. In this case, I was planning for a battle over surnames, one I thankfully didn’t have to fight. At any rate, Dr. O’C reckoned that the sex of the baby was the only surprise available in pregnancy and childbirth and thus, she wanted to keep it that way. Seems to me and my limited knowledge of physics that having a small human come out of you could be pretty surprising, but again picking battles.

I have not fought the battle, but I have been doing subtle reconnaisance. During both of the scans I was looking hard for the presence or absence of sex determining organs. There are several websites that offer hints on how to determine the sex of your baby. Everyone who has ever borne a child or known someone who has borne a child has a little tip about how to determine sex. A very colorful woman with whom I work is always asking me – “Which way is she growing, wider or further out, that will tell you the sex.” Because Dr. O’C reads this blog, its best that I not reveal my answer.

One of the more entertaining ways we’ve used to attempt to divine the sex of the baby is Turkish gypsy magic. One of our friends who is Turkish, but not to my knowledge a gypsy, remembered an old-wives tale that says if you dangle a ring on a string over the pregnant woman’s bump, the motion of the ring will tell you the sex of the child. Up and down means boy and circular motion means girl, or vice versa. As you can see in the picture above, Dr. O’C subjected herself to this and revealed that the baby is in fact a girl. So your shopping may now begin. Oh, and if your curious, K, our friends’ four year old daughter, is having a boy.

I’m often asked which I would prefer, and with the knowledge that the Turkish gypsy magic may be slightly inaccurate and my son may one day read this, my honest answer to that is I would prefer a girl. This is primarily because nearly all girls are Daddy’s girls and who doesn’t want to be the favorite parent.

That being said, it doesn’t really matter. I am absolutely thrilled either way. As long as he/she has his/her mother’s nose, I’m happy. And her eyes, probably mouth, and hopefully her hair…

I’d like to point out, that recently the decisive Dr. O’Connell has begun to wish that we did know the sex of the baby so we could buy the right color muslins or something. I always win.

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